SPIRITUAL CHALLENGE TO PERSONAL GROWTH  –  “Play a Cooperative Game”

Our theme this month is Imagination and my spiritual challenge for personal growth this month is to play a game or two (or five) that recast the experience of game play from competition to cooperation. What if games weren’t played to win, but instead were played to enjoy and continue to the play? What if we didn’t try to defeat others, but instead worked together so that we all win? Imagine that! These types of games are called cooperative games because players all work together instead of trying to defeat each other. 

There are alot of cooperative games. Here are some suggestions to begin exploring this type of game:

• Co-opoly – Instead of trying to bankrupt opponents as in Monopoly, you work together to run a successful co-op! 
• Forbidden Island – You and other players are a team of fearless adventurers trying to find four sacred treasures among the ruins of a forbidden island before the island sinks into the sea!
• Paleo – The playersform a tribe of Paleolithic people exploring and trying to complete a cave painting.
• Dungeons and Dragons – If you’ve never played D&D now’s the time! It’s the original cooperative team quest game. 

As always, I’d love to hear about your experience with this challenge. If you play some cooperative games, let me know what you thought about the experience!