Riordan Zentler

Few video games are entirely self-explanatory. In the early glory days of arcades, instructions were printed on the cabinet around the edges of the screen. When video games came home, many titles were released in a box with several pages of printed instructions. Developers typically try their best to make games intuitive.

One genre description seems to be popping up everywhere lately: “roguelike.” Over the past few years, I’ve found the term to be increasingly ubiquitous, so I did some research. Like most genres, it’s a convoluted category now but had a clear beginning: the early dungeon-crawling game “Rogue,” developed in 1980.

Video game giant Nintendo has a long history with product scarcity stemming back to the 2006 release of the Nintendo Wii, the console that pushed motion controls to the mainstream and dominated family rooms for years. At age 12, I remember struggling to acquire one for several months.

After a series of leaks in the past week, Microsoft on Wednesday confirmed its next video game consoles will be released on Nov. 10. I say consoles because the company has revealed it will offer two options this time around: the beefy Xbox Series X for $500 and the less-powerful, disc drive-less Xbox Series S for $300.

Heather Cabot – Sept. 3. Discussion with award-winning journalist, keynote speaker and former ABC News correspondent and anchor Heather Cabot, author of "The New Chardonnay - The Unlikely Story of How Marijuana Went Mainstream." Visit spokesman.com/bookclub/livestream to watch live. 4 p.m. Free.

“High Score” is a Netflix docuseries featuring interviews with early video game developers, pros and other figures. The concept excited me – I love documentaries, I love video games, and I love history – but much to my surprise, the series left me oddly flustered due to its poor focus, confusing pacing and clunky transitions.

Inland Northwest Rail Museum Anniversary Celebration – Through Sunday. Ride the 2-foot gauge train, view exhibits and learn the history of railroads in the Inland Northwest. Hot dog and beverage included in price of admission.

“Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout” was released on Aug. 4 to much greater success than developer Mediatonic anticipated. In a market already saturated by online, multiplayer, “battle royale”-style games where only the last surviving player wins, “Fall Guys” turns the genre on its head.