Board games and the Art of Risk Taking
The very thesis of this board game review website is that modern board games are designed to provide an experience. And that experience can help you figure out what makes you tick (see my essay on UNO and the Art of Game Design) People are defined by their choices. By telling the players to make a decision, games reflect back to us who we really are. Like movies, music or books, games are a consumable art. Some are bad, most are fine, the great ones make us dig deeper into ourselves. With that in mind, this is a story about creating content, and the bluffing game Skull.
Stick with me.
This blog isn’t the first time I’ve tried some sort of creative endeavor. It’s not even my second.
Or my third.
I have made multiple attempts at some sort of creative outlet and my path, both physical and digital, is littered with failed attempts, projects left unfinished and a general dumping ground of broken things left undone.
What’s the hold up? Why do I keep hitting a wall?
Oh, you know – Overthinking, overanalyzing, lack of know-how and an all-around crippling fear of self doubt.
So, you know, nothing relatable at all.
But in working on this site, I’ve come to the realization that the mindset I have to play the game of SKULL, is the exact same mindset I need to have to, well, play the game of content creation.
The Game
Everyone starts with four cards – three roses and one skull. Starting with the first player, everyone lays down one of their four cards. Players keep going around, laying down cards until someone decides to bet. After that, no more cards. Only betting.
What players are betting is how many cards they can flip over without hitting a skull.
Everyone raises or passes until there is only one person standing. And that person starts flipping over cards, wanting to only reveal roses.
However, and this is a big however, they have to start with their own pile first.
If they reveal a skull, including their own, before fulfilling their bet of roses, their turn ends and they lose a card for the rest of the game.
If they are correct, they get a point.
First person to two points or last person with at least one card wins.
But while it’s easy to teach the game and just start, I think there is something deeper to it. There are life lessons to be learned here.
I know it sounds pretentious as hell to make that statement, but I stand by my original statement. We are defined by our choices. And SKULL repeatedly gives you the choice of whether you risk it all or if you fold.
Here are the top three SKULL strategies that can teach you how to get over yourself and just create.
Strategy One: Know What You Have
Whenever I teach the game of Skull to new people, I always wait for that moment. It doesn’t always happen, but it’s hilarious when it does. At some point, at the start of a round, someone randomly slams down one of their cards and says,
“I’m going to play blind! I’m not going to look at my card!”
And then, when it comes back around to them, they realize they have made have made a huge mistake and quickly look to see what the heck they put down.
Why do they realize it’s a mistake? Because in a game of strategy, reading people and uncertainty, the one crucial thing they have, the one tool that they have at their disposal, is their knowledge of what they played.
It’s the same with any endeavor. Putting yourself out there is tough. Taking a risk can be tough. But you have something that can help. You have at your disposal the tool of knowing what you have.
And what you have is you.
You have a voice. You have a viewpoint. You have a card to play.
You might not even know at the moment what that voice is! But making a video, or a blog, or a game itself sure will reveal it. Both to you and your audience.
Taking a risk reveals both to you and everyone else if you made the right choice. And if you haven’t that’s okay. You now know something for the next time.
Strategy Two: Don’t Be Afraid to Lose a Battle to Win the War
Which dovetails into the second tip I’ve learned from SKULL.
Another scenario I see all the time is after someone scores their first point. The next round commences. The person with a point bets a low number. The rest of the players, scared of hitting a skull, pass. They don’t want to lose a card like they just saw someone else do. In doing so, the rest of the players just hand the victory to the one point player.
The first few things you create are going to suck. You are going to make mistakes. You are going to look back and say “I should have done this!”
This is your Unreasonable Expectation Monster. It feeds on fear. It needs that fear. And as it rears its ugly head, it bellows in yours “You are new at this, so we expect you to be perfect. Rowr!”
My past is littered with broken projects because I am scared. I’m not saying was. I AM scared. This is tense. But all I’m doing is playing chicken and other people that take the risk are winning the game.
Take the hit. Lose a card. Play another round.
What are you afraid of loosing? One card? Your pride?
There will be another round. There will be another game. There will be another chance.
Strategy Three: You Have to Bet in Order to Win
While the rule about being the last player standing exists, it’s nearly impossible to win that way from the start. If you continue to lay down skulls, passively playing and never taking a gamble, two things are going to happen:
1. People are going to avoid you.
2. Someone else taking the risk is going to win the game before you do.
Think about it. In a five player game, there are 15 cards roses, 12 of them are not yours. So you would have to wait through at least 12 rounds. That’s not counting rounds where someone gets a point.
And in 12 rounds, one of four people can certainly get two points.
Being passive isn’t going to cut it.
It’s a risk making a blog. It’s a risk becoming a self-appointed critic. It’s scary because it’s being vulnerable. But that’s also what makes it exciting. You get to be you, in all your you-glory and share it.
You have to go for it. You’ve weighed your options. It’s fun to take the risk. You have to take the risk.
If you don’t, then why are you sitting at the table?
Do it.
Risk it.
Say it.
All in.
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