Carpe Datum

Fun with Cards

Tuesday night at suppertime, the doorbell rang. 16 weeks ago when that happened, it was the cops asking about broken windows up at the school. Today, though, it was the UPS guy with the latest delivery: two new boxes with 36 packs of Yu-Gi-Oh cards each. I had told the kids that once their punishment was over (it ended this past Sunday), I was thinking about ordering new cards, but only if I knew they would keep doing chores around the house to earn money. I said I would wait until they had each earned 10 dollars and then I'd order them. Of course, I had ordered them last week, but I wanted to give them some incentive.

Anyway, I had said on Monday while at supper, talking loudly to Michelle, that I was expecting a book to come in the mail this week. That's what I told the kids the last time we got a box full of cards, that it was just books. That was right before Cody's birthday and a week or so before the fateful window breaking where the boys got into so much trouble. Cody immediately got excited and said, "Hey, that means more cards!" He laughed, "You liar!"

I faked innocence and annoyance, "Oh, come on, I was just kidding around last time. You know I'm in the middle of the semester now, and I need a replacement for the textbook I lecture from. I'm just anxious for it to arrive because I need it for my class." I told them this story because I knew that otherwise, they would have their noses glued to the window every afternoon looking for the UPS truck. And they don't know that I would *never* lecture from the stupid textbook.

It worked. By the time the box finally did arrive, they were kinda-sorta convinced it wasn't for them. I brought in the box, and I said, "Look, I'll open this after supper and prove it to you that there's a textbook in here, ok?" I had Justin fooled, because he ate quickly and left the room to watch TV. There was a pile of clean, unfolded laundry on the couch, but he just ignored it. Sarah proceeded to tell us about her school day and so on, but Cody was watching me and that box like a hawk.

So after we had finished, I made a big production of bringing the box over to the table and cutting it open. I said, "Now look, see, I'm just gonna pull this book ... HEY!! SOMEONE PUT TWO BOXES OF YU-GI-OH CARDS IN HERE!!"

Bedlam.

Within two minutes, after lots of laughing and excitement, every kid was offering to do every chore in the house to earn money. Let's see, the baby's laundry was folded. All the other laundry, sheets, towels, the works was folded and put away. The kids' bathroom was cleaned. The trash was taken out. The table was cleared. A cushion on the couch was re-covered (after needing a washing to get rid of Pug pee). Dishes in the sink were washed, and they were still clamoring and bugging for more chores. Even Daniel caught onto the mood, maybe, because he took to a faint little giggle for the first time ever in response to Justin making some faces at him.

In the end, we distributed the chores well enough that each kid had some multiple of $3 to their name. That's how much I charge them per pack, about $1 less than they'd get at the store and just a shade over the price I pay by mail order - so in a way, we're earning a "profit" on the transaction but we also grossly overpay for chores. My stepdad, John, once came to visit and saw a list on the fridge showing how much we pay for each chore, and he complained to my Mom that he wants to come down here to earn some money because he doesn't get paid for that stuff at home!

Justin put on a show of saying he'd save some of his money for later, but he broke down and spent all $12 he had (he still had some money left over from before the 16-week punishment began) to buy four packs. Cody got three packs (he's been working hard ever since I told them last week I was thinking about buying more cards), and Sarah got two. Hell, I even opened two myself (I paid for 'em, dammit!).

We sat around the supper table for nearly an hour after supper gawking at everyone's new cards, and there were some really good ones in these new expansion packs. It's nice after playing with the same decks for basically four months that we have some new cards to mix in. These should last us until Xmas, when the kids will get their next big infusion of cards.

It will take a week or two for the kids to understand the rules and effects of these new cards. I try to teach them during battles and such, because that's the only time I get their full attention and focus when they can actually apply the rule on the card to a situation in the game. Needless to say, partly because of the new cards and explanations, each duel took nearly a half hour last night (some nights they average 5-10 minutes each), and Cody even beat me, winning seven cards from the "old" box. Now the bets don't matter because they call me "Dad" all the time anyway. I'll still make the bets, though, as long as they want to keep dueling.

Posted by Observer at September 26, 2003 07:10 AM