Pleasant memories

Went out for dinner at this "kopi tiam" restaurant where the theme is retro. Each table has a "Happy Family" deck of cards and 5 bottle caps.

Which brings me back to the memories of my primary school days. The hottest games then were the "5 bottle caps game", the "turn the eraser over" game or the "turn the cards over" game. Simple games like these took hours of our attention. Of course the games also revealed who had more "cheating tendencies" hahaha...

The 5 bottle caps game goes like this. You put 5 of them up (the side with the "teeth" upwards) and then rotate them. They will then disperse. Your opponent will then choose which cap you need to target using another cap. You need to "shoot" one cap with another. You can use whatever method you like but assistance is restricted to your bodily parts only, usually using both hands. Many methods were used especially if the caps are not in direct line of vision with a third cap blocking the way. The most common way is using the other hand as a guide to swerve the cap over to the target cap. Another would be to shoot up the air hoping it will land on the other cap using the other hand as a "landing guide". You cannot however move your guiding hand. Most cheaters will move the guiding hand a little to "nudge" the cap to it's target. There are also several variations to the rule.

The other game I remember would be the "turn the eraser over" game. Each player would purchase some brand new erasers. Each will contribute one or 2 or even more erasers. They are then stacked up nicely. Then the starting player is chosen using the "bird, water, stone" method. The player would then warm up his inner palm by rubbing it repeatedly on the table. He then presses the stacked up erasers with his inner palm and lifts it up. Some or all of the erasers will stick to his inner palms and drops down later. Any erasers which turns over belongs to him. The next player will then try on the remaining erasers and so forth. There is a distinct method of turning over the erasers after lifting them up. The cheaters will usually discreetly "push" the erasers forward while trying to lift them up. This will cause the erasers to roll over instead. Believe me, those cheaters have refined the skill until it becomes an art. However arguments have occurred and the verdict was usually to repeat it. The game will go on until a player loses all his erasers or if he stops playing.

Proudly I think I was one of the top players in both games. I had won lots of the "bottle caps" game and also won lots of erasers. I was an honest player. Honest. The "cheaters" also won a lot, usually from unsuspecting newbies or new players. In retrospect, the "cheaters" were usually not very interested in their studies but are among the more creative and sociable people around. I'm not surprised if they are very successful in their careers today but probably not in the academic line.

I'm not sure what's the point of this post actually...but I suppose we can tell if our kids are destined to take up a traditional academic career or a more unconventional career pathway like entrepreneurship or business related line by just observing their tendencies while playing games. And I believe the "cheaters" will probably be more successful in the future as they are probably "risk takers", willing to take the risk of being found out for the glory of a huge victory hehe.