In which Our Hero builds upon himself.
I created a new game today.
We started with the game I described two days ago.
We played with three people. It wasn’t as good as with 4 or 5 people. Then we expanded so we each received two hands instead of one hand, for a total of 6 two-card hands.
Then we gave ourselves 3 cards per hand instead of two.
Then we gave ourselves 6 cards instead of two sets of three, which we subdivided into our own three-card hands.
What did I learn?
- Follow the fun. When it’s not fun, find new fun.
- Don’t push. If it’s fun enough, stick with it.
- I like chaos. Compared to my card game compatriots, I enjoyed the more intricate game. (Part of that may be my familiarity with poker — i.e. this end version was farther at the end of my comfort zone while the basic game had become trivial).
We spent 5 hours today playing that game. Playing variations. Ending at the more intricate one.
Also this:
- To get to the end we had to go though the steps. Sometimes you have to take people through the basics, not start at the end if the end is too complicated.
Building blocks. Leveling up.
And one more thought:
- In the last hand, I correctly called all three cards in two of my compatriots’ hands. One of my friends half-jokingly called me “the oracle”.
Perhaps what other people find chaotic is just the space I exist in. Sometimes what’s trivial to you is complex to me. (My partner laughs when I refer to putting frozen food on a plate and microwaving it as “cooking”.)
This reminds me of one of the lessons from clown school: everyone has their own challenges. What’s trivial for me may be hard for you. Jesus would say “judge not lest ye be judged”. (And after all, today is the day for celebrating his birthday.)
I’m glad to have seen my classmates trudge through their own challenges. And I’m glad to have built up the self-comfort prior not to judge them during the process. That would be a real dick move.
🤡
Julian Wise 