Game On

Games.

I love to play. I am a very big kid at heart. Here in India I play games all the time. Card games, Frisbee, sometimes I even play a game of riddles with Biku (very difficult to translate riddles by the way.) Games are important to me.

I have learned a few new card games while I have been here in India. Most of them are a variation of Bridge or Spades. Because I have a solid background in Spades it was very easy to pick up most of the games they taught me. Even though I kept telling them that I have never played Margo before, they didn't believe me. The weird thing about card games here, they deal backwards. Um... that is to say that they deal starting with the person on the right instead of the left. It threw me for a while, but sadly I am getting used to it. That means I am going to have to get re-used to the way we deal in the US.

I have even been teaching the people here some of the games I learned from Baden Powell. Games of quickness of hands, balance, strength, and quick thinking. I am still winning all the time, but it is only because I have had a lot of practice. Or maybe it is because I am only teaching them games that I know I am good at. Or maybe I am just good at games.

I do not like to cheat. Not because of some high morals. I do not like to cheat because I like to beat the game within its own system. I find it a much more rewarding experience if I play by the rules and still win. I personally feel that cheating lessens my victory. Now that isn't to say I won't cheat, but I never cheat to win, I only cheat when it will make the actual game more fun.

Video games are a perfect example. If I have beaten a game numerous times, and I want to change the rules of the game by cheating, I will. In Munchkin, cheating is PART of the game, so I cheat. If a game is designed so that the only way to win is to cheat, I will cheat. I only cheat if it makes the game more fun for everyone involved.

I suppose I never saw "the win" as the most important part of a game. I always thought that just playing the game was where the pleasure was derived. Don't get me wrong, I am very competitive, and I play to win. But I want to win the right way.