The Game That Almost Broke Us

When I first heard about the game 2025, I checked it out and then quickly closed the screen. The goal is to make 45 groups of 45 entries, pulling together the groups from the mixed-up options on the screen, which are all buttons with a word (or words) on it.

For instance, you may see two animals (donkey) (horse). You click one and then click the other, and if they go together, they snap into a single block. Now you find another animal. You click that animal and then click the square with the two animals, and now you will see the list form and a red number appear on the square so you can know how many you’ve found in that category.

Of course, you don’t know the categories. You figure them out as you click options together. While some are easy to figure out, others are words I didn’t know and had no clue what else would belong in the same group.

I kept seeing people posting about the game, so I opened it again and wasted a few minutes of my life forming groups. Then I set it aside and went back to it that night to waste more of my life. Then I told everyone in the house about it, and everyone rejected the game. But the ChickieNob left my room and admitted a few minutes later that it was strangely addictive and she was going to play. Two down. Two standing strong.

When I went to say goodnight to the Wolvog, he had it up on his computer screen. He was well beyond where I was and continued to clean up the board. By the second day, he no longer had to scroll all the way to the right. Three down. One standing strong.

Josh is the only one who hasn’t given in to the siren song of 2025. He has stood behind the Wolvog and pointed out Tom Hanks movies, which we appreciate because we all suck at that category. But he has not started playing himself once he observed how we all disappeared into a fog of options, the Wolvog crying out: “Is it a cheese or a Muppet? A cheese or a Muppet?”

The Wolvog cleared the whole board in two days. The ChickieNob took a few more. I finished last. It took me about six days to complete, but I had the lowest number of mistakes (908). I had to do a lot of guessing with the final 123 options.

This is what I’ll say about the game and its addictiveness. In a chaotic world, it is soothing to group together things, clean up the screen, and make everything neat and organized. There is no timer, so you can work as quickly or as slowly as you wish. There is nothing at stake.

And I now know a lot of Tom Hanks movies.