Breakfast treats: from toys to tech

By Elihu Rubin

I carefully open my box of Corn Chex breakfast cereal. I reach deep into the dark recesses of the cardboard container, hoping to find some gimmicky toy to captivate my attention as I peacefully munch the crispy corn.

I expect to come upon a magical decoder ring, or perhaps some temporary tattoos, as I wade through a thick sea of Chex. Anticipation quickly builds, as I begin to speculate on the little plastic gadget I will soon own.

Finally my hand latches onto something. It's flat...circular...it's a compact disc--a CD-ROM game called Chex Quest. As if that is not enough, the disc also comes with 50 free hours of Internet fun from America OnLine.

It seems that General Mills and America OnLine have teamed up for a promotional coup. The technology firm created an odd game that stars a giant piece of Corn Chex that has become a potent superhero who miraculously doesn't get soggy in milk! Chex describes the game: "You know they're in there. You hear the distant cries of your cereal friends held captive by the evil slime-toting creatures--the Flemoids. You have the chance to save your citizens and zap these gooey creatures back to their own dimension before they imprison you in Goo! Do you accept the challenge?"

I accept. Objective: kill Flemoids. It goes on:

"Get ready for some non-stop action! Get ready for some state-of-the-art fun! Get ready for Chex Quest, the first ever CD-ROM cereal game!"

Wow. I did not realize that this was the first ever CD-ROM cereal game. In fact, I had expected that this was merely the latest in a long tradition of CD-ROM cereal games. I imagine the possibilities: Pops Power, Frosted Flakes Fantasy-Land, Rice Krispies Kastle, Raisin Bran Bonanza, Apple Jacks Adventure, and The Great Grape-Nuts Caper.

I take a moment to marvel at how mainstream our technology revolution has become. I pity the small child who was hoping to find a toy, but instead found a piece of digital technology. What's he going to do with such a thing? Give him a toy car!

Wait a second. I suppose a child does know what to do with it. I imagine most 10-year-olds know how to use a CD-ROM far better than I do. It's the new generation of toys. Technology has created a whole new vocabulary of leisure entertainment for America's youth.

You have to keep up with the times. As you age, if you don't continually follow what is new and developing in technology, you'll find yourself lost--a mere remnant of the times. Your previous knowledge is now nothing more than an artifact.

So here I am with my Chex Quest CD-ROM in hand. I start to think about all the fun that I must be missing due to my information-age ignorance. All those 10-year-olds are sitting in front of their computer monitors, their eyes glazed over as they kill and maim the nasty Flemoids. But what can I do?

I take the disc to Old Campus and use it as a frisbee.

Elihu Rubin is a junior in Saybrook.

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