I've spent at least a solid hour each day for the past couple weeks poking at a giant virtual cube, chipping away thousands of tiny blocks, one at a time, until my hands get tired. And you know, for the life of me, I can't explain why I keep at it. I know it's not likely that I'll be the one "lucky" person to reach the center of the cube and capture the mysterious, life-changing thing that its creator purports is awaiting within. It might take months, and maybe even years for that to happen.

So why are thousands of other players like myself addicted to the repetitive cube-poking grind? That's the grand mystery of Curiosity: What's in The Cube. Created by renowned game designer Peter Molyneux and his new studio 22Cans, Curiosity is more of a large-scale social experiment than a proper game, but that hasn't stopped a ridiculous number of players from drinking the Kool-Aid and collectively working in tandem to crack off layers of the cube to push closer to the center.

Gameplay is insanely simple. You pick a side of the cube, zoom into a section that hasn't been all pock-marked yet, and start tapping away to remove blocks from the screen. Breaking blocks without stopping builds a score multiplier, earning you virtual coins and a hefty bonus for clearing the whole screen. Spending coins in the in-game store lets you buy rare tools to help clear blocks more quickly, but you can only have them for a limited time and they're very pricey.

And that's it. Once a cube layer is destroyed, it's on to the next one. There have been hints that different mechanics will inevitably unlock, but that hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, players have taken to chipping away funky designs, images, crude phrases, and all manner of graffiti into the cube's surface. It's not that the gameplay itself is particularly fun, but the experience is fascinating and utterly addictive.

The bottom line. Beware: Curiosity will no doubt pique yours. This addictive non-game may consume more of your free time than you'd think.