Solving the mystery of Minecraft

It has 40 million registered users, although the graphics look like something from the Atari age. Conor Power got his kids to tutor him on the latest gaming craze

WHEN you share a house with teenage boys, you become quite accustomed to the sight of them sitting, standing or walking with a mobile device or smartphone in their hand, their thumbs tick-tacking all over the screen.

Lately, however, I noticed a change in the manner in which they interacted with their smartphones/iPads. They sat quietly for what seemed like hours on end, calmly moving things around on the screen and only occasionally cursing some mistake they’d made, muttering something like “stupid zombie”.