games riff

games where everyone wins or no one wins depending 
on how you look at it
word games, board games, games you play in the woods
games played in the treetops
games you play by yourself – or with friends, or w/ help, or w/ rule books
or w/out them
secret games that no one must know about
games that anyone would recognize
games you play w/ someone special
playful games, intimate games
games where nobody gets hurt

games w/ dice & chance & imagination
games w/ card & money & danger
games of deception & half-truth & (sometimes) drinking
games that reveal truth
games that are truth in action
games that open up over time like flower-petals revealing smaller 
more intricate, internal 
games

games that stray into strategy
games that go into strategy on purpose
games w/ luck
games w/ colour
games of memory
games w/ optional rules
games w/ rules that change
house rules
games with no rules what-so-ever
all the games in the world at
play

© rob thomas