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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The "Dallin Rules"

 (Or Should this post be titled "Dallin Rules?")

My four grandson's who live about 40 minutes away in Fate, Texas were visiting me recently.  Four-year-old Dallin wanted to play a game with me.   He chose Bingo.  "Wonderful,"  I thought to myself, "this will help reinforce his knowledge of numbers and a few letters."  I had been warned previously about playing games with Dallin.  "Watch out Mom," my daughter Camie (his mother) said, "Dallin cheats."  After playing several games with him, I've decided the problem isn't that he cheats, he just plays by a different set of rules.

Here is how the "Dallin Rules" work for Bingo.  We set the game up and I instructed Dallin to choose his card.  I had chosen  the first card I came to.  Dallin looked at every single remaining card rejecting them all in turn.  Then he finally settled on one that he had previously rejected.  "Whew,"  I thought, "the rest of the game should be a cinch."  Not, as I was to soon find out, if you play Bingo by the "Dallin Rules."

I showed Dallin how to choose one of the small colored chips (markers) and place it over the center square which read "Free."  Dallin turned the cage handle and out came a small ball on which was printed "G-47."   He had that number on his card.  I showed him how to select one of the small colored chips and place it on the correct square on his card.  Dallin decided that more than one ball should come out per turn. He had appointed himself the "caller."Around and around the cage went spewing colored Bingo balls.  I decided this was fair because we each had an equal chance to cover our card based on the numbers and letters printed on those colored balls.

Soon,the game was not exciting enough for Dallin.  He had B-12 which had just been called, on his card.  "Okay Grandma," he said, "close your eyes."  I obediently complied.  "Now open them."  Dallin instructed. "Now guess which color I have in my hand," said my grandson as he held up a closed fist.  I guessed it was pink,  "Now it's my turn to guess," announced Dallin.  He then guessed, "blue," whereupon he opened his fist to reveal a small blue chip in the center of his palm.  We continued playing this way for a time, with me  mostly making inaccurate guesses as to which of the six colors was on the chip he had in his hand, and then him guessing (with one hundred percent accuracy), which color he held.

At one point, Dallin noticed my card filling up with chips.  "Okay," he announced, "time for us to switch cards."  Since we were playing by the "Dallin Rules" I reluctantly surrendered my card and I took over his which had fewer numbers covered.  The game resumed.

With the addition of the guessing element in the game, we usually ended up forgetting which number was on the ball which had just been retrieved from the cage.  Several times I had to go over his card and match the numbers on the grid of his card, to the balls in the tray indicating which numbers had been drawn. I was finally getting smart enough to hold the most recently retrieved ball in my hand, waiting to place it in the tray until the chip had been placed on his card; when suddenly, the game was over.  By the end of that game, I was mentally exhausted.  I was also very glad that even Dallin had tired of playing Bingo by the "Dallin Rules."