Change Your Score

Years ago, my in-laws introduced me to the game, GREEDY. All you needed was 5 dice and a way to keep score. Our family has played with up to four generations, and I can still hear Great-Grandma Lily quip, “I got what the little boy shot at — NOTHING!”

The challenge in GREEDY is knowing when to stop. You roll five dice, and keep anything that scores: fives, ones, and rolls with multiples of 3 or more, (like three 4s.) Put your “keepers” to the side, then you have the option to roll any remaining dice to accumulate more points. If you successfully roll all keepers, you get to start again with all five dice. BUT, if you don’t get a keeper in a subsequent roll, you lose your points for that turn.

Usually, we try to keep rolling, gambling for a big payoff, but that strategy can lead to several rounds of going bust. Every once in a while, Grandpa Hansen would take a low point roll, “just to change his score.” I’m way too reckless to settle for a measly hand, but have wondered about sticking to the “slow and steady wins the race” strategy. It might work.

I think life can be like that. Sometimes I don’t want to settle for a small win, but the big score is too intimidating to attempt. So I sit, frozen, and get what the little boy shot at — nothing.

Sometimes it’s ok to do a small thing. Something manageable. One of my friends says, “I just need to move one thing. If I want, I can tackle another, but that’s extra.”

The Bible says don’t despise small beginnings, and when I’m stuck, I need to not despise small progress. Because if I’m only satisfied with the big wins, I may never get into the game. Sometimes I just need to change my score.