I felt utterly betrayed by this and have not played the game again as a result. Using me as bait sullied the experience for ever.

Ha – well, there is a problem here, which is that the game is a little old for a seven-year-old. The ESRB rating even says so – it's a T-rated game, so it's fair to expect blood, violence, and a little horror in here. We usually stick with E and E-10 rated games. We play games with "cartoon" or "fantasy violence" – knocking monsters on the head so they go "poof" – but we typically haven't played with guns.

I strongly believe that adults can play good, intelligent games with their kids. Nobody should have to resort to "kid's games," movie tie-ins, or LeapPads. Even in the indie scene, plenty of games are kid-friendly; Fez is E-rated, and aside from a couple of spooky moments, there's nothing in there that a parent should worry about.

But I still took a chance on Spelunky, and aside from a few questionable elements, it turned out to be an AMAZING game to play with a kid. It teaches the player to pay attention to details, acquire skills, gauge risk, experiment with objects, and anticipate reactions, instead of just racing through and clicking everything. If you had to choose between giving your kid Spelunky and say, Lego Indiana Jones, there's no contest. And kids – at least, my kid – whine a lot less about the difficulty than adults do.

I wish more kid's games were like Spelunky, but unfortunately that's a little like wishing that more kid's albums were like the Beatles …