Playing Dum

The boys (KH, Fishball and Isaac) were in my room playing Dum until quite late last night. And what a game it was. Fishball held Isaac to a draw and would have won on sheer points alone except that Isaac refused to give in and admit defeat, so KH had to call it a draw. This morning, KH told me what happened.

Couple of nights ago he had a game of Dum with Fishball. To his surprise Fishball actually almost had him at point non plus. There were several times during the game when he had to pause and really think hard to get himself out of a bad situation. He won only by the skin of his teeth. KH of course, was impressed with his son and told me that its a whole different game with Fishball now. No more is Fishball making beginner moves, or even thoughtless silly amateur moves. Fishball is now thinking, totally serious and absorbed in a game - and making calculated moves - enough to make his daddy sweat. He said the look of concentration on Fishball's face is similar to that when he played Rush Hour.

So before last night's game, KH warned Isaac that his little brother was no longer playing 'baby dum' - no more could Isaac play Dum with Fishball, read a book at the same time and still win. Isaac of course, laughed it off and bragged about how it would be easy-peasy thrashing his baby brother at Dum.

He stopped laughing soon enough when Fishball cruised very quickly to establish two Queens. KH said that Isaac had several moments of panic where he had to stop and think frantically about his next move.

The game ended with Fishball having 3 queens and Isaac two. But Isaac refused to concede defeat, sputtering indignantly all the way and demanding a re-match. KH finally refereed it and put it down to a draw and the night ended with Isaac telling Fishball that "tomorrow, when I get home from school, I'm gonna play with you and this time, you're dead meat!"

Well I won't be around to see this, but even should Fishball lose (and it seems likely because he has not lost his innocence and naivete yet about openly sharing his next moves freely with his opponent! Fishball likes to say, with all the impulsivity that young children have - "I'm going to eat your pawn here!" or "Kor-kor, you have to eat my pawn here or I will chung-kong you!") I don't think Isaac will have an easy time as he used to.