I’m Jake Hounds, and this is One Thousand Words or Less
EPISODE 11- Not Just Cool, Super cool!
I love spending time with my son. He has to be the coolest son ever, and I am pretty sure that he thinks I’m cool too. Come to think of it, we’re not just cool, we’re super cool, and the coolest things we do are the things we do together making them double super cool.
Like our love of games. Ever since he was little we not only played together, but invented our own games. When he was two, he would stand on a large chair and roll balls down the arm to see how far they could go. We called this game, “Chair Ball.”
As he got older our games became more involved. He had a small plush chicken, and we used to throw it to try to land it on the top of our couch. Throws that were off the mark were met with critical snipes like “too soft” or “too high” or “crazy throw” if they went way wide. We called this game “Couch Chicken.”
The unexpected thing about Couch Chicken, is that we actually created a mobile game version of it years later that for a while was available in the app stores. It’s a lot of work to create a mobile game, but it takes an inordinate level of effort to keep a game updated and current, so while it’s still on our devices, sadly it isn’t widely available anymore, for now.
We practice karate together, and before every class we play a game called cap toss, where we take three turns to try and get a cap onto a peg in the change room. If it straddles two pegs, that’s two points, three, three points, or more points if it hangs upside down. This started with the hat I had on my head, but now we carry a dedicated cap to class in our gym bag. You know, because we’re cool.
Speaking of cool, there was our UNO phase. We changed the rules and added cards to make it our own. In our UNO, the game is only valid if UNO is called and then more cards are drawn, otherwise a straight victory is considered invalid, and only worth half a point. We even announce the validity by saying, “Vaaaaaaaliiiiid.” Totally cool!
All things considered, it wasn’t until we received the game Star Trek FLUXX that our gaming came into focus, and propelled us into the realm of the super cool. FLUXX is a card game where the rules change constantly, aka they are in FLUXX. They make many different branded versions, but because we both like Star Trek (remember how cool we are?), my wife picked that version to give to us.
From the time we first played, we knew that we had found a game that we not only loved, but that would satisfy our interest in variability and obscurity. Each game was completely different than the last, and all of our skills could not combat random cards that went against us. It was a perfect fit.
Of course, we added our flair, including catchphrases based on the cards, then recordings of those catchphrases that were played at specific game moments, sounds effects, and music, we listen to the Alexander Courage Original Series soundtrack as background. In fact, if we forget to turn on the music, we have to start the game over!
We added a Klingon rematch when victory or defeat was dishonorable, and a phrase to be used when shuffling or reshuffling (the game requires that from time to time), so each time he would say “shuffle, duffle, muffle, kerfuffle.” To which I reply, “Alright.”
After a few months of playing, FLUXX had us hooked, like Khan’s Ceti Eel nesting in our ears, we were under its sway. We played every single day for months. Realizing that we had just scratched the surface with single-deck play, we had the Original Series version, we acquired all of the other Star Trek FLUXX decks, Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space 9, plus expansion packs that included characters from Enterprise, and put all the decks together. We also got some blank cards so we could create our own. We have made some great cards already, like Reconfigure the Primary Power Coupling which restarts the game, or our Royal Fizzbin, and most recently, EEKS BEEKS, based on a Trill ritual.
In the middle of our FLUXX-fever, we attended a fan convention in cosplay. I was Captain Christopher Pike and my son played Ensign Bradward Boimler, complete with purple hair. We met Trek actors Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Gates McFadden who played Dr. Crusher in Next Generation, plus many other really cool people just like us, lining up in cosplay.
Our cosplay added a new level of participation in our FLUXX matches, by dressing in uniform - don’t call them costumes - either fully decked out, or sometimes with just our combadges on, like we’re off duty, or on shore leave.
With all four Star Trek decks, plus the expansion pack, plus our own homemade cards, our FLUXX game now had over 450 cards, making shuffling onerous. Enter the Kerfuffler 3000, our electronic card shuffling machine. We can’t quite shuffle all the cards at once, but the Kerfuffler 3000 handles the whole deck in a couple of passes. FLUXX matches are now like a Vegas casino, only cooler. We are truly going where no one has gone before.
While this all might seem obscure to the outsider, at the heart of our gaming is sharing, be it an inside joke, a specific geek fact, or just the fun of playing together. As a dad, it’s all sacred and precious to me.
I had just wanted tell you about how cool my son is and how the stuff we do together is super cool with our catch phrases, and our Star Trek uniforms at home, and our ever changing game. But, now that I think about it, I guess that’s pretty obvious.
This has been 1000 words or less, I’m Jake Hounds.
Thanks for listening.
One Thousand Words or Less is one hundred percent created by flawed natural human intelligence.
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