Game Theory

We all do things for our spouses that we'd rather not, but we go along with it just because we love them and want them to be happy. Okay, everyone say what that is right now without thinking one two GO:

And now you know what to talk about in marital counseling.

I said "playing games."

We used to play Phase 10 all the time when we were dating. It was important for us to spend lots of times playing games, because we were college kids and we couldn't cook or drink wine. Also, J LOVED (and still loves) playing games and I liked getting to see her.

She won all the time. Maybe not every single time, but a ridiculously high percentage of the time. Her game-playing dominance was kind of like watching the Bills and Patriots over the past fifteen years, even down to her propensity to wear hoodies. (She didn't cheat to my knowledge...) I'll let her speak to whether or not she was a gracious winner and a good sport. (If you want to ask her about it, start by asking her what "the doggy" is.)

Anyhow, she agreed to marry me, and then I didn't have to pretend to enjoy playing games anymore.

Okay, it wasn't quite like that, but we definitely stopped playing games nearly as often as we did when we were dating. And I can't say that I really missed it.

Every once in awhile we'd get into something, like with the Wii. We've been through Wii sports phases, Mario Party, and even Monopoly. We play poker with great enjoyment when we visit Pennsylvania with J's brothers. But we've never picked up the regular habit of card games between the two of us again like when we were dating.

But now there's a twist: James likes games.

We were visiting PA last week and we played Battleship with James. He loved it. He was completely into it, and he played the game all the way to the end. He's always been fascinated with playing cards (and poker chips) and I think that he has the disposition to love card playing.

There may be a renaissance of game-playing at the Smith house. This is probably just--in many ways I took advantage of J's good faith when she walked down the aisle.

I just hope James doesn't get into Phase 10.