Video games are capable of simulating real-life situations such as stealing a car, evading police in a high-speed chase, and summoning a dragon to fly you safely away from arrest. Train for life’s travails with today's Groupon: for $12, you get $25 worth of video games and gaming at Game Trade in Mesquite.

Game Trade stocks its shelves with thousands of retro and modern video games and diverts patrons' skilled thumbs with an on-site game center. Develop hand/eye/prehensile appendage coordination on Xbox 360 controllers positioned in front of one of 12 HDTVs inside the game center ($3.50/one hour, $8/ three hours, $16/all day), embarking on journeys filled with mythical creatures, zombies, and hypercompetitive life-insurance salesmen. Gamers can opt to feed their at-home game consoles and TV sets with medieval conquests in Divinity II: Ego Draconis ($19.99) or wow household pets with head-banging performances in Rock Band ($19.99). Action-packed first-person shooters such as Halo Reach ($59.99) and Call Of Duty: Black Ops ($16.49) can also be enjoyed at home, preferably with a warm cup of tea and the neighborhood pan-flutist piping away softly in the background.