A strange little side quest
Jewels Blitz may feel immediate, but the ideas around puzzles have been evolving for a very long time. Arthur Wynne published a diamond-shaped 'Word-Cross' in the New York World on December 21, 1913; the name later shifted to 'Cross-Word' and then 'crossword'. It also connects to a different milestone: Pac-Man went on sale in 1980, and its creator Toru Iwatani famously linked the character's shape to a pizza with a slice missing. The details change, but the appeal of learning a system and trying again is remarkably persistent.