Instead of those spinning balls, pathetic turning hourglasses, and
thermometers that appear whenever your computer is spending its
time doing whatever it needs to do, I'd like something else. The
something else I would like is a digital version of the old
amusement arcade game The Penny Falls.
For
those who don't know of this device, it's best to look it up for a
better description than one I can be bothered writing here. Suffice
to say a moving wall slides backwards and forwards with piled up
coins teetering along the edge of a drop. The player adds coins in
the usually forlorn hope that a substantial amount will become
unstable and
tumble off into a collection tray.
The digital version is no different, except you must accumulate
some virtual coins via a pre-purchasing system. This is like money
in the bank that you can never actually loose, but can win back
for instant gratitude. The game shuts down as soon as any
processing task completes, or you have the option to idle away
even more of your time by pressing the extend button.