Gemstone Jackpot

When we were in Sydney, I bought a few gemstones.   I sort of collect gemstones. It started for spiritual reasons, because I read that some people believe gemstones have spiritual qualities.   I felt I needed some spiritual help.  So there you go.  

I kind of lost interest in my collection, but when we were at The Argyle Oracle, in The Rocks, my interest returned a bit.   

Hey!  I bought rocks in The Rocks!  How cute.

I haven't really noticed the stones helping me in a spiritual sense.  Maybe they do, and I just don't notice.  Who knows.

BUT we have found a use for the gemstones besides just sitting there looking shiny and pretty.  Jack and I invented a game together. I thought I'd share it. Maybe you guys can try it, and tell me if you end up liking it or not.  

If you collect gemstones like us, you can use those.  Otherwise, you can use any moderate sized pile of small things.   Do you collect erasers?   Buttons?  Little figurines?  shells?  toenail clippings?  Theatre/concert tickets would work.  Foreign coins. Candy! But I think wrapped candies/lollies would work better than unwrapped.

I think it's more fun if there's variety in the pile. It makes the game more interesting.    

Jack and I usually just play with the two of us, but we've played with more people, and that's fun too.  It's actually probably more fun with more people.  There might be a point where you have too many people, but I'm not sure what that is.  Experiment and get back to me.   Okay?

So, you have the pile of stuff. Then you need a die.

You put the pile of stuff in the middle, and you take turns rolling the die.

If you roll a 1, you take one gemstone (or whatever).

If you roll a 2, you get to steal two gemstones from one other player.  This is where it's fun to have a variety of something. Jack loves to steal what he thinks are my favorite gemstones.   

If you roll a 3, you take three gemstones from the middle pile.

If you roll a 4, you have to put four of your gemstones in the middle pile.  

If you roll a 5, you take five gemstones from the middle pile. 

If you roll a 6, you get to steal another player's WHOLE pile of gemstones.    


The game ends when there are no more gemstones in the middle pile.   Then the person with the most gemstones wins.  It's one of those games in which you think it's about to end, and then it starts up again. You might be winning, and then the next thing you know, you're losing again.   I like those types of games.

So,  let's say I have 15 gemstones, and Jack has 25.  There are 2 gemstones in the middle.   ack rolls a 6.   He gets all my gemstones.  I have none.   I roll a 3, but I can't do anything because there are not enough gemstones in the middle pile.  Jack has his turn and rolls a 1.   He takes one gemstone.    I roll, and get a 6.   Now all the gemstones are mine!   I'm almost the winner.   I just need someone to roll a 1, so there are no more gemstones in the middle.   But then Jack rolls a 4, and the middle pile begins to grow again.

It's fun.   At least I think so.




What would our world be like if we
knew for sure there 
was life after death, and 
we could easily talk to our 
dearly-departed on the Internet?

The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts