The Old Man smiled, looking down on his newest creation. His Game of Change had been
such a success that he'd made a new version. He had been able to spy on the game
players and enjoy each time the game was played but he always felt like the game played
too quickly. Before one transformation ended, another began and there was never really
any time to savor each individual transformation. So in his newest edition of the game, he
made it so that it would be impossible to take more than one turn per day. That way, when
a player was transformed, he would have to wait a full twenty-four hours before he could
be transformed again. This would give the player twenty-four hours to experience each
transformation either in agony waiting for the chance to change again or in exploration of
what life is like in the changed form.
The Old Man also put a couple of other minor changes. To guarantee that the players kept
playing, he put a spell on the game that once the players had begun the game, even if they
hadn't taken a turn yet, they would experience an increasing compulsion to take a turn and
this compulsion would keep growing in intensity with the only relief coming from taking a
turn in the game. Also, since hope motivates, he set up the game to keep making promises
of restoration if they accomplished little tasks. For example, if a card made a player only
one inch tall, the card would promise the one inch tall player that he could regain his
height as soon as he climbed another player "from base to top". Of course the card could
always throw in a loophole so that it wouldn't have to keep the promise. If a one inch tall
player succeeded in his climb, the game could always change the definition of base, either
feet or baseball equipment. Then the valiant climb of the one inch tall man would be
considered a failure to meet the cards requirements and thus the one inch tall man would
stay one inch tall until the next day when he could take his next turn.
The Old Man looked for the perfect person to push the new game onto.