Nice! Reminds me of the Cyclone / "stop the light" arcade games. If anyone wants to play a similar game on iOS, I made one about 7 years ago called hyper•loop https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hyper-loop/id944029806
I participated in the first October Challenge two years ago. The timing was perfect for me since I had a project that was nearly done, but I was getting burned out, like you said, on that last 10%. The addition of a deadline helped me focus and get through it.
You're right that you could make the same argument for other gadgets, and he does mention tablets at the end of the article , but it's really true for almost all consumer goods today. If you really want to understand this argument better, I highly recommend The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. He argues that the abundance of choice in today's world is making us less satisfied with our decisions.