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Saturday, November 23, 2013

BREAKING NEWS: SEQUENCE GAME HITS CAMBODIA

                My family loves games, games of all kinds: card games, board games, group games, strategy games—you name it. One game my family loves to play is called Sequence.



                We didn’t bring any games with us to Cambodia, but last June our family sent over the game of Sequence. It’s easy to learn and addicting to play. Don’t believe me? Consider “Exhibit A”…

                It all started out when a young Khmer couple came to our house one night for dinner. Towards the end of the meal one of us suggested we try out our Sequence game, and our guests agreed. After a simple, five-minute tutorial of the rules, the four of us were locked in a grueling team game that lasted until the landlord was ready to lock the gate to our building.

                Soon after, our friends returned, this time with a friend, and the five of us played another rousing series of Sequence. A few days later, our friends asked if they might borrow the game over a week-long holiday at the beginning of October. They proceeded to teach their relatives, friends, neighbors, and family members how to play.

                The fire had started.

                The young couple was married the first week of November, and as a wedding present from another American friend of theirs, they received a brand new Sequence board.

                It is now nearing the new holiday season, and with the onset of our family members coming to visit, requests have been made for more Sequence games. We underestimated the power of all those little colored chips; they appear to have completely entranced our friends and neighbors. Students in our building regularly come to play it with us and our neighbors across the street are nearly riotous as they battle it out on the Sequence board.


                Where is this new phenomenon headed? Who knows. One thing is for sure, though, and that is the fact that when something takes off in a Khmer community, it really takes off.


-Ryan

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