Kind of like ‘having one’s balls in a vice’. It actually refers to the old days when ball bearings were made by hand. It was tedious work and the pressure to make ball bearings for the burgeoning industrial revolution was intense. They were cut out of metal and then polished smooth, secured in a vice. Hence, ‘having your balls in a vice’ meant being under intense pressure.

I liked Dark Dawn (DS one) but it didnt quite have the charm of the originals. Still worth playing though in my opinion.

So there’s this old DOS game called ‘Archipelagos’. You just wandered around this weird checkered liminal space looking for obelisks. I dont remember much more than that but it was just such a weird and different game and I loved it.