A Decision Tradition

This family tradition actually started quite recently only a few summers ago, but its enjoyability and family bonding value make it absolutely worth preserving. Since a very young age, I’ve always been quite close to two of my cousins, one around the same age as me and the other two years older. As an only child, they were like siblings to me. Because they have lived in various places in Asia over the years, my mom and I used to travel overseas every time I had a break from school to visit them, and I have numerous fond memories with them. However, during the 1-2 year long pandemic, my mom and I weren’t able to travel overseas to visit them, as everyone was stuck in lockdown in their own homes. By the time we next met a few summers ago coming out of the pandemic (in which they came to America to visit us), things were noticeably awkward, as we hadn’t seen each other for such a long time.

        Our new tradition broke these awkward barriers in no time, however. It all started one night when my mom used an especially large amount of dishes to cook dinner, a habit she’s notorious for. No one wanted to wash the dishes, but they weren’t just going to wash themselves either. To decide who had to wash the dishes, we decided to play a board game called “Sorry!”, a simple, yet fun game that involved moving pieces around the game board and getting all game pieces home before other players. The four of us agreed that whoever lost the game had to wash the dishes. 

I would have never expected the experience to be so fun. Due to the stakes for losing, everyone playing was intensely invested in the game, contributing to a very competitive environment. “Sorry!” is a luck-based game; the number of spaces you can move your pieces entirely depends on what you draw from the deck. Additionally, you need to move a specific number of spaces to be considered “Home”. These luck-based mechanics only further served to fuel everyone’s excitement and competitiveness. In the more intense moments of the game, when one person was close to victory, every other player would be chanting for their downfall, screaming “Backwards 4” at the top of their lungs, despite being unable to actually change the outcome of what that person draws. When the deck needed to be reshuffled, we playfully argued over who got to shuffle, as it was the only way to “change our fate”. There were many instances of excited “Yes!”s, panicked “No, no, no!”s, and uncontrollable laughter. I already loved board games, but this experience made me love them many times more.

From that point on, our little board game dish-washer-deciding activity evolved. We started playing board games after every meal. We incorporated more board games of different types, such as “Monopoly”, “Scrabble”, and “7 Wonders”, and made a rule that the person who lost the last round could choose the next game. We added a bargaining system, in which the person who lost could bargain future dish-washing duties for another chance at relieving the current duties. We also used this activity for other chores around the house, letting those who won first choose their preferred cleaning job in our weekly house cleaning session. Through this activity, that summer became an absolute blast, and I gained close bonds with my mom and my cousins. 

Now, we continue this tradition every time my cousins come to visit, and I not only want it to continue forever but also hope to spread it to others. I want friends and family, both present and future, to experience the pure joy of laughing to tears over a board game. And as I spread and enjoy this tradition from now into the future, the “Backwards 4” chants will always resonate in my mind.