SM Word

There is a certain axiom that holds as true today as when first spoken by James Howell in 1659: that All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Best known as the collected oeuvre of fictional writer Jack Torrance (as played by Jack Nicholson) in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Shining, insanely repeated iterations of the phrase also serve large in this game: in fact, typing it in over and over again is the primary task set before the player.

Though the screen is set up to look like a certain industry-standard word processor, things will not be as easy as they initially appear. SM is not merely an inverted abbreviation for a certain applications software developer, but also stands for sadism and masochism -- elements arguably often in play when attempting to productively use programs published by the aforementioned developer, especially recent versions whose misguidedly helpful offers of unwanted assistance often interfere with simple access to the program's basic functions. Such is the case here.

While diligently cranking out your key phrase, boxes will pop up to notify you of errors, updates and other simulated system activities getting in the way of your monomania; inspired equally from the Nintendo DS and the Typing of the Dead, these irritating pop-ups are dismissed by frustratedly mashing keys on the keyboard and bellyaching (ideally with great profanity) at high volume into a nearby computer-attached microphone. Eventually the overwhelming sum of the notifications "crashes" the game and play ends.