For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 23, 2022

Never have I owned NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, or any other gaming console that you hook up to your television.

Gamming is an addictive habit.

We saw my 16 year old Grandson twice during Christmas. Briefly on Christmas eve, and Christmas morning. World of Warcraft and Fortnite I think.

Michael deserves no sympathy.

Mike would become the Angry Canadian Video Game Nerd

I can’t imagine going to my mother when I was Michael’s age to complain that my thumbs were sore after playing video games. This is like parent Wish Fulfillment Theater.

If you want sympathy, it’s in the dictionary…..

“For what, Michael? You never told me for what you expected to receive my sympathy! You merely walked up to me, brandishing your thumbs, expecting me to know what the intended message was! It’s not my fault if you choose to be a non-verbal jackanapes!”

None, Michael.

The sound effects in the opening panel suggest a duet between Cab Calloway and Ella Fitzgerald……

I didn’t know they had wireless controllers in the 16 bit era

Eh? I don’t remember Mario fighting the Angry Sun with a sword…

Lynn’s Comments:

After this strip ran, I was sent a set of video game gloves meant to keep your wrists and thumbs from getting sore from poking away at a game controller. I couldn’t believe someone had actually patented and marketed such a thing. It’s a crazy new world!

No.

C’mon man. Take the responsibility of doing wrong thing in the first place.

Nope. Not a bit of it. ….now what do I think you should do with your thumb? Hummmm…

Mike’s prize is to get to do the dinner dishes.

Sore thumbs from a game that’s dumb!

I have a sister in law who is a physical therapist. I asked her if she was worried about her job prospects now that the Boomer generation is dying off? She told me she was until she saw all the young people with their games and phones, she said, “Now I’m set for life!”

Whew! That’s a relief, I guess. We were all concerned.

He found the off ramp!

Had the original Atari, and later the Atari 800.

I go,all the way back to Atari with the joysticks.

Nintendo Switch is much kinder to the fingers.

Yeah. I’m sorry I got you that for Christmas……

For a Sunday strip, this one’s pretty lame. Lynn must have had a head cold and couldn’t think up anything better.

I think this one is much better colored.

well i started with a vic20 and moved up to the 64, coleco ( which was great), the amiga, and then built my own systems ( which i still have ).

Geez Mike, 16 years and you still expect sympathy from ELLY? There’s been no water in that stone since the 19th Century ended. Just hold your thumbs against something ice cold, like your sister!

Well… no.

When one of the siblings would come in, fresh from a day of physical activity, roughhousing, and such, and claim they couldn’t do household chores because an arm or leg hurt, my mother had a great response. “I guess we’ll just have to chop it off, then.”

No sympathy for anything self inflicted.

TO THE EDITOR

I wish to report a sports injury attributable to the excessive playing of video games. A 35-year-old woman visited my home during the Christmas holidays, at which time my sons received a Nintendo video game. The woman, who had not previously engaged in this recreational activity, pursued it with enthusiasm, playing without interruption for five hours. The following day, she had severe pain in the region of the extensor tendon of the right thumb, which had been used to press a button repeatedly. There was tenderness but no erythema or swelling in this area. Low doses of ibuprofen and abstinence from video games for several days resulted in complete resolution of the discomfort. I suggest that this sports-related injury be called “Nintendinitis.”

Richard Brasington, M.D.

Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI 54449

May 17, 1990

N Engl J Med 1990; 322:1473-1474

DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199005173222020

we spent many hours on an Atari 128 playing 135 levels of load runner.

I got a SNES and a game that had aeroplane flying/landing, helo, and jet pack games. I got it because my dad was a pliot (AAC/USAF bomber WWII & Korea), and I thought I’d be able to talk planes with him better if I had some “experience.” My experience was basically crash on landing mostly.

That’s why you’re supposed to take breaks. I have tendonitis in both thumbs (not from video games), so I have to be careful about playing too much. Thankfully, my Switch controllers are much more ergonomic than older console controllers, & I haven’t had too much trouble— except when I first started Animal Crossing at the beginning of lockdown & was playing a lot.

I will sympathize for you, Mike. Dequervains synovitis is nothing to sneeze at. Took me out of commission for a long time. And I am a writer!

My doctor says that 40-59 year old are suffering from arthritis on their gaming thumbs. She calls it M*rio-itus.

Hey! You’re the one who decided to play video games all days instead of doing your homework and your chores like you’re suppose to!