I can be the queen of trash talk. But I do it for fun, as I am not seriously competitive. (Yeah I'm that person who cheers whenever either team does something awesome during a rivalry game.) I generally can't even back up my talk, and I'm OK with that. It's just for fun.
But my friendly banter comes to a screeching halt when a friendly game or competition turns too serious. When I know that it truly matters whether the people I'm playing with win or lose, I shut down, and it sometimes is no longer fun for me.
I told my colleague, Brian, to make sure that he was on my team for Bridge whenever we play with another colleague of ours at lunch because I'm not very good at the complicated card game yet, and knew I would irritate this colleague with my rookie mistakes.
And I was glad I asked someone to sub in for me during Monopoly, another lunchtime game with a different group, because I heard later that it took a competitive turn and tempers ran high. I honestly was glad that Erin, who subbed in for me by wearing a name tag that said "Erika", bankrupted me so I wouldn't have to play again because I don't need that sort of unnecessary stress.
Besides, when I win, that means someone else loses, and that doesn't make me feel good to think about that.
Therefore, in Lichtenstein, one of the most popular games will be one that I plan to invent that does not involve keeping score. It's going to be just for fun, like the time my NYC basketball team played 3-on-3 in the park until it got too dark to see the ball. We never tallied up the buckets. This invented game will most likely be basketball without a scoreboard or any game that's played without a scoresheet or point system.
There's a reason we "play" games. They're fun. In Lichtenstein, I promise to take measures to keep it that way.
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