In my Game of the Year 2022 article and video, I said “Vampire Survivor is my most played game of the year”. I think that might be a lie. Little did I know I’d been playing a classic game almost every day for an entire year. While it might not be the game I’ve put the most time into, I’ve definitely “booted” Jewel more than any other game this year. but why? Why have I never played the first level? Sadly, this is a rather boring story of how I wasted my life for meager money.
This story started many years ago, long before the Xbox Series X was released. Microsoft runs a rewards program where you earn points for completing tasks. Some of these are web-based, such as searching on Bing, participating in polls, or completing quizzes. It also has an Xbox side, earning points for completing challenges in Game Pass games, earning achievements in certain games, and more.As Meghan Trainor almost said, I became all about point.
In the years leading up to the release of the Xbox Series X, I became a point-earning machine. I will do my best to activate the bonus and complete all the extra activities to accumulate a digital mountain of this special digital currency. Long story short, I ended up using them with Microsoft Store credit, which led to me being able to buy an Xbox Series X for around £50. Despite my daily struggles, I felt like I reached into Microsoft’s pocket and stole the new console.
But this point drop is a lot to take. I wiped myself off and started over. Points also seem to be getting harder to earn, avenues for points to dry up. Until I discovered the Xbox app, which allowed me to earn close to 300 points a day. Most of that is by playing PC games (the title of this post is easy: “I’ve played Forza Horizon 5 over 200 times this year, but never driven a car”), but completing a level is a gem. So I played with gems. I play gems a lot.
Jewel is launched from the Xbox app on my phone. Once you complete level 1, you get a notification that you’ve earned some points, so I click on that and add them to my favorites. I’ve done that for most of the year. I regret it when I don’t. I appreciate Microsoft and their rewards points program. I’ve even gotten my son involved, and can often be heard asking if he’s “done his search,” as if checking the status of his homework. He often doesn’t, but I still let him get some Minecoins every now and then. This is how I am.
I even got a Steam Deck for about £100 by the rather convoluted route of converting rewards points into Curry’s PC World vouchers, buying the Steam credits on the physical card, and then using that to pay for most of the deck’s cost .
The point though is that I’m probably now a Jewel pro, but only at level 1. As far as I know, the game changes completely from level 2 onwards. I don’t see it beyond the screen showing level 2. Maybe they introduced a new colored gem, or those gems changed shape, or maybe they started moving on their own, like being possessed by a ghost who likes to play symbol color matching games during downtime. I don’t know, I’m not sure I should be happy about it.
On the one hand, I’ve spent hours this year playing a game I don’t want to play (I’ve spent countless hours earning points over the past five years or so), but on the other hand, it’s free money . Maybe during that time I could have made more money by writing a book on stealth games or something, but anyone can do it. How many people can say that they are gem level 1?
With about six years to go until the next Xbox release, there are probably 1,200 Jewel Level 1 games left to play. What an interesting life I live.
