1010! is an app for iPhones and Androids that is similar to tetris in that you line up blocks or pieces that are given to you in sets of three in order to clear a row or a column to make space for the next set of blocks. They can come in any number and in any format and it is your task to determine where the blocks should go in order to make the most room on the board.

It is neither easy to learn nor fun to master. Their slogan should essentially be: download the app immediately and say goodbye to sleep, friends, family, and the light of day! And after discovering that my most recent Google search on my phone was “1010! tips and tricks for high score”, I realized I have a problem. I am addicted to 1010! and if someone told me to quit right now there is 99.99 percent chance I actually couldn’t do it. So I’ve compiled a list of things that have gone wrong in my life due to playing 1010!.

1. Can’t stop won’t stop.

I beat my high score? Cool, let me play another game right away. I lost within the first 30 seconds? Cool, let me play another game right away. I literally can’t stop playing once I open the app unless I am completely forced to do something else. I am so addicted to this game that I may experience withdrawal symptoms when I finally give the app the boot. The worst part about it is the fact that it’s the same game over and over and over again and yet I continue to play it. I’ve never been more concerned for my mental health in my entire life than I am right now.

2. I’ve set my alarm earlier for the only purpose of playing an extra game before I get out of bed.

If I need to be out of bed at 8:45, you best believe I am setting my alarm to 8:31 so I can snooze for nine minutes and then play a quick five-minute game of 1010! in order to kick start the day.

3. The game has doubled if not tripled my anxiety and stress levels.

Not knowing what the next three blocks will have in store, will it be a 3x3, a 2x1, or a weird crooked blue one that doesn’t fit anywhere, gives me the same kind of stress as the return of a Gen Chem exam return. The closer I get to beating my high score, the more nervous I get. It’s so important for me to beat my high score that I add an absurd amount of stress and pressure on myself. The crazy part is right after I beat my high score I will play another round and immediately induce the same anxiety all over again.

4. I’ve ruined other peoples' lives by convincing them to get the game and start playing it

I apologize if you are one of these people. The importance of beating a friend’s high score on 1010! is unexplainable; it’s a vicious cycle of unhealthy competition. I’ve essentially made it my life’s goal to beat my friends' 1010! high scores.

5. The game is pointless

Therefore my life’s purpose right now is to achieve a pointless goal, so I am wasting a beautiful summer staying indoors and perfecting my 1010! skills. I can even acknowledge that the game is pointless and yet it still doesn’t keep me from feeling a need to play the game. The fact that I am so entertained by literally playing until I can’t fit the pieces anywhere anymore and then start again is just so startling because nothing sounds more boring and repetitive. Whether my high score is 3,000 or 30,000 it won’t ever matter because I eventually (hopefully) will delete the app, so what difference does it make now what my high score is now.

6. It made me reinstall 2048, a horrible habit that I thought I got rid of in 2012.

I got upset at the game when I was two points away from beating my high score and so I quit the game and was about to do something else with my life when I figured I would reinstall 2048 to keep myself occupied and off of 1010! for the time being. Now 2048 is almost as addicting and pointless as 1010! so not only have I developed a horrible habit playing 1010! but I now have another addiction to an old game that is practically irrelevant nowadays.

7. I’m ruining social events for myself by whipping out my phone for a quick game rather than paying attention to the real world.

I brought out my phone and put it on low brightness all so that I could play 1010! at the movie theater. I didn’t enjoy the movie and I was pretty bored so I figured it couldn’t hurt to pass the time playing 1010!. Not only is this a frowned upon movie theater activity, but I missed the entire movie, which I judged was boring within the first 15 minutes so now I can say that I’ve seen Jurassic World, but I guarantee I could not recite one part of the plot to you. It has come to the point where I appreciate the game more than I appreciate human contact, which is both sad and scary.

8. I almost fell off the treadmill playing it.

It’s a life threatening game essentially. Long story short, I thought I could play a harmless game while walking on the treadmill and I have never been more wrong or embarrassed in my entire life. I tripped and almost fell to my death all because I couldn’t go 30 minutes without playing a single game.

9. It is incredibly distracting.

It distracts me so much to the point where I went all the way to the gas station, thought I filled up my gas tank, but I decided to play a game of 1010! while I was waiting, so it turns out that I had just put the nozzle in my car and never actually pulled the handle to start pumping the gas into the car. I didn't notice until I drove home and my car beeped because it was low on gas.

10. I am codependent on the game

As previously mentioned, I am so addicted to this game that I feel incomplete without it. I must always be playing a game or at least be thinking about it somehow. I don’t even remember what I did to pass the time before I installed 1010! and the thought of living without it is unbearable.