The release of the Apple Watch has put miniature-sized gaming back into the spotlight, but it might be easy to forget that it’s not the first wristwatch to include games. The good folks over at Polygon have written Time killers: The strange history of wrist gaming, which covers the very beginnings of wearable gaming options, all the way to the aforementioned Apple Watch. Funnily enough, one of the first watch games was the sort of ‘make math fun’ type-game that students dread, as the Casio CA-90 was a calculator watch with a version of Space Invaders – only with numbers instead of aliens. "In developing the CA-90 watch, the idea of the first Casio game watch was driven by Casio's philosophy of wanting to create a new lifestyle by introducing novel products that are made possible by advances in digital technologies," said Yuichi Masuda, senior executive managing officer and Casio board member.

The guide goes on to discuss the GCE Game Time (the what?), a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gaming watch featuring four games: Firing Squad, Alien Assault, Missile Strike and Blast Away. The harmless-looking watch was similar to today’s Apple Watch, in terms of being able to function as a timepiece when a teacher or parent is around, then a portable games device when no adult is looking. "Back then people didn't have smartphones or feature phones," said Tom Sloper, who helped design the Game Time. "They didn't have anything you could carry around, like a DS or a Game Boy. And these were things you could wear on your wrist and that looked relatively innocuous. A kid could wear the watch to school."

Even though the Apple Watch is readily available from all kinds of online retailers, including places like Chrono24 that sell slightly cheaper second-hand watches than most, it’s worth noting that it’s not the only smartwatch with gaming capabilities on the market. The Android Wear and Pebble are both smartwatches that are worthy contenders to Apple’s wearable device. No matter which smartwatch you prefer around your wrist, all offer a fun and unique gaming experience, yet one that gaming developers are eager to maximize. "I think it's just the very beginning of trying to figure out what's going to work on wearables, just like it took a while to figure out games on smartphones," said Thomas Sarlandie, head of developer relations at Pebble. "I think the retro side of gaming on a watch is definitely something that appeals to a lot of people.

"There's also a practical aspect, as with mobile games. A lot of people play on their phone because they have it on their subway ride. If I'm waiting in line, I just don't want to take my phone out of my pocket. I think it's just different types of situations."

It seems that the only way is up when it comes to developing fun and interesting games for smartwatches – Apple Watch or otherwise – and history has clearly shown that there’ll always be a market for them. And yes, there’s always be these games that try to make math fun as well.