Email Service Notes (Tony)

Your Original Email

I first played the “werewolves” game when I was in grad school. Before that, I often saw my schoolmates sitting in the common room playing this game. There are often 12-20 people sitting in a circle, almost all Chinese, and I’d never seen Americans play this game, or they are at least not as serious as Chinese students when playing table games. Chinese students often start playing the game at 8-9pm on weekend nights, and the game goes on to 2 am on next day or even later. There was a time I heard Chinese students making fun of themselves, saying that “Americans think we are hosting some kind of religious event.” — Think about 12 people sitting in a circle, with eyes closed tightly, and the game master gives the instruction “Werewolves please open your eyes, and choose one person to kill tonight and then close your eyes”, “Fortune teller please open your eyes, and choose one person to learn his/her identity”. Well, it does sound religious somehow… lol.

Before I really learned to play the game, I was confused each time I saw them playing it. Why are they so obsessed with this game? They seem to play it every weekend. For me, card games used to be more like party games, and I could hardly imagine people spending hours on a card game — especially when we’re grad school students with heavy school load — this game seems time-wasting.

Many times when I walked by them, they invited me to join them and I refused, but eventually, at one time I thought I should have a try, so I sit down and joined them. After 2-3 games I soonly realized the attractiveness of this game. Though I was a beginner at that time, I have the feeling that the victory of the game is not decided by luck, but is by the strategy of the players and also the cooperation ability among team members. It’s been 2 years since I first played this game, I have grown from a silly green hand to a mid-level player, and it’s surely my favorite card game.

Your Edited Email

I first played the “werewolves” game when I was in grad school. Before that, I often saw my schoolmates sitting in the common room playing this game. There are often 12-20 people sitting in a circle, almost all Chinese, and I’d never seen any Americans play this game, or they are at least not as seriously as Chinese students when playing board? games. Chinese students often start playing the game at 8-9pm on weekends, and the game goes on till 2 am or even later. There was a time I heard Chinese students making fun of themselves, saying that “Americans think we are hosting some kind of religious event.” — Think about 12 people sitting in a circle, with eyes closed tightly, and the game master gives the instruction “Werewolves please open your eyes, and choose one person to kill tonight and then close your eyes”, “Fortune teller please open your eyes, and choose one person to learn his/her identity”. Well, it does sound religious somehow… lol.

Before I really learned to play the game, I was confused each time I saw them playing it. Why are they so obsessed with this game? They seem to play it every weekend. For me, card games used to be more like party games, and I could hardly imagine people spending hours on a card game — especially when we’re grad school students with a heavy school load — this game seems time-wasting, to say the least.

Many times when I walked by them, they invited me to join and I refused, but eventually I wanted to give it a shot, so I sat down and joined them. After 2-3 games I quickly realized the allure of this game. Even though I was a beginner at that time, I have the feeling that the victory of the game is not decided by luck, but by strategy and cooperation among team members. It’s been 2 years since I first played this game, I have grown from a silly green hand to a mid-level player, and it’s surely my favorite card game.