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Captain's Quarters - Shall we play a game?

Posted June 13, 2022, 11:30 a.m. by Lieutenant Commander Mathys Ducote (Chief Engineer) (Janice B.)

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Captain’s Quarters - Shall we play a game?

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Avik (XO) in Captain’s Quarters - Shall we play a game?

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Captain’s Quarters - Shall we play a game?
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

“Good point,” he said. He wandered over to the replicator and shortly thereafter another 52-card French-suited deck from Earth materialized.

“We could even do more of them with a shoe, except I’ve never loaded one of those.” He had been in a few casinos before, both on Earth and in star systems very far from it, but he was not a card sharp by any means. Or card shark. Whatever the phrase was.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

“The more cards we use, the harder it will be to cut and shuffle the deck. Unless you have larger hands to hold them. If memory serves me, most of our crew have fairly similar dimensions for their hand size.” Avik commented, taking the seat across from the CO.

“That is a standard ergonomic assumption on this ship,” Johann said plainly. He had never thought of it before, and as he did so he couldn’t help but smirk slightly. It struck him as a funny thing to think about.

“The best way to determine if the cards are too many is to test it. Holodeck would’ve been a better option to determine what hand sizes might struggle. Are we aiming to have one person always shuffling the cards or passing it around?” Enjoyment peeked out from underneath her inquiring tone.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

“Oh, I assumed that passing the role of the dealer was a standard practice in most games,” he said. “Unless you’d prefer one of us do it exclusively. I’m pretty sure I could shuffle two decks at once.”

“It depends on the game and location. Twenty-first century casinos had one person as a dealer to avoid cheating. Of course, it was during that time your race gambled with monetary units for biological stimulation.” Avik commented, recounting her history lessons.

As if to test that hypothesis, he stacked the two decks next to each other and proceeded to riffle shuffle them almost perfectly, complete with forming a bridge to put the cards back into place. He had clearly done this before, and didn’t seem that deterred by 104 cards instead of the standard 52.

“It’s ten times, right? With two decks. I’m pretty sure it’s seven with just one.” He was referring to the number of riffles required to ensure that the cards were sufficiently randomized.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Avik considered the CO’s question. “Fourteen cards are a lot to hold in one hand, some thing we need to be mindful of. Let’s try it with the fourteen, next round we try the seven. Then we contrast the difference.” It was the best way to obtain data in her mind.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

“Oh I meant the number of times doing this thing,” he said, riffling the cards a second time. He kept doing it as he continued to talk.

“It’s a good point though. I don’t actually remember what game it is we’re playing so I dunno how many cards we should be dealt. It was that one you were telling me about, right? That I think I might have played some version of before?” His memory on this was unusually fuzzy, as if they hadn’t originally talked about this last week, but instead two years ago…

– Johann Dvorak, CO

The irises of Avik’s eyes tightened. A moment’s pause entered the conversation before she broke it. The debate was over in her head, replaced by her explaining the game’s rules.

“War. From what I recalled from another Officer, it was a 21st-century card game.” She paused to wet her tongue before continuing.

“Right,” he said. That was it.

“The deck is shuffled then divided between the players. Without looking, we collect them and start by flipping over the first card. The highest card value wins, and the winner takes all the cards.”

Johann nodded. This seemed very familiar to him… he was pretty sure he played this game in his youth.

Observing to see the CO absorb the information, she went on. “If there is a tie, we lay down three more cards face down and then flip the fourth. It repeats for every tie and only the players who have it. The goal of the game is to have all the cards.”

Considering how long a game could go on without another measure of time, Avik put forward another suggestion.

“This might be best on a timer so rounds can end sooner. I doubt anyone wants to linger in a single match for a long time.”

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

“Yes, that makes sense. Though with only two of us here, I imagine we’ll play quickly.” He vaguely recalled playing this with 4 people or maybe even more at one point. “We could ask the computer to do it for us, though I’m not sure what value for the timer would be appropriate.”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Avik considered the best options before settling into a decision.

“Your point is well made. Let’s start without a timer and instead have the computer time us. If it takes longer than two hours, we’ll try with a timer for the next round.”

Once the CO finished dealing out the cards, she collected hers. A swift tap put them back into order and she looked to him.

“Ready to begin?”

Once she got an answer, she placed down her card.

–XO (out going), Avik, Lt. Cmdr


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