The gane isn’t even “free”. My had it on her phone, and it was available through a netflix subscription.

I showed her her that the game is deliberately handing her a losing hand so it plays a Temu ad, and there’s no luck or skill involved.

Uninstalled.

I had a bunch of Linux-loving, anti-ad, tinfoil hat employees in the early 00s. They tried to convince me of how bad things will become. It turns out that their tinfoil hats weren’t nearly thick enough.

How long before so much of daily life is governed by such algorithms, models, dark patterns? “Oh, you didn’t pay rapt attention to the entire chain of ads. Guess your car is going to have to break down this week and your egg prices will go up 25% at every grocery store.”