15 Days: Part 27 – May 16th to May 31st

There’s No Time To Nap at ZZAP

We’re back on track and 15 Days has arrived in a timely manner compared to last time. I like to get these written up and out as soon as the current 15 days have passed so I can concentrate on doing interesting things for the next one.

Part 27 covers:

• Masuku
• ZZAP Live! 2026
• Destiny 2 – End of an Era
• Puzzle Post in Waterstones
• Fitness Update

Masuku: Normally, this initial mention of a game would indicate one I am testing but, on this occasion, I’m not. In fact, it’s here because I think it’s a really lovely game and one that I play daily, or as often as I can. I think it’s worth bringing attention to so it gets a shout out from me.

For background, the Steam page’s description is: ‘In MASUKU Demo you have access to the daily challenge mode from the MASUKU full game. Place cards on the grid to score points based on the current rules and get to 50 in the fewest moves.’

The premise is straight-forward and the tutorial quick to run through so starting the game and getting into it is, in my opinion, easy. It doesn’t take long to play but I often find myself having half a dozen attempts in order to improve my score and move up the leaderboard.

And as it’s been a while since I shared a clip of me playing a game, here’s my attempt at the daily challenge on 31st May. Have a go. See how you get on.

The developer of Masuku, Lowtek Games, has also released games such as FLEA! 2, Tapeworm Disco Puzzle and Chew Chew Mimic (the latter of which won the Debug Retro World Award 2024), and will be showcasing Masuku in the upcoming Next Fest running from 15th to 22nd June. It’s well worth taking the time to play and I’m looking forward to the full game when it releases.

If you’re interested, the Steam link is here: MASUKU

ZZAP Live! 2026: This event was the reason Part 26 was late. Having moved their venue from Kenilworth to Coventry due to a need for more space and to accommodate its ever-growing popularity, I decided to stay overnight this time, and therefore spent a bit more of the day exploring what was on offer than I have in the past.

I’ve mentioned this before when I’ve attended previous ZZAPs; having access to hardware and games from a time where I was born about ten years too late is a privilege, especially with my introduction to home computers being the Spectrum 48K. CRASH Live! is the Spectrum sister event to ZZAP, where ZZAP concentrates more on the Commodore than anything else.

I am always learning though and the one machine that constantly gets spoken about in these social circles is the Amiga. Again, not a machine I am familiar with but as I learn more, especially as I work on UrbX Warriors with Stoo and Tony AKA Brazen Gameplay, I can’t help but feel a growing admiration for it. Couple that with documentaries I picked up while I was at ZZAP, and these history lessons are pulling together a picture of a remarkable time where jumps in generational hardware quality were moments of triumph and joy, as opposed to today’s smaller, less obvious improvements.

And as a first true experience of playing a Commodore Amiga A600, I sat down with R-Type 2 for a while and got lost in one of my all-time favourite game series.

Here are more selected photos from the event. I am getting slightly better at remembering to take photos…although, admittedly, not quite there yet. However, it was great to see the entire Evercade cartridge collection all laid out. The Evercade handhelds look great too plus the C64 and Spectrum handhelds, currently on pre-order, were also on show, spinning around in their display cases and looking particularly wonderful. It took me a little while to snap a picture with them facing forward!

Lowtek Games also made an appearance, which is why I know about Masuku, and I’ve mentioned Immortal Joysticks before and love the quality of their work but this last picture is full of tech I have no idea about. Regardless, even though I’m not sure what is going on in that photo, I still think it looks awesome.

Destiny 2 – End of an Era: Last time, I wrote about how Destiny 2 should have ended with the last expansion The Final Shape. Certainly, I read it as my cue to say goodbye. But Bungie decided to continue and so I went my way, while they went theirs.

Which was fine until this dropped: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/d2_may_21_2026

This link takes you to an article titled: ‘Destiny 2: Every End is a New Beginning’ and confirms with this line, ‘…on June 9, 2026, we will release the final live-service content update for Destiny 2…’.

I’m not going to go into all the online reaction, counter-reaction and analysis. Personally, I think ending the live-service content is probably the right choice despite how painful it is for players who have spent twelve years making memories, forging friendships and experiencing the story. However, I’m also not saying that how it’s come about is the correct approach but I believe it is necessary. The fallout, the business side of things, and the hate that I’ve seen within the community has never appealed to me; although the love is there in equal measure and deeply appreciated. This stuff aside, at the core of it all I just wanted to play a game with my friends that took me on adventures, and Destiny 2 has done that and more. I did, for a moment, also think there was extreme overreaction to the news but I caught myself and thought ‘If Blizzard ever stops making content for World of WarCraft, I’m not sure how I’d react. I would be gutted.’. So, there we are, I actually do understand. It’s not an overreaction; it’s the end of an era.

I don’t think Blizzard are near that kind of thinking (I’m guessing). With a subscription needed to play the game, I believe that’s probably the main differentiator (from a business perspective; although I am also aware that its enduring allure over twenty years is not insignificant, along with many other valid reasons) between the survival odds of both games.

Anyway, Destiny 2 will still be playable, and maybe now people will play it for the fun it brings and appreciate it more, rather than what has at times been a constant, irritating grind and then bizarre demand for more, along with a (hopefully) diminishing awareness (as a player) of the business side, which really should just have remained hidden behind the scenes, and not acted as a distraction from its excellent gameplay. But we live in a different world now compared to when I was a kid and it was just the console, a TV, a couple of controllers, a few games and my friends. So, who knows? All I do know is that I’ll still log in every so often and enjoy the game as I have done ever since the end of The Final Shape.

I could write lots about Destiny 2, and I probably will elsewhere, but I’ll leave this topic with something I’ve learned over time via several painful lessons: sometimes there can be too much of a good thing and sometimes it’s better to take what you’ve learned and experienced, and apply it to something else that will be stronger and better for it. It can be painful but in doing so you take that memory and allow it to live on in what lies ahead. And that is more than most can hope for.

Puzzle Post in Waterstones: Yes, that’s right! Puzzle Post games on the shelves of Waterstones. I was very happy to see some of the titles they offer right before my eyes. As you know, I like to collect physical copies of the games I’ve tested and add them to my ‘Testing Shelf’ and so I grabbed ‘The Disappearance’ for that very reason. I’m sure I’ll pick up the rest over time but there was a smile on my face, and a touch of awe and pride to simply see it in the shops. That never gets old.

Fitness Update: I won’t add these in every blog but I wanted to share some good progress and a few notes on what I’ve learned recently. The new habit of using ‘Dead Time’ continues with the pre-work and post-work sessions, and I’ve now added leg raises and side planks to the rota. I’ve also doubled the number of bicep curls and increased the exercise bike resistance a quarter turn so what was an increase before, is now my default. I like these quarter turns because they encourage me to push myself sensibly and over a timeframe that feels natural. I am forty-five after all and, despite having been out of regular exercise for many years, I know better than anyone what I can do and what my current limits are.

At least I write that, believe it, and then ignore it because where I was doing 15 to 20 minutes on the bike, one morning I decided to push for 30 minutes and ended on 42:31. I felt really great. It wasn’t too much and it was a good new marker.

What was too much was doing 44:07 minutes the very next day, in the hottest weather of the year so far. Again, I felt great straight afterwards but paid the price the next day because I’m simply not at the level of fitness I was years ago. Fatigue and aching followed, along with some minor illness so I took the next three days off to recover. Thankfully no injuries at all; just no energy. However, I do now have the knowledge that my dedication and commitment remains and is here to stay. I can sense where my trajectory is heading and, most importantly, what kind of incremental increases will be most useful and appropriate over the time ahead.

And yes, I am drinking more water and doing my stretches. 😁

That’s it for now. Until next time, as always, stay safe and thank you for reading.

Paul.