mo has been teaching me to play backgammon.
i am starting to get the basic gist. tend not to leave unguarded columns as you approach your home quarter. tend not to move pieces further in than necessary once you get there. tend to shore up the home quarter with unbreakable columns to be able to capture and trap your opponent (mo).
people have tried to teach me this game before and it's never stuck, so i wonder if it's something about my wiring, something, like, visuo-spatial. half the time i have to consciously think about which way the pieces are moving around the board. for me they move counterclockwise, means that for mo they move clockwise from my point of view. practice, mo says. part of it is that he's always moving for me. meanwhile i am trying to count aloud as well as play. i roll the dice. bir. iki. üč. dört (by now mo has strategized and moved on my behalf and is rolling the dice himself.) bez. alti.
practice.
another game that takes practice is -- i read this last night --
you and ninety-nine other people are randomly dealt one hundred cards that are sequentially numbered. you hold your card to your forehead so that everyone can see your number but you.
everybody: marks, get set, go. "mate" with the highest number you can pair up with.
