In my time behind the various consoles, I’ve put in some marathon gaming sessions, occasionally hitting mental states very near to sleep. But I sometimes actually do remember to eat or drink something during a several-hour binge. Mostly because I start feeling too weak to hold up the controller without significant effort.
It’s about then that I reach for something to get me going again. You’re probably thinking, “Duh, caffeine.” But you’d be wrong. Caffeine for whatever reason doesn’t have much of an effect on me, and besides that, Mountain Dew just isn’t a substitute for actually eating something.
But some foods are better for eating while playing games than others, especially if you can do some planning beforehand. I’m going to run down some choices and their relative pros/cons. We’ll start off with some obvious choices:
Chips are pretty much a given. It’s easy to grab a few during a break in the action, cram ’em down your throat, and continue gaming. But, unless you get baked chips, they’re a little on the greasy side, which makes your controller slippery, and if you do get baked chips, they’re pretty gross. Chips with flavored powder on them (like Doritos) are delicious, but you get that cheesy, gunky residue all over your fingers, which gets on your controller, which gunks it up worse than just the grease does. And anything that requires dip? Forget about it.
Pizza’s convenient, since you can call up your favorite pizza joint and they’ll cook it and bring it right to you. But, eating pizza really requires two hands to do properly, so it’s really only viable if you’re taking turns and it’s not your turn or during the next several-minute long cutscene, and who knows when that’s going to happen.
Candy seems like an obvious choice, especially the non-chocolatey kind. It’s not messy, tastes great, and comes in these little wrappers. Which makes them good for a quick fix, but if you’ve ever eaten nothing but candy for a whole day (and I have) you’re going to start feeling… weird. Weird is not good.
Fruits are actually a decent choice. Not necessarily because they’re reasonably healthy, but because several of them come in their own wrappers. Just stay away from the ones you have to peel and you’re golden. Stuff like pears and apples are OK, but once you eat more than half of it, you can’t just sit it down without getting the flesh all gross, so bitesize stuff is a much better choice. Like cherries, grapes, or strawberries.
Simple sandwiches are also a good choice. Throwing your favorite filling between two slices of bread takes almost no time at all. As long as you don’t go overboard making a Dagwood, that is. Just make sure you have a paper towel or plate handy so you can throw down your sandwich between bites, and you’re in business.
I’ve tried a few other things, like soups, cereal, or even some herbal stimulants that were marketed toward golfers (no, I’m not kidding), but nothing has worked as well as fruits and sandwiches. I’m interested to see what other people have come up with to get them through marathon gaming sessions.