There is a particularly terrible episode of Star Trek the Next Generation titled: "The Game"
If you haven't seen it, it doesn't matter. You can watch this trailer and try not to cringe yourself to death.
Turns out, after years and years and years of searching, I have finally found my game.
You need to stop what you're doing and play Dino Polo Club's Mini Metro. It's described as "a minimalist subway route layout game. But I call it the greatest timesuck that man has ever invented.
It has that special thing, you know? Where you look down at your phone and trace a quick line between a circle and a triangle and the next thing you know nine hours have gone by and you've crashed your car into that house at the bottom of Water Tower Hill. (Not the one by the barrier, the one next to it. Great job!)
Seriouslly, though. I am in love with this little game. It's so soothing to watch the little trains running around, taking the little dots, squares, triangles and even stars to and from one location to the other. And I imagine all the cool stuff that is happening to those little dots, squares and triangles and even stars as they travel around real world cities. They cross bridges and move from imaginary downtowns to imaginary suburbs and take transfers betweent the blue and green line to get over to the tunnel that takes them to that one record store they like.
Look, I'm making it too complicated.
Look at these screenshots of my little railines instead. They are beautiful little works of urban art.
We liked it so much, we bought it on IOS, too. So now my whole family just sits around looking at little tiny metros thinking about all the cool ways to get the triangle people back to their little triangle stops.
Gotta go, there's congestion at one of the squares downtown. Seems the football people can't' figure it out.