This week in EDL 290T, our class played two risk-taking games: Incan Gold and Can’t Stop. Incan Gold is a card game where players dole out treasure as they explore an Incan Temple, with the option to bow out once they feel confident on their treasure intake. However, if the players encounter two of the same hazards, the treasure of any players still in the round must return to the bank and the round ends; the player with the most treasure collected after five rounds wins. Can’t Stop is a dice game where players move markers across the board to claim columns on the board with the ability to quit when they choose; the first player to claim three columns wins, but if a player cannot continue they lose all moves they have made during their turn.

In my breakout room, we played two games of Can’t Stop and one game of Incan Gold. For Can’t Stop, I liked how straightforward gameplay was, while for Incan Gold I liked the theme of the game. There wasn’t anything I disliked about either game. The hardest part of Can’t Stop was the temptation to keep on going and risking losing everything, which happened to me and the other players in my breakout room a few times. The hardest part of Incan Gold was getting the hang of the UI, but gameplay was straightforward after I got the hang of it. I didn’t win any of the rounds I participated in, but I had fun regardless; both of my partners won a round of Can’t Stop and one of them won the round of Incan Gold we finished.

Risk-taking played a role in the game because the longer we played during rounds or turns, the more treasure we could acquire or the more progress we could make on columns, but it also made it more likely that we would run out of moves or encounter a hazard card. This applies to leadership because risk taking can pay off with bigger rewards, but risk-taking isn’t always the smart strategy; a good leader knows when risk-taking is a good idea and when they should refrain from taking a risk. I was less risk-averse than I thought I’d be but I was still the most risk-averse of my group, which lines up with my leadership approach because I’m not super into risk-taking as a leader but I will take risks sometimes.

I could see my niece enjoying Can’t Stop because the rules are straightforward and it’s a good way to teach younger kids about risk vs. reward. Whether or not I could keep a seven-year-old still enough to play is another matter. With Incan Gold, I could see my brother enjoying this because it’s a straightforward game that feels almost Jumanji-ish or like it could be themed after an Indiana Jones movie, and he likes both of those movies.