The website looked like a relic from 2008: neon green buttons, misspelled testimonials (“This game is so adictive!”), and a download button that was suspiciously small. Léo knew the risks. His friend Chloé had once tried to download a “complete gratis” version of Bejeweled and ended up with three browser toolbars and a ransomware note in Comic Sans.

He tried to look right. Blue. Plink. Another match.

His desktop transformed. No longer Windows, but a living, breathing stone tunnel. Colorful stone balls rolled along a fixed path toward a golden skull at the bottom of his screen. But there was no cursor. No mouse. The only way to aim the stone frog’s mouth was with his own gaze.

He leaned forward, exhausted, and whispered into his webcam: “I just wanted the free version.”

Léo’s screen flickered in the dim light of his cramped studio apartment. Outside, Paris slept under a gray November drizzle. Inside, the cursor hovered over a search result that seemed too perfect: “Telecharger Zuma Revenge Version Complete Gratuit Pour PC.”

The skull advanced.

A deep, gravelly voice crawled out of his laptop speakers, though the volume was muted.

He tried to look left. A red ball shot out. Plink. A match.