I guess I’m a casual gamer now – but who cares?

Dominik Diamond would once have sneered at smartphone games - but now he's been totally drawn in by their quality, variety, imagination and downright weirdness

I am addicted to video games again. Addicted like I haven't been in years. Addicted to the point where my left thumb and right forefinger are borderline arthritic from playing them as soon as I open my eyes in the morning and last thing before I close them at night.

This is ridiculous behaviour in a man approaching his mid-50s. I should be waking up and performing pilates. My eyelids should droop while perusing Reader's Digest at bedtime. I should be getting arthritis in my hands from planting peonies or unwrapping Werther's Originals. But no. It's games wot done it, and not even hardcore ones involving gods or war or elden rings. I am obsessed with what I once might have scornfully labelled casual gaming. I'm talking about Apple Arcade, which I am now convinced is the best value games delivery system on the planet in 2023. It has turned my phone into the most fun gaming console I've had since my Neo Geo in the 90s.