One of the things that makes The Digital Arena (or as gamers call it, TDA) the best game ever is the beginning of the game. Let me explain:

I am not addicted to social media. But I do have an account. Before I got the game, I had just been doing reviews for other games that were popular at the time. If you're getting a game for your kid, or you're the kid buying the game, who better to trust than another kid? Me, Marcus! Of course I never really got any views...until I discovered something in TDA

When TDA came out, a bunch of playthrough videos appeared on the recommended videos section of the app. He watched a couple before becoming hooked to the game. Sure, it was wacky how the characters all were drawn like stick-figures, but the backgrounds and arenas were highly complex and just plain beautiful. He watched a couple of the videos. Most of them just showed gameplay. 1 or 2 showed a small bit of the character creation. He sent the best ones to his neighbor Ashley, with one message:

Should we play?

About a week later and thousands of tutorial videos watched, Ashley and Marcus were absolutely hooked. They walked to the plaza downtown, where an outdoor mall stretched almost as far as Marcus' eye could see. They stopped at a video game store. They walked inside, where a small group of kids were huddled around a box.

“Woah! It's cooler than it looks online!” Exclaimed one kid.

Marcus pushed his way through the crowd and read the writing on the boxes aloud: “The Digital Arena: Game and Console? What does that mean?”

The kid that had talked before replied in a voice like he was talking to a child, “YOU must be one of those kids that thinks TDA is a normal game. It's not! It's special. It even has its own console.”

Ashley whispered to Marcus, “So I guess the price we saw online was only for game cards.”

“Don't worry. I've been saving up,” whispered Marcus, waving his debit card in front of Ashley. Ashley chuckled before pulling a wad of cash out of her pocket.

Marcus and Ashley walked away from the kids who were now arguing about who played the game the most. The cashier was a teenager, 15 at least, and had a bored expression as she scrolled through her phone.

“Hello. We're here to buy the Digital Arena console thingie,” said Ashley as she waved at the boxes.

“Me too!” exclaimed Marcus. The teenager looked up.

“Cash or credit? And after a painstakingly long discussion about how they both had different payment options, and yes, they could carry the box all the way home, the girl went back in the storage and grabbed two of the boxes.

“Why can't we take one of those?” questioned Marcus. That intrigued the teen.

She leaned in and whispered, “Those boxes are empty. About a week ago one of those kids tried to steal one. It's a safety caution.” and with that, she returned to her phone.

As they got to Marcus' house, his Mom greeted them at the door.

“Oh! Here come the shoppers! I'll let your Dad help you set that up. I'll make Sandwiches.” Ashley grinned at Marcus. She liked sandwiches. They immediately tried to set the console up. The instructions made no sense. And Marcus' dad just got tangled in wires. Though eventually they got the console up. Marcus grabbed his phone. And after a quizzical look from Ashley, he explained how he made game reviews.

When they turned the consoles on, a soothing splash of colors floated on a black background, as words appeared on the screen.

“Why not?” said Ashley, as she pressed yes on her controller. The robotic voice talked again.

“Marcus”

“Ashley”

Marcus and Ashley exchanged looks.

“Sandwiches,” replied Ashely

“Really? I'm more of a spaghetti guy,” answered Marcus.

“I'm going to use big words. He's witty,” said Ashley.

“Well she's umm…stubborn? In a funny way?” countered Marcus.

The questions continued on and on. Until Marcus had to stop filming to take a lunch break and recharge his phone. It was a peaceful yet bizarre sequence, and a little bit after lunch, the game had decided.

“Prepare to lose, Ashley,” said Marcus.