“The “-mas” part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for “Mass”,[1] while the “X” comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, translated as “Christ”.[2]

There is a common misconception that the word Xmas is a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas[3] by taking the “Christ” out of “Christmas”.”

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas

I wonder though if the difficulty curve is meant to be so varied? I know when playing this game if I’d just done a rock hard level, I would likely quit if the next one looked even harder, but I kept playing when I saw the next level was a bit easier. Maybe this change of difficulty is deliberate? I mean you quite rightfully challenge the lives system as a relic of the past, but maybe the idea of a game that just gets harder and harder is outdated too?