Yahtzee is a Metaphor for Life

When I was a kid, my sister and I spent countless hours playing Yahtzee. Not the digital kind you see nowadays, but the hardcore real dice with pencil and score pad Yahtzee.

The other day, I discovered an online version of Yahtzee and have spent many hours since then playing till the late hours of the night. Not working right now, it's good to have something challenging my mind still. I can hold, roll and small straight em' like no one's business!

As I was playing today, the thought crossed my mind that Yahtzee was a great metaphor for life. Sometimes you roll the dice and it's an easy decision as what to hold onto, and what to let go of. Sometimes your gut tells you that what's been put out before you is way too obvious, so you take a chance on the less travelled road and if it proves successful, you can say you defied the odds by being a risk taker. Although you want to make sure to check off all the categories on the card, it's important to do  so in equal doses between the top and bottom parts. Otherwise if you fill one part up too fast, you're stuck making forced decisions and leaving your outcome to chance by being left with another part to finish off all at once. Sometimes you're going to have a game where your score is lower than your IQ, but you just hit reset, set a goal as to what you want your next score to be, and do it all over again. Sometimes you kick yourself over what dice you hold onto but you know there's no "re-do" button, so you just deal with the hand you've got in the best way possible to finish the game. Let's not forget strategy! If you know you struggle rolling full houses, then try to hit heavy on your top scores so that if you don't get that full house, then maybe a bonus on the top part of your card will counter-balance your falls on the bottom card. It's ok, we all have to admit to our strengths and weaknesses, it's how we deal with them that matters. Sometimes you roll the dice, develop a plan of action, and next shake something else enticing comes along and you change your plans mid-stream and hope it all works out. And sometimes you'll have a game where you throw 3 Yahtzees and they're coming out the yahoo, and other games, you won't be able to manage 3 of a kind to save your life. Strategy you can steer, luck and chance, you have no control over. The dice just fall as the dice will fall.

So tell me, does Yahtzee sound a lot like life to you now too?

Tia