Dominoes

“When we gained enough confidence, we went back and asked to join the locals’ game on Bastimientos. When we sat down at the small table on front porch of one of the player’s homes, we quickly realized we were not nearly as good as we thought we were. After all our practice we had only a hazy understanding of how to play. The locals knew what play you would make before you did and they played an entire round in the time it normally took us to take a single turn. Our version of the game was child’s play compared to their strategy and depth of knowledge. After their initial laughter at our mistakes, they split up our teams and played with us, teaching us the rules of thumb for communicating with your partner and blocking your opponents’ plays.”