There are few better ways to confuse a fourteen year-old physics student then combining an apple, gravity, and the disembodied head of Albert Einstein. Enter Way of an Idea: a refreshing break from the disturbing emerging pattern in online games of zombies, fecal fun and dress-up your favorite teenage vampire heart throb. While I’m decidedly no Isaac Newton, Doogie Houser (M.D.) or Sheldon, it’s relieving to find a simple, yet incredibly entertaining, distraction from the boredom of my daily monotony that can challenge my average public high school physics education. (B+, baby!) But ye be warned: her plain appearance be deceiving! It beckons you in with the warm, consoling screech of chalk on a chalkboard, only to confound and stupefy with complicated gizmos, rotating thingamabobs and surprised wha-cha-ma-call-its. “Arr, gravity! She be a harsh mistress.”

The gameplay is simple enough: draw, erase, engage reality. The levels are increasingly complex, and the guys at Flazm have even provided an outlet for the inner nerd and/or geek (the rare “gerdneek”) to burst forth in a cornucopia of pocket protectors and acne cream in search of trivial triumphs and an undeserved sense of self worth: the “build your own level” feature on their community site.

However, make no mistake; Way of an Idea is no ordinary game. It rivals the greatest accomplishments of mankind: the building of the Great Pyramid, the discovery of Penicillin, the Space Race, Al Gore’s “Global Warming,” the discovery that the Internet has uses other than cheap, anonymous porn. This “game” transcends them all through one understated, but brilliant feature: a button that can pause reality. Now, if I can only figure out how to install it on my morning commute.