"Everyone," Robert walked out of the office, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention, "Starting today, I hope everyone can take a little time each day to try this—uh—learning tool, Minesweeper."
He was met with a series of reluctant replies.
Faced with this unexpected increase in workload, they had no other thoughts besides feeling that it was getting harder and harder to get by.
Even Robert himself never imagined that the change would happen so quickly.
It happened so fast that he was completely unaware.
That afternoon, Robert finished his work and went to the staff break room.
Robert rolled up the filter paper as usual and poured in the coffee grounds.
As he reached for the kettle at the bar, he noticed something amiss.
At this time of year, Sean, a young man from the customer service department, would usually be here reading magazines or doing crossword puzzles to pass the time.
This has almost become a symbol in the company; as long as Sean hasn't asked for leave, he will definitely appear here on time during his break.
Robert glanced around, puzzled.
"Where's that kid?"
He said he wanted to use his break time to learn more about PC operation.
The person who replied was a seasoned veteran of the company, who had long since found his place and didn't care at all about Sean's competitive behavior.
"Huh? Why is he so enthusiastic?"
This situation made Robert feel a little uncomfortable.
He even spends his rest time researching new technologies—what a great employee!
Look at their enthusiasm!
If everyone in the company were like Sean, they wouldn't be unable to transform their business!
Robert made up his mind on the spot.
Go see Sean, at least give him a verbal compliment.
We need to highlight this positive example to encourage others to follow suit and learn from it.
He picked up the freshly brewed drip coffee and walked towards Sean's workstation, which he remembered.
Before he even got close, he had already spotted the young man who was completely absorbed in the screen.
only----
What appeared to be on the screen wasn't a table or document, but rather the game " Minesweeper ".
It was an interface that was evenly divided into countless small squares.
Some of them displayed different numbers, while a large portion had turned gray.
Upon closer inspection, you can also see several small flag-like icons distributed across a few squares.
Robert slowed his pace, silently approached Sean from behind, and stood there quietly, listening to Sean's mutterings to himself.
"There are four mines around this square—this is one, so there must be another mine where the two meet."
To Robert's astonishment, Sean skillfully dragged the mouse, precisely moving the white arrow to the square.
As he pressed the button on the right side of the mouse, a flag appeared out of thin air on the grid.
"Phew, that basically covers this part. Now we just need to..."
What is the meaning of this flagpole?
Bang!"
Hearing the ghostly voice behind him, Sean suddenly sprang up, so violently that his hand slammed onto the table with a loud thud.
He frantically pressed keys on the keyboard, switching the screen to a document full of text before turning back.
Upon seeing that the person who came in was his boss, Jim's face flushed red instantly.
"I'm researching customer data, and PCs are indeed very convenient to use."
Robert glanced at him, understanding the situation, but said nothing, his gaze remaining fixed on the screen.
"Hmm, how's your learning going?"
"It's alright, it's alright."
Sean skillfully dragged the mouse to open a document on the graphical interface. "I've finished organizing today's materials."
Robert's eyes flickered as he looked at the neatly entered document.
The customer service department has a lot to do today.
Was that Minesweeper just now?
Sean gave an awkward laugh and nodded silently.
The whole thing was seen, so there was no way to hide it anymore.
"Play it again and let me see."
"So—" Robert watched Sean line up the Rays one by one, "this really is a game—"
Even so, Mr. Dell was right about one thing.
Minesweeper is extremely helpful for learning how to use a mouse.
Sean can now move the cursor to any location he points to on the screen instantly.
Clicking the left and right mouse buttons was effortless, as if the mouse were an integral part of Sean's body.
"That's interesting."
This game reminded him of a famous logic puzzle from the 1960s called Cube.
It is essentially a mathematical logic puzzle, only it has been designed very cleverly.
It's like a product designed specifically for mice.
" Sean, I'll be holding a small meeting later, and I hope you can teach the others how to play this game."
"Ah?"
Robert never dreamed that the solution to his long-standing problem would be a game.
play.
When Dell first told him about this, he thought it was just a sales pitch to promote that useless mouse.
But it turned out that the other party was right.
In just a few days, Minesweeper spread like a subtle underground culture throughout the office.
No matter when, you can always see people sitting in front of their computers, busy at work.
Robert stood in his office, his expression complex.
It was both frustrating and funny.
Just by looking at Sean's focused expression and the fact that he hadn't touched the keyboard for a long time, he knew that Sean was definitely not doing anything productive.
Robert looked at the report that had been submitted on time.
The machine-printed data was entered with exceptional precision; all the data was calculated by a PC, making it frighteningly accurate.
This absurd and contradictory scene left Robert at a loss for what to do.
That's a situation where you can't control it, and you can't ignore it either.
"Never mind, at least the work was all done normally."
With a sigh, Robert sat back down at the table.
He somewhat awkwardly dragged the mouse across the grid, trying to find the location of the lightning bolt by following its rules.
This is not an isolated case.
As SGI and Dell's shipments increased, more and more people came into contact with Minesweeper, which was packaged as a learning tool.
And of course, there was that peculiar mouse that I had never seen before.
Early in the morning, a muscle car trailed smoke as it stopped in front of GAMENOVA's headquarters.
"President Lin! Open the door, President Lin! It's me!"
Steve, the founder of Electronic Games, arrived at the door with a bunch of miscellaneous equipment.
After Gamenova relocated, it was much closer to other Silicon Valley companies, but for Steve, it was a real stroke of bad luck.
Their magazine isn't even located in Northern California!
What's even more infuriating is that, who would have thought that Lin Lixin would secretly pull off another big stunt this time?
I secretly sent them the game without telling them!
Minesweeper! What an amazing game!
Not only was there no promotion or marketing, but it wasn't even sold to the public; it was a mysterious game that could only be played by purchasing a customized PC from a merchant partnered with GAMENOVA.
Even the mouse that's been the subject of much discussion in the tech world has "[Designed by]" engraved on its bottom.
GAMENOVA (designed by Nova Games ).