Using imagination as strategy when playing games

Before the age of 20, I never liked playing games. I still remember playing Chinese Chess with my father or brother and always losing. I tried to remember the steps they used. The first time I used the same strategy, I won but the next round I lost again because they used other strategies to beat me.

The same thing happened when I played other games like checkers and chess with them.

I had no confidence and refused to play games anymore.

However, when I was 20 years old, I started to love playing games. It started unexpectedly when some friends were playing chess. One of my friends taught me the technique which was to imagine the subsequent steps that an opponent might take before making a move.

From that day, I started playing chess again and used this technique. I had a better chance of winning when I used this strategy.

It gave me confidence and I realised the importance of using our imagination when playing games.

Now, I try to teach my three-year-old daughter to use her imagination to make the game much more fun. We play “cooking games” where I will act as a customer and make an order, and she will cook. When she serves me the “food”, I will ask her what ingredients she used, and she would use her imagination to tell me what she added to the “food”. Sometimes, her ingredients are quite hilarious. For example, she might have carrot, fish and sweet corn in her “Hokkien mee”!

We always have a wonderful time together, and it helps us to become closer.

My daughter is a bit timid and dares not play on the swings as she is scared of falling off the swing. As she likes to be a heroine, I ask her to imagine she is a heroine and she needs to get on the swing as it is a trap that she needs to pass through to save innocent people from the monster. This actually works, and now each time she is scared of something she will use her imagination to overcome it.

Besides that, she also uses her imagination each time she plays with building blocks. Instead of just working on a building, she uses parts to build a railway, parking lots to park her toy car, and chairs as well as a bed for her little bear. This allows her to turn what could be boring games into more interesting play as she keeps herself amused.

Imagination is a very powerful tool. If we use it when playing games it not only allows us to win the game, it also provides us with a lot of fun. Besides, it may help a person to overcome some of his fears.

Ling Ling Ooi