By Ayah Hassan, Staff Writer
It’s taking the school by storm. Students who originally downloaded the game just to try it can’t tear their eyes away from the screen. Desperate students are spotted vigorously shaking their phones in hopes that they will achieve their goal: getting a watermelon.
I Want Watermelon is a game where the player continuously taps the screen to control where each fruit will fall. The goal is to match the fruits that come together to create a bigger fruit, eventually becoming a watermelon. The only catch is that if one of the fruits passes the line at the top of the screen, you lose and are forced to start from the beginning. Occasionally a button will appear, labeled “shaker.” If you get this option and choose to use it, you are then directed to an ad in exchange for five seconds of shaking your device in an attempt to get the fruits closer together.
As the fruits drop, the device will lightly vibrate and make a popping sound, made to provide relaxation to the player. “It’s a really good game to just unwind and mindlessly play,” says senior Divya Kumar. Sophomore Abi Asante disagrees, relaying that the game “is a bit stressful at times.” While the game involves some strategic thinking when deciding where to place the fruits, which might be stressful in a way, it also has a relaxing aspect to it. Many play this game when feeling stressed or in an attempt to unwind, like chemistry teacher Ms. Wester who says that she “just kind of [plays] it to relax a little bit.”
While some found the game to be difficult and struggled to get their first watermelon, others found that the game came naturally to them. “It’s really addicting but it’s also really hard,” says junior Rachel Bowers.“ My high score is 1,710 and I have one watermelon,” she shares. Abi Asante, who reportedly also began playing the watermelon game a couple of weeks ago, conveys that her “high score is 4,607 and [that she has] 75 watermelons.”
Many students share their mixed opinions about the game. “I would rate it an eight because it’s satisfying. It lost two points because of how difficult it is.” junior Aliyah Ally communicates. Kumar gives a similar rating stating that she gives “it a good 8.5. It’s a solid game. The only bad part is that it has some ads.” freshman Anjali Jain disagrees. “I think it’s like a six.” she says “It’s fun but I played it for a few days then it got kinda boring. I still play it sometimes though.”
While opinions on I Want Watermelon differ, it is clear that its popularity at River Hill is tremendous.