It’s easy to get lost in the details of life. It can be challenging to understand teams and find a guideline, let alone acknowledge that there is an objective.
After spending most of my life playing cards with friends, I realized there is more to sitting at a card table or playing board games than just having fun. Playing games has helped me to learn many things that have helped me get through my life.
The rules can be modified.
I get that we must follow the rules. But how many of us were able to learn to play the game by drawing Uno cards? Only to find out from Uno a few years later that you only need one card to play. This was the problem for most of my year.
We used to have game time every Friday in class. Someone always ended up with half of the deck because they kept drawing from it. It was in the rules that you could only draw one card. However, we had a cultural tradition and went with it. We needed to follow the manufacturer’s restrictions.
It can also happen in real life. 70 mph is a good speed. Sometimes, the 10-piece chicken nuggets contain 12 pieces. Sometimes your 4-year-old doesn’t know how to play Blokus but insists on playing daily. You play, and you agree on some rules that she can understand. It is essential to play the game together.
Yes, rules are essential. In most cases, there are no rules. However, rules can be modified if everyone agrees because it is necessary to living life together.
Playing nice is more important than winning and losing.
I can usually win because my four-year-old daughter is usually my best friend. I am not better at games that we create on the fly. She cheers me on at the end and declares me the winner according to whatever standard she has set. She beat me today at Chutes and Ladders. I kept sliding down from the top row. She needed constant reminders to make sure she numbered the squares correctly. She was thrilled for me when I won the ladder, and she took an early lead. She was thrilled when she won. She wasn’t giddy; she was excited to see the finish line.
