The mini game playing area was much simpler than the regular game. The start-up screen loaded so fast that there wasn't even a countdown.

I was standing inside a deep purple, narrow, rectangular prism with a black background and neon green grid lines around it. I couldn’t tell how deep the prism was, but it was only as tall and wide as my arms, times two. It was infinite behind and in front of me, as far as I could tell, then I saw:

GAME STARTS IN

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2

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GO!

Immediately in front of me, two shapes began flying at me at almost the same speed. It was as if someone turned on all the wind in the world and it was only in this narrow tunnel-like prism. The shapes were coming so fast! I knew it was my job to catch them, which was just by touching them, but then I had to hold them long enough to slam my hand into the walls around me and line up four of them. The theme was flying pastries, but the red-hot coffees were to be avoided, they would feel like they were burning me and I’d lose points.

The shapes got clear- one was a croissant and the other, a glowing red coffee cup. I ducked the cup and it zoomed past my shoulder as I reached low and slammed the croissant into the wall, where it pinged- and stayed. YES!

More shapes whooshed into existence and were flying straight towards me!

I missed a zooming donut and lost some points, then I caught a flying éclair and slapped it into place. I had a nice diagonal line going with the first two. Almost instantly, a glowing cup zoomed into view, almost too fast to dodge and I felt it whoosh by my hip- too close! I needed another two pastries, I couldn’t get burned!

Then, a bubble tea cup appeared in the distance, glowing pink. It didn’t fly in a straight line, it was spiraling randomly and I saw it was the bonus- the same bonus I typed in before! It might only come once in the whole game! I knew I HAD to get it! I bent my knees and jumped as high as I could to catch it as it whizzed over my head and as I jumped, another glowing coffee rushed right at me and hit my foot.

I caught the glowing bonus bubble tea, but there was a searing pain near my toes for a second- ouch!

POWER UP - ICE, ICE, BABY

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I didn’t know what it meant, but I figured it out a microsecond later when another glowing cup hurtled toward me and I instinctively hit it away from my face. Instead of burning my hand, it changed into a smoothie!

I slammed the smoothie into the other side of the prism wall from the pastries- now I had TWO sets of things I was collecting, cold drinks or pastries! What if I could hit two things at once?

Facing the oncoming shapes, I aimed my leg out to kick the whooshing muffin and shot out my ice hand to hit the glowing coffee cup coming for my head. I kicked the muffin into place and just barely got the cup against the wall, but it stayed! One more pastry for the win!

Two more shapes flew at me, something coming at my belly and something far too low, in the left hand corner! Instinctively, I threw myself like a football goalie at the corner and tapped something into the wall, while my knee caught a cookie and it stuck there. I had seconds before it “unstuck”.

Moving faster than I thought possible, I slapped my hand at my knee and swatted the cookie hard. It flew into its spot in the diagonal line. Then a bright yellow glow enveloped the row of treats- I had caught all four!

GAME OVER

GAME OVER

GAME OVER

I appeared back in the lobby a second later- I was so disorientated I fell straight off the podium and landed on my knees. There was cheering- that was a little strange.

But then, as I got up, I realised the cheering was… for me?

I won?

I WON THE MINI GAME!

I couldn’t see Marcus or Speedy Sue anywhere. And (even MORE strange!) the overly made-up lady was clapping for me (What? Since when?) and so was the friendly security guard. Out of the lobby speakers, a countdown began:

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“I won!” I called out.

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“You did,” cheered the guard. “You’re going back in….”

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“... in 27 seconds,” he finished.

27

I took a quick breath and dived for the nearest glass of water.

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I grabbed it from the table where I’d sat before and guzzled it down. It was the best drink of water I’ve ever had and when I looked up it was….

12

I took another breath and another sip, thankful there was ice in the drink. The mini game was intense! Wait…

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I looked again at the glass in my hands and blinked in shock. Where did the ice come from?

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The glass. In my hands. Had ice.

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I stared at my hands, holding the glass… ice was forming.

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That’s not how ice works. Well, duh, where’d the ice…come.. from…

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Do I… do I have… ice… hands?

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As an experiment, I sat down with my back to the guard and the excitable lady. I tapped on the side of the glass with my finger, and inside the water, a small blob of ice formed.

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I’m either going crazy, or I just made an ice cube JUST by thinking about it.

I stared at it, the little bit of ice that wasn’t there until I tapped it and thought about it and now…

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MISSION TWO: GO!