A Game I Actually Like

I hate games. Yes, I do. I hate them. I claim it's because I'm not in the least competitive, but really, I hate the pressure of competition because it makes me lose. So, I guess I hate to lose, which means I really am more competitive than most people because I won't even compete if there's a possibility of losing. Um, yikes.

I don't get excited about "I'll race you to the top" or "Last one out the door is a rotten egg" or "Let's play tennis" or "Want to play cards?" or anything. Nathan says that my life motto is, "Yeah... I'm not really up for that." It's really true for the most part. If left on my own, I'd be a complete bump on a log, which is why Nathan is good for me. I can balance his "Let's play on the roof" with my "Let's watch The Sound of Music," which usually ends up being a nice walk outdoors.

I've deliberately been trying to get out of myself and try new things when asked lately, which is harder for me than one might imagine. Almost every time we hang out with Sam and Em, they want to play a game. They've  known about my game phobia since we first met, so I'm convinced they keep at it for my own sanctification. Every game we've played so far I've landed in last place... Dominion, Bananagrams, etc. However, the Lord smiled upon my game playing on Friday night, and I came in second place in this wonderfully simple game: Pucket. 

All you have to do is get all of the wooden discs through a slot and onto the opponent's side using a long rubber band to propel it. It's kind of like air hockey... old school style. There are names for funny things that happen when the discs don't do what you want them to do: Gatekeeper's Dinner, Neptune's Kiss, Cardinal's Revenge, Flying Sailor, etc. Click on the picture below to read about it.

 Here's Nathan and Sam posing with the board before a friendly game. 

Before starting, you have to touch hands in the middle, and then someone says "go."

And then Sam smashes all of your confidence to pieces in 3.6 seconds. See above. 

I started out playing Sam, who beat me while giving me tips on how to beat him. Afterward, I  beat Nathan fairly quickly, which resulted in a victory dance that came out of the deepest recesses of my being. It was completely other-worldly. Then Emily and I played a match. With each other's husbands shouting encouragement to their wives, we played while we held our breath for way too long. After I finally won, we both felt like throwing up all of our milk and cookies - literally tossing our cookies - for the constant pressure of shouting in our ears and the lack of oxygen to our brains.


It was actually kind of fun.