Games to Play While You Recover from Sports Injuries

Napoli's Belgian forward Dries Mertens reacts after an injury during the Italian Serie A football match between SSC Napoli and Fiorentina ACF in San Paolo Stadium on March 23, 2014. AFP PHOTO / CARLO HERMANN (Photo credit should read CARLO HERMANN/AFP/Getty Images)

Napoli’s Belgian forward Dries Mertens reacts after an injury during the Italian Serie A football match between SSC Napoli and Fiorentina ACF in San Paolo Stadium on March 23, 2014. AFP PHOTO / CARLO HERMANN (Photo credit should read CARLO HERMANN/AFP/Getty Images)

Don’t you hate it when you are sidelined because of an injury? When you can’t join your team, can’t help defeat the enemy (well, uhm, your opponents, sorry) because you were unlucky enough to hurt your arm, your leg, or any of your extremities? I’m sure I do. It makes me mad – not just because I’m unable to help, but especially because I’m (usually) unable to move. And at these times I endear myself with the next best thing – a sports-inspired video slot machine.

I have to confess I am fascinated by slot machines. Even as a child, when a movable feast came to town (I lived in a small town, with no arcade of its own – and it was the eighties) other kids would flock to the arcade games, while I hit the slot machines. This game has remained a preferred pastime for me even now, when I’m (a bit more) grown-up. And when I’m sidelined because of a sports injury (and it happens more often than you think) I head over to Royal Vegas and choose top sports slot. The one to match the sport that got me into bed in the first place.

The sport to give me the most headache (and leg injury) is soccer. Luckily, the Royal Vegas has two great games that can help me through the recovery process: Football Star and Shoot!. The first one is a more recent game (launched to honor the 2014 FIFA World Cup), and captures the spirit of the game almost perfectly. It has loads of soccer-related symbols on its reels, and the background noise of a stadium. Great. The other soccer-inspired slot machine at the Royal Vegas is Shoot!, honoring the long running UK sports magazine. I’ve stumbled upon a few old issues in the past, and the game was perfect to remind me of the heroes of the game (like Pele, Maradona and others) and the smell of old paper. Great again.

When winter comes, me and my friends exchange the ball with a stick and a puck, and the grass with ice. As you might have guessed, I’m the clumsy one on ice, which means lots of bruises and quite a lot of bed time. Which means that I’m back to the Royal Vegas, and the hockey-themed slot machine called Break Away (not my bones, hopefully). Break Away is surprisingly similar to Football Star, the slot machine I mentioned above, but it’s about hockey. No wonder I love them both. It has helped me get better quite a few times in the past (to be honest, I am always careful not to be fatally injured).

The developer behind the above-mentioned games has released others in the same series, inspired by cricket, rugby and basketball. I wonder – should I pick up new sports, and new injuries?

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