The Brief

Around 3 billion people play video games. But if you're not already in on the fun, the barrier to entry can be daunting. New consoles cost hundreds of dollars, not to mention the price of individual games, which can go as high as $70 each.

Thankfully, you can get started on many games for free or for a few dollars on devices you may already own. So if you crave some entertainment for when you're on the move, want to relive childhood Mario or Zelda memories, or loved HBO's The Last of Us and want to play the series it was based on, here are some tips to get you started.

Games for your phone

Best for: Casual gamers on-the-go.

Cost: Free to a few dollars.

Classics like Hearts and Solitaire have graced phones for decades. But if you like card games, consider the mobile app Marvel Snap and its dramatic matches that last mere minutes. You'll aim to conquer locations from Central Park to Atlantis with a personalized deck of superhero and villain cards.

Like most games on the Android and iOS stores, Marvel Snap comes free — with a catch. It'll initially shower you with new cards but also entice you to spend real money to expand your collection. This "freemium" model dominates mobile gaming especially, along with market-tested psychological tricks to keep you hooked.

However, there's one game subscription you may already have. Netflix has been broadening its gaming catalog with prestigious titles like the live-action mystery Immortality and the indie adventure Oxenfree II. Just open the Netflix app and hit the "Games" section at the bottom of the screen to download them on your phone.

Level up: More mobile games

Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass offer hundreds of titles for $5/month or $30/year, including: excellent puzzle games like Mini Metro, the monarchical dilemma simulator Reigns: Her Majesty, and Escheresque delight Monument Valley and its sequel.

Streaming games to computers, tablets and TVs

Best for: Those with 5G or Fiber internet who want to try big-screen titles for cheap.

Cost: Anywhere from $5 per month to $15 per month or more, depending on the service and tier.

Popular franchises you've likely heard of — Mario Kart, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto — tend to be designed for bigger screens and controllers.

Take LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, for example. It's great for families and has a little of everything: podracing, space battles, lightsaber duels and more. Yet its graphics are demanding enough to require a relatively powerful computer or a recent console.

So instead of purchasing the game individually for a device that may not be up to snuff, you could subscribe to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass Ultimate ($15 a month) and play LEGO Star Wars off the cloud.

Amazon and Nvidia offer similar services, enabling you to stream hundreds of games so long as you've got (very) fast internet and a tolerance for occasional glitches.

Consoles and more

The Nintendo Switch

Best for: Families and those interested in Mario, Zelda or Pokémon.

Cost: $200 to $350.

Nowhere else but on the Nintendo Switch can you play the latest Mario, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and Fire Emblem games — not to mention The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, one of the biggest gaming hits ever.

The Switch also lives up to its name. You can play handheld on its built-in screen or transform it into a home console by connecting it to a TV through a dock. Compared to other consoles, it's relatively cheap, ranging from a basic Lite model at $200 to a $350 OLED version with a bigger, nicer display and ability to dock to a TV.

It's also a blast with family and friends, with brilliant cooperative games like Super Mario Odyssey and Kirby and the Forgotten Land, alongside competitive classics like Super Smash Brothers, Mario Kart and Mario Party. However, Nintendo games rarely sell at a discount (unlike PC, PlayStation, and Xbox games) and will usually run between $40 to $70 each.

Play solo or with a buddy in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, a perfect game for kids and beginners.

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Xbox Series X/S

Best for: Those who want a one-and-done option.

Cost: $350-$500.

The modest Series S ($350) and the much more powerful Series X ($500) can play anything from Xbox's vast digital library, but they're also built for Game Pass, which lets you download or stream hundreds of games for $10 to $15 a month. That includes new titles and big-budget mainstays like Halo that might otherwise cost you $70 per game.

PlayStation 5

Best for: Fans of fancy graphics and cinematic storytelling.

Cost: $400 to $500.

If you loved HBO's The Last of Us, you might consider a PlayStation to play the original game or its wrenching sequel, The Last of Us: Part II. You can also buy critically-acclaimed exclusives like Demon's Souls, God of War Ragnarök and, most recently, Final Fantasy 16. If you're willing to shell out for a PS Plus Premium subscription, you can even access its impressive back catalog.

PC Gaming

Best for: Tinkerers, PC superusers.

Cost: Variable, but really starts at $400.

Traditionally the domain of tech obsessives, PC gaming has never been more approachable thanks to the arrival of new handheld computers like the Steam Deck, which looks like a chunkier Nintendo Switch, and runs from $400 to $650. While this option isn't for the faint of heart, it's a plausible starting point for folks familiar with PCs who want dedicated gaming hardware.

Virtual reality headsets and beyond

Best for: Fans of fully immersive experiences with plenty of floor space.

Cost: Starting around $300.

Finally, VR headsets look goofy and take some adjusting to, they can also be surprisingly intuitive. Instead of having to translate buttons to on-screen motion, when you want to move your arm in VR, you just move your arm. When you want to look around, you just turn your head.

That natural movement propels Beat Saber, a rhythm game that's helped sell many a Meta Quest 2 ($300). While it requires room to swing your arms and slide around, it makes you feel like a dancing swordmaster as you rock out to Lizzo, Queen and more classic tracks. I'd also recommend Superhot VR to anyone who wants to dodge bullets and pull off stunts like Neo from The Matrix.

But not every game comes so easily. Some are far more technical and can even induce motion sickness. And despite Meta's continued commitment to VR, and the efforts of competitors like PlayStation and Apple, it has yet to go truly mainstream.

Video games can be admittingly overwhelming, so if you're interested, start small. Borrow a friend's Switch. Download a Netflix phone game. Try a game-streaming subscription service for a month. While you might be daunted initially, the field has grown varied enough that there's some patch of it perfect for you.

A panel of federal appellate judges on Sunday questioned the timing, constitutionality and authority of the Justice Department’s demand that California election officials set aside thousands of mail ballots from people the federal government suspects may not be citizens.

During rare weekend arguments, two of the three judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appeared skeptical of a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump’s administration in mid-October. The lawsuit accuses California officials of failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review 20,000 names the administration flagged as likely noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls.

The administration asked a federal judge to require the state to withhold counting those ballots until the voters’ immigration status could be verified. The district judge scheduled a hearing for Oct. 27, days after the case was assigned, but the federal government appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking an expedited decision.

Justice Department attorney Matthew Donnelly told the panel that California is causing irreparable harm “by allowing noncitizens to vote in violation of their own state laws. The damage is irreversible and irrevocable.”

The Trump administration has made efforts to identify noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though noncitizen voting is exceptionally rare.

Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, questioned whether the appellate court even has jurisdiction to hear the case even before a ruling by the lower court.

Donnelly argued that the schedule set by the lower court judge was too slow and effectively a denial of the government’s request, as state elections officials process thousands of mail ballots every day.

Judge Gabriel Sanchez, appointed by former President Joe Biden, questioned whether the federal government was violating the Tenth Amendment, essentially commandeering the state to enforce a federal law that makes it a misdemeanor for a noncitizen to vote.

The federal government is simply asking California to enforce its own law, which also bans noncitizens from voting, Donnelly said. He argued the state’s refusal to comply with the federal request to set aside the ballots for review was “frustrating the purpose” of the federal law against noncitizen voting.

The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to set the time, place and manner of congressional elections, Bennett said. The executive branch may be “unhappy with what they’re doing, and doesn’t like the manner,” Bennett said, but under the Election Clause the state has the right to determine those issues — including how it sorts out any noncitizen voters.

Attorney Seth Waxman, representing Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan, said the federal government’s list was unreliable and that segregating the ballots for a review process would effectively disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters.

Even if election staffers spent just three minutes checking each of the expected 2.75 million mail ballots against the government’s list, the process would take 140,000 man-hours, Waxman said — or about 16 years of working time.

Waxman cited a review of 200 records from the Trump administration’s list conducted by Los Angeles County staffers. Assistant Registrar-Recorder Monica Flores said in a court filing that the sample included canceled or inactive registrations, individuals with no voting history and voters who appeared to have been born in the United States, which the filing notes “is strong evidence of citizenship.”

If the administration disagrees with how California runs its elections, it can ask Congress to change that process, said attorney Sam Siegel, representing California Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

The federal government has provided no credible evidence to support its suspicions, said Siegel.

“It has no basis in law or in fact,” he told the panel. “We just dispute the premise that noncitizens are voting.”

But Judge Patrick Bumatay, who was appointed by Trump, said everyone has an interest in ensuring that only eligible citizens vote. He suggested that granting the administration’s request for an emergency order could provide clarity.

“Without an injunction, you will never know” if that is happening, Bumatay told Siegel.

Bennett said the panel would try to issue a ruling as quickly as possible.

Democrats and outside watchdogs are planning a massive presence at the polls on Election Day driven by concerns that President Donald Trump will further leverage the vast resources of the federal government to interfere with a midterm that could hobble his final two years in office.

They won’t be the only ones there. A sprawling election protection effort on the left that is expected to deploy tens of thousands of monitors will be met by the largest-ever monitoring program by the Justice Department and still more observers from Republican-aligned groups. The result could be unlike anything seen at the polls in modern times.

The effort among Democratic and nonprofit groups includes training volunteers to stand watch outside polling places and report activities they consider concerning. The network includes traditional government watchdogs such as Common Cause and the American Civil Liberties Union plus a flood of volunteers assembled by state Democratic parties, congressional leaders, national activist groups and organizations focused on protecting democracy.

The Democratic National Committee’s Association of State Democratic Committees created a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity unit staffed by former CIA and FBI officials to monitor and report online misinformation, including artificial intelligence deepfakes, said Jane Kleeb, vice chair of the DNC.

That’s as Democratic mayors, attorneys general and secretaries of state host tabletop exercises simulating worst-case scenarios, such as a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at voting locations or the seizure of ballots and voting equipment.

On Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders have assembled a legal team that rivals that of any presidential campaign.

“We’ve never done this before,” Kleeb said of the party’s sweeping efforts. But “we’ve never had to deal with the president of the United States saying that he may seize ballots, put ICE agents outside polling locations and other kinds of very clear direct threats to the voting process.”

The Department of Justice has already filed lawsuits in California and Alaska that could affect ballot counting or certification.

While Trump continues to make baseless allegations of cheating in the election, administration and military officials have said they have no plans to deploy immigration agents or troops to polling sites.

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis blamed “radical Democrats” for creating fears about election security by refusing to enact voter ID requirements and other Republican-backed measures.

“President Trump has done more than any other president to ensure we have free and fair elections,” Bis said.

Tens of thousands of volunteers trained to observe

State Democratic parties have trained an estimated 10,000 volunteers to observe polling places and report anything potentially concerning they might see from federal agents. Common Cause has trained roughly 16,000 more volunteers to stand watch at voting precincts, said Suzanne Almeida, vice president of states for the group

She said a broader Election Protection coalition involving 300 other groups has trained tens of thousands more.

Smaller pockets of volunteers from other groups also are preparing to show up, including roughly 100 organized by Senate Democrats and hundreds more from a Democratic-allied group called Save America, which is training clergy members, veterans, teachers and other local community members. National groups such as Indivisible and MoveOn are activating their own expansive networks.

There are so many organizations working to protect the voting process — including many that cannot legally coordinate with each other — that some officials involved worry about unintentionally creating chaos outside polling locations.

Almeida said Election Day confusion is possible in some precincts but the nature of the threat requires a collective effort.

“It will actually take all of us if some of the threats we are most worried about come to pass,” she said.

Trump administration sends its own team

Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump appointee who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, was asked on CBS’ “60 Minutes” whether the Republican administration is planning to send ICE agents to polling places.

“There is no plan to do that,” she responded.

Still, the Justice Department is planning its largest-ever election monitoring effort, with about 1,000 department staff expected to observe voting and ensure federal laws are being followed, spokesperson Kiersten Pels said. That comes after a primary season in which the department said it deployed more than 100 election monitors across hundreds of polling locations.

At least one of those placements sparked tensions with local officials. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, said the behavior of two monitors during that state’s primary was “a bit aggressive” and “irregular.” A Laramie County clerk said the Justice Department monitors arrived at the polls intending to interview voters, but her office didn’t allow it.

The department disagrees that the monitors did anything improper, Pels said. She added that the monitors are trained to comply with federal law governing conduct at polling places and won’t “interfere with the voting process.”

Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates have raised concerns that the Trump administration’s monitors could intimidate voters or abandon the duty they’ve had for decades to protect against civil rights violations.

The department plans to send them to every state, focusing on high-population areas, jurisdictions that have had problems in the past and districts with close elections, according to a senior department official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under terms set by the department.

The Republican National Committee said its operation involves deploying “election integrity deputy state directors” in 22 states, among them Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina.

Those workers are the “eyes and the ears of the RNC in the field” who recruit volunteers and organize trainings, said Ally Triolo, the RNC’s election integrity communications director. Their mission is to surface anything that seems unlawful.

At the same time, the RNC has enlisted nearly 22,000 poll workers and is recruiting poll-watching volunteers for competitive districts. The poll watchers will “observe the process and help ensure election rules are followed in accordance with the law,” Triolo said.

Local election officials prepare for increased attention

While federal monitors have quietly observed elections for decades, largely without incident, some election officials are taking precautions.

Chris Swope, the city clerk in Lansing, Michigan, said he preemptively contacted law enforcement and his attorney in case federal monitors violate election law, although he expects them to abide by the rules.

The Democratic Mayors Association issued guidance to local Democratic officials with detailed instructions about what to do if federal agents appear at polling locations.

It notes that federal law prohibits the presence of federal immigration agents, the FBI or other investigative personnel. It also issued a reminder that federal agents are not allowed to be armed at the polls, nor are they allowed to interact with voters or handle ballots or election equipment.

Justice Department officials have said their monitors won’t be armed and will not interfere with voting. Asked about department monitors being sent to Georgia, Trump told a reporter recently: “They’re not going to do anything other than watch.”

Some of the poll observations have already begun. Mary Corcoran, Save America’s executive director, said her group’s volunteers have been monitoring precincts during early voting in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio to help give voters a sense of security.

“The fear is the point, and we must do something about it,” she said. “Left unanswered, fear does the work of keeping people home without a single agent setting foot at a polling place.”

— Associated Press writers Jacqueline GaNun in Lansing, Mich., Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington and Jessica Hill in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

Richard Marx knows how to write a pop hit.

His first seven singles all reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, with hits like "Satisfied" and "Right Here Waiting." His writing credits include Luther Vandross' "Dance With My Father."

But his latest album is showcasing a different side of him.

After Hours blends Great American Songbook standards with original songs that Marx wrote in that classic style. There's also a five-song EP, After Hours: Live From the Grammy Museum, which came from his August performance there.

Marx will bring the album to the Yaamava’ Theater at Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland on Sunday, Nov. 1.

From backup singer to hitmaker

Marx's journey started when he arrived in Los Angeles at 18.

"The first door opened for me kind of immediately," Marx said in an interview with LAist Morning Edition Host Austin Cross. "The first job I had right out of the gate was singing background vocals for Lionel Richie on his first solo album."

That connection allowed Marx to meet Kenny Rogers, with whom he wrote the No. 1 country song "Crazy." But it would still take years before Marx would find his own success as an artist.

"I remember when I started having success as a songwriter and singing on all these other people's hit records," Marx said. "I really thought that would be the fuel, but every record company rejected me for several years. I got rejected time and time again on songs that became massive hits. So, you have to just believe in yourself and wait for that right opportunity to come around."

Writing like it's 1948

Marx's new album is a real departure from the music that made him a star. Initially, he didn't think he was ready to record these types of songs.

"It was a delusion on my part that I wasn't old enough," Marx said. "I thought, 'I'm not old enough to sing those old standards.' Then it dawned on me that I'm 63 years old."

Marx decided not to just record American classics. He also wrote original music in that same style.

"When I realized that I could create something special in writing half the album, it all started to make sense to me," Marx said. "And I have to say that the writing of this album was the most challenging and enjoyable songwriting I think I've ever done."

The first song Marx wrote for the album was called "All I Ever Needed," which features a trumpet solo by Chris Botti.

"I pretended that I was a young, struggling songwriter in 1948, trying to get Sinatra to cut one of my songs," Marx said. "I took a long walk, and I thought whatever comes into my mind, I'm gonna go with it. An hour later, when I came back home, that whole song was written."

For another song called "Magic Hour," Marx got an assist from his wife, Daisy Fuentes.

"It's my favorite song on the album," Marx said. "The lyrics plagued me for a while. So [Fuentes] and I sat down and had a martini, and she just kept talking and telling me this story, and I turned it into lyrics."

Another highlight on After Hours is Marx's duet with Rod Stewart on the song "Young at Heart."

"Rod was just such a hero my whole life," Marx said. "We just kind of accidentally became great friends over the last four years. And in that process, it was Rod who suggested that we do a duet."

Marx is now looking for new goals.

"I'm in the process now of building my new bucket list, and there's really nothing on it so far," Marx said. "I wanna keep making music that makes me feel the way this album made me feel."

See him live

Tickets for Marx's upcoming show at the Yaamava’ Theater at Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland on Sunday, Nov. 1, are available through AXS.