sdvplatt (asker) Sep 15, 2019:

Vielen Dank an alle für den regen Auftausch

Björn Vrooman Sep 12, 2019:

Agree with Steffen You say "nicht mehr aus der Hand legen" regarding a book, possibly a tool. I've seen it used for mobile games, but I assume that most of these articles are translations, and the translator tried to be too clever by half.

You could also use it for controllers (Xbox etc.) and smartphones (as Steffen said), but not for something that is not a physical object.

The second issue is that ein Buch nicht mehr aus der Hand legen können means that the story is so good you want to read the whole thing at once. Thus, even if it were possible to use the word metaphorically, it would give a wrong impression of the type of game they want you to play.

I think Barbara's answer is also not bad.

Best

sdvplatt (asker) Sep 12, 2019:

ein Spiel, das dich so fesselt/in seinen Bann zieht, dass du das Smartphone nicht mehr aus der Hand legen kannst would be rather convoluted for a game description but I get your point.

Steffen Walter Sep 12, 2019:

Reword In that case, you'd have to reword the sentence along the lines of "ein Spiel, das dich so fesselt/in seinen Bann zieht, dass du das Smartphone nicht mehr aus der Hand legen kannst". Any reference to the game (app) as such including "nicht mehr aus der Hand legen" would sound strange, in my view.

sdvplatt (asker) Sep 12, 2019:

why cant it be used metaphorically?
What if it was a phone app?

Steffen Walter Sep 12, 2019:

Which type of game ... ... is this about? For instance, you wouldn't say "nicht wieder aus der Hand legen" if it were a computer game (as opposed to a board or card game).