Humble Pie

Just last week I finally had the desert I inadvertently ordered in May while we were still in Holland. It all started at the Billy Bear restaurant on our last night in Holland. We had ordered our meals but it seemed to be taking a long time. Suddenly Laura flips the place mat over and starts putting 100 dots on the paper. I know what she is doing so I don't stop her even though the rest of my family suddently feels uncomfortable. She is putting down the dots for a little game that I'm sure a lot of people know but I will explain to you anyway. The game is easy enough to play. You start by putting 10 rows and 10 columns of dots on a paper. Each player takes a turn connecting dots either vertically or horizontally. The idea is to try to capture the the most squares for yourself without setting up the other person to take more squares than you. Each square you close off becomes yours and you "own" it by putting your initial in the middle. Each turn basically ends when you connect 2 dots but have not created a square. At the beginning of the game this of course means each turn is only drawing 1 line at a time but if you can close off a box you can keep drawing lines until you haven't closed off a square. Does that make sense? Good.

Laura and I started this game at dinner but then the food came and well, games just don't compete well with Saute and Schnitzel. We took the game with us when we left and pulled it out again on the plane while taxing to the runway. Then again on the landing. By this time I had looked ahead and saw the last few possible moves and calculated that I would win because the number of moves left would give me the most squares. Well we never did finish that game. We came home, unpacking our stuff, and life went on. Then we found our little piece of place mat with our unfinished game. Well I had to win this game so for the next 3 weeks I kept reminding Laura it was her turn. Finally she gave in, prepares herself for defeat and takes her turn, but wait, something is not right here. Looking at the game again, I see that Laura is bound to win. Oh well, I blame it on the jet lag and the fact that I'm not sure what Laura did with that piece of paper during the three weeks it was laying around the house.

Here is the game and as you can see Laura owns the most squares but I come in a close second!!