Life can always be made more interesting

Earlier this year, my student took an interesting approach to Wordle.

Clever. Right? And depending on your disposition, funny, too.

At least I thought so.

But also a good lesson for us all:

Games (and perhaps almost anything in life) can always be made more fun and more interesting by simply adding a new layer of complexity.

For my son, Charlie, this means requesting a new challenge while he sets the table for dinner:

Left hand only.
You’re only allowed a total of nine steps.
You need to say the name of a US President aloud every time you take a step.

This kind of thing can take many forms.

Sometimes golfers play a round with only three clubs.
“Iron Chef” is a television show that challenges people to cook a meal using a secret, often unusual ingredient.
Ernest Vincent Wright wrote “Gadsby,” a novel that does not include any words that contain the letter E.
I wrote an entire book, “Twenty-one Truths About Love,” entirely in the form of lists.

I will sometimes attempt to walk from one place to another with my eyes closed, seeing if I can navigate the world without sight.

Can I make it to my car with my eyes closed?
Can I navigate this stretch of hallway while blind?
How long can I walk around my house, unable to see, before bumping into something?

I do this more often than you might think.

In the case of my student and her game of Wordle, her new level of complexity was this:

I can only use words that would make fussy adults uncomfortable.

Just like that, an already interesting game became more interesting.