Goodbye morning, Hello bedtime?

I fully recognize I’m what you might call a "casual game enthusiast." (some say "casual game freak," but why the hate?) However, any time I sit down to play a game with my morning coffee and stand up wondering why my wife is serving up soy-free turkey meatloaf for (what I think is) breakfast, I know I've found something particularly special. So went my morning one day earlier this week. The culprit of my timewarp I call "fun"? Now Boarding: Episode 1.

Countless are the times the avid air traveller has encountered customer service representatives that conveniently forget their job is to help their customers, baggage handlers who feel the need to re-enact a combination of last weekend's Stomp concert and tonight's grunge mosh pit starring your luggage in a featured role or frazzled, disgruntled and curiously distracted gate agents. (So, what is on those green-screen monitors circa 1992 that they hide from our view? Are you guys playing Oregon Trail instead of re-booking my flight?) Not to mention airport terminal eateries whose fare lost it’s "edible" properties around the same time as the cashiers M.C. Hammer pants lost their fashion appeal.

Now Boarding gives us the chance to finally prove what we have all been quietly, internally inquiring: "I could totally do this better." Through scheduling flights, herding passengers to aircraft, re-designing routes, and planning in-terminal concessions and services, Now Boarding gives you the control to act upon your snark criticisms garnered throughout your extensive repertoire of airport management experience to solve the common problems that have apparently eluded every major airline carrier and airport administration since the Wright Brothers invented the practice of routine overbooking. ("Wilbur, what do you mean there's no more available seats?")

Is this once in a lifetime opportunity to put your (virtual) money where your mouth is a otherworldly gift from The Creator? Not this time (at least directly), just the lowercase creators at Gabob, the source of several of my most favorite diversions from reality. (Although, I am a fan of adding "The" in front of names to signify awesomeness, see The Ohio State University. Just a thought, Tim and Tom at Gabob.)

Not without it's challenges (you try sending a 747 to Orlando via Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta and New Orleans), Now Boarding will evaporate your Monday morning Starbucks into a late afternoon "sit down" with an ornery, confused superior who, for some reason, won't stop repeating "I just don't understand where you've been for the past 7 hours."

Despite that this version is just a smidgen of the full downloadable version, Episode 1 of the Career mode will wet your airport management appetite just enough to prep you to dive into the Free Play mode which lets you choose your own hub and play throughout the entire U.S.

Now Boarding is a long awaited, genuinely fun time management game that doesn’t involve serving diner food, babysitting or various flavors of real estate development.