Who doesn't need Lockdown Relief? That's the name of a games group which a Mthatha professional nurse, Tobeka Phumza Rave-Matroshe, started on WhatsApp for her friends and family as an escape from reality.
"I set it up in the early days because everybody was so morbid and stressed and sharing scary videos and stats, and all this did was cause panic. I wanted it to be a platform for some fun and to take people's minds off this," says the 44-year-old.
Even those who have been games-averse in the past have found the bonding, sense of control and escapism that games offer to be irresistible in an era of doom and isolation - and enforced time at home. The curfew is back.
Rave-Matroshe says: "The group was a mix of everybody I know: friends from causes, from work and family. There was one rule, no negative messages around Covid-19."
Initially she organised two or three quizzes a day but this slowed down when she was on duty. Now people share riddles, funny videos, jokes and encouragement as well as quizzes among the group, which has proved an enduring hit.
The popularity of games during lockdown has soared worldwide and SA is no different, as all generations join in.
On the eve of lockdown, puzzles sold out and there was a run on board games. Classic board games, from Risk and Monopoly to Scrabble, have attracted new fans online.
A Cape Town anaesthetist plays Scrabble on his phone if he gets a moment to himself in the hospital. "In the tearoom we all have masks and it is difficult to talk. Scrabble gives you something else to do besides worrying about Covid-19," he says.
Dzana Investments CEO Nkateko Khoza says of the word game: "I have been playing literally since lockdown and I'm an addict for sure. I play Scrabble first thing in the morning, during lunch, in the evening before I fall asleep."
Humans are wired to play but adults forget this in "normal life", says independent toy judge and parenting guru Nikki Bush.
"Lockdown has been a reminder of its benefits: obviously these are entertainment, diversion, a whole fantasy world you can escape into and, of course, a sense of belonging and togetherness, which is what everybody is wanting now," she says.
Retro games, like Age of Empires, have made a comeback among young professionals who played them at school and want to reconnect with friends.
"I grew up playing Age of Empires with my brothers, in a family that loved games," says remedial therapist Mantoine Blom, from Hartbeespoort Dam. "My husband and I are social and were missing everyone during lockdown.
"Age of Empires was a way to 'kuier' and hang out together," says 28-year-old Blom, one of the group of eight or 10 friends who play in teams on weekends.
RECLAIMING CONTROL
Card games online, from bridge to poker, have attracted regular and new players during lockdown.
Poker ace Maria Konnikova, author of the new book The Biggest Bluff, says: "Games are a safe space and this is even more important right now . we have lost so much control and we're being told what to do a lot of the time. It is a way of reclaiming control psychologically.
"At least in this environment you can choose what to do and have different experiences. You can try out different personalities, be more aggressive or more passive when you play."
An experimental psychologist and writer, Dr Konnikova took a sabbatical to learn to play poker - to get better at making decisions in life with incomplete information - and ended up winning major poker tournaments.
"Poker is such an important lesson for life: you never know what will happen," says Konnikova, adding that the card game prepared her as well as could be for the unpredictability of a pandemic.
For those who want to test their intellect in a more predictable format, there is the online quiz.
Pre-pandemic, Jon Keevy was a pub quiz and dungeon master after dark, but following the imposition of lockdown he has reinvented himself into a sought-after quiz whizz in the virtual world. What this lacks in beer and boisterousness, the teams on Keevy's weekly quiz make up for in his chat room.
Despite his quirky elegance - one person bid a fortune for his mother-made waistcoat in a charity quiz - Keevy's is not a weekly performance for the 100 to 200 people who sign up. Rather, he offers friends a chance to catch up and test their knowledge (or lack thereof).
"So many of my friends say they feel like they have been hanging out with me, but I don't see the faces or hear the voices. I must connect them to obscure chat names (like Pineapples & Yeast)," he says.
Obscure clues and sleuthing are usually found in another format, the detective genre, which includes the board game Cluedo and the role-playing game Murder Mystery.
IT executive Wilna Kruger says playing a murder mystery game is a way to unwind. "You step out of your current reality into an imaginary environment and there is lots of laughter."
Richard Wiseman, professor in the public understanding of psychology at the UK's Hertfordshire University, says the increase in game-playing reflects the need for bonding.
"At the moment, many people are isolated and, when they do meet, they need something that helps with conversation and passing the time. Games are great for that."
An experimental psychologist, he designed an online game about the risks of social interaction during coronavirus calledCan You Save the World? Wiseman says: "My first (bad) result was: 'You are confined', unlike my 14-year-old son, who saved more than 1,000 lives.
"I had the idea when I was walking along outside, trying to avoid people. It felt as if I was playing a computer game. Lots of people were struggling with the concept, and parents were finding it difficult to explain social distancing to their children in a non-scary way.
"The game helps with all of that because it is fun to play and so associates the idea with a positive emotion." Unlike the board game Pandemic!
Fabio Salvador, a founding member of Unplug Yourself, says long before the virus the resurgence of board games had triggered an entirely new generation of games. An increasing number of them, including favourites like Catan, which won the German "Oscar" for games, went digital.
CLASSICS GO DIGITAL
Classic board games have succeeded in migrating to the digital world, says tech trend expert Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx.
Mass media are also influencing the popularity of games, with hit TV series like The Big Bang Theory sparking a revival in the old role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, and Game of Thrones giving rise to its own board game.
Salvador says: "Many computer games rely on reflex speed. Board games slow down to a social speed. They also give people a sense of sharing the experience, like solving a puzzle."
People have come up with creative ideas to take table-top board game experience onto platforms like Zoom and Skype, he says. "The more modern games are more interactive and a lot more conducive to spending time together."
Board games - which offer spatial and sensory input - are an antidote to time on screens, says Bush.
"They transcend normal day-to-day language and are a good way of switching the brain to a different channel. The concentration they offer is quite de-stressing and soothing," she says.
Games like poker show how chance affects us all, says Konnikova. She saw this in her social media communities as the US pandemic was taking off. "The people who realised how scary this was and reacted the most quickly were not the psychologists. They were the poker players."
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