That's not to say games have seriously cut into school work. For that to happen, graphing calculators would have to be commonplace. All schools require them for advanced placement calculus, some for regular calculus. A student headed for calculus might buy one for pre-calc. Within the circle of users, however, the calculator's potential for play is hard to resist.
Students can swap the games, using the calculator's port.
They can keep several games on a single machine. And if they tire of the selection in circulation, they can turn to one of their classmates with a link to the Internet. At Oswego High School, that would be Jeff Clark, a senior. Clark says the games' popularity runs in phases. When students first get the new calculators, generally as juniors, they're quick to play games.