The game of The Star-Crossed Lovers (Game explained in story form)

“Would you like to play the game of the Star-Crossed Lovers?”, asked Karen.

“The what of the what?”, asked Bill, thinking that it sounded like an odd sort of name for a game.

“Oh you’ll like it, I’m sure”, she said, “It’s very romantic”.

And she placed two small pennies on the coffee table in front of him, spacing them a few inches apart.

“These are the two star-crossed lovers; sometimes called Romeo and Juliet or Pyramus and Thisbe”, she said, “Kept apart by cruel fate”.

Then she threw a six sided dice which rattled across the table until it came up 4.

“That’s an even number”, she said, turning over each of the pennies and, in so doing, moving them a step closer together, “Each time you roll an even number, it brings the lovers a step closer to each other”.

“And what if I roll an odd number?”, asked Bill.

“Then the lovers move a step further apart, of course; cruel fate coming between them”, Karen explained, “Although for every step that keeps them apart you have to name an obstacle. Right now, they’re only one step apart and so I would say, “The two lovers are kept apart by a wall”, but two steps apart is a family feud and three steps apart is a towering castle; four steps is a mountain and five steps, an ocean”.

Bill laughed and shook his head in disbelief, “What a strange game”, he said.

“I think it’s a beautiful game”, said Karen, “But it can be quite sad as well”.

“What d’you mean?”, asked Bill, “How can a game be sad?”.

“Well six steps apart”, explained Karen, her voice becoming more intense, “Is the gulf of death. The game is lost and the lovers are doomed never to be together”.

“That is sad”, said Bill, jokingly, making his voice sound more solemn.

“Yes”, said Karen smiling, “But the happiness of true love is worth taking the risk, isn’t it?”.

“And when you win”, she added, placing one penny on top of another, “You say, the two lovers are happily united after all”.