I almost hate to admit it, but a new iPad game sucked me in and ignited the pyro in all of us: Little Inferno. The premise of the game is that you’re a kid in some town in some future place that’s getting hammered by snow storms. It’s cold and getting colder. So Tomorrow Corporation has created all these household fireplaces where kids can burn things — toys, stuffed animals, bugs, batteries and, of course, discount sushi and tiny nuclear bombs. To get more stuff, you order it from the Tomorrow Now catalog. Delivery is wicked fast at first, but slows as you progress through the game. If you’re impatient, you can use the rewards you get for burning things to speed up your shipments and buy more stuff. It’s all part of the game, and don’t worry, the guys behind Experimental Gameplay Group got it right: Little Inferno costs $4.99 and there are no pesky or irritating or deceiving in-app purchases. I love that fact.
One more thing: I wouldn’t give the game to small children. Not at all. And probably not to every teenager, either. As for adults, you just need to be confident that you’re not really a pyromaniac — or that you’ll freak out when burning toy seems eerily alive.