The Heart of the Cards

Tim was in his room one day looking at his Yu-Gi-Oh cards when his father walked into the room.

"Ooof, when are you going to give up that Yu-Gi-Oh ?" asked Tim's father.
"What? Why do I have to give it up?" replied Tim.
"Don't you think it's time? You're not a kid anymore."
"So?"
"So, don't you think your time would be better spent doing other things?"
"But I like Yu-gi-oh, and I'm really good at it."
"So? What can you get by being good at it?"
"I don't know, but why should I stop playing something I'm good at?"
"Because it has no future."
"You don't know that. There could be money in it in the future."
"Unlikely."
"How can you know that?"
"I'm you're father Tim, it's my job to know these kinds of things. You're good at chess, why don't you spend some time playing that?"
"Chess is boring. Also, there is no money in chess either."
"There are millionaires in chess."
"Yeah maybe like the top 10 guys."
"How many millionaire Yu-Gi-Oh players are there?"
"That's not fair, Yu-Gi-Oh is a 10-year-old game. Chess has been around for a thousand years. And there's still no money it!"
"It just seems like you're putting a lot of time into something that really isn't doing anything for your future."
"I disagree, there's plenty of strategy and math in Yu-Gi-Oh."
"Like what?"
"Well, for starters, you have to have 40 cards in every deck. There are thousands of cards to choose from and you can't have more than 3 of any. So the cards you choose to put into your deck and how many of each is a lot of strategy. You get 8000 life points for every game and the goal is to get your opponent to zero before you get to zero. Not to mention you are playing against other people, who are also trying to win, so it's not easy."
"What about the money you are spending?"
"What do you mean?"
"How much money are you spending on these cards?"
"I don't know like $15 a month. Most of the good cards I get, I get them through trades. And some of these cards are actually worth some good money. Like one of my cards, Jinzo, is worth $80."
"$80?"
"Yeah, $80. And that's right now, imagine what it could be worth 10 years from now."
"Well, that's if you still have it."
"Why won't I still have it?"
"Didn't a bunch of your cards get stolen a few years back?"
"Yeah."
"So there's no guarantee you will have those cards for another 10 years."
"That won't happen again."
"How do you know?"
"I just do."
"How?"
"I just do okay! Are we done here?"
"Okay, stop getting excited. All I'm saying is that as you get older you're priorities will change, so it might be time to stop putting up so much time into Yu-Gi-Oh."
"Ok, but I don't think I will stop playing anytime soon."
"I am your father, it is my job to say these things. You do what you think is best."
"Okay, Dad."

The next day Tim was set to play Yu-Gi-Oh with one of his newfound basketball friends. Tim had recently started playing basketball at a newly developed indoor basketball court at a recreation center. It was a long walk from his house but he didn't mind because he had made friends. One of his new friends, Aaron, also played Yu-Gi-Oh and a natural bond formed between the two of them. They were both excited to bring their decks the following week to see who was the better player. Tim was pumped as he walked onto the basketball court. Aaron ran up and gave him dap, they both knew it was on after basketball. They played two hours of basketball, Tim killed it, he couldn't miss from 3.

"So, where are we going to do this?" asked Tim.
"We usually play outside the front of my building, let's go there," replied Aaron.
"Why don't we just play here in the rec center?"
"They get angry if we play cards here. Trust me, man, it'll be better to play where we usually play."

Tim trusted Aaron. The two of them, along with a few of the other boys that played ball at the rec center went across the street to Aaron's building. The building was in rough shape, a fry cry from the doorman building Tim lived in. All Tim could think about was playing the game. They went inside the building and set up shop right on the left of the entrance. There were three doors around them, all leading to apartments. The lighting was horrible, there was one lightbulb above them and it was barely working. There weren't any windows. Tim didn't mind, all he could think about was playing the game.

The game started. Tim wiped the floor with Aaron, just as he thought he would. Tim had spent the better part of the last two years constructing the perfect deck. He didn't have the money to go out and buy all the best cards so he had to hustle and trade to get good cards. It took him a long time but he finally thought he had a deck that was tournament ready. Among his friends, he was the best player by far. He was just a step better than everyone else. He knew he was better than Aaron too and he wanted to prove it. He didn't lose a single life point in the first game. They played again, and Tim won again. This time, Aaron did manage to take 800 of Tim's life points. Still a whooping, though.

"Good game man, I should get going," said Tim as he gathered his cards.
"Good game bro, you are so good," said Aaron as he extended his hand.
"Thanks, man, let's play again next time." They shook hands.

Tim got up with his cards. Before he knew what happened one of the other kids that had been looking on smacked his cards out of his hands. His cards went flying to the ground.

"What the fuck!" yelled Tim.

The other kids, Aaron included, wasted no time. They started grabbing the cards that were on the floor.

"Stop!" cried Tim.

He bent down and picked up as many cards as he could. He managed to salvage a handful. The other kids knew what they were doing, they grabbed as much as they could and ran out of the front door. Before he knew it Tim was the only one there holding a handful of his own cards. He started to break down, tears were streaming down his face. He checked the floor. There were no other cards left. He walked out of the building, and all the other kids had disappeared. He started the lonely, long walk home.

He looked at the cards he still managed to recover. He had 15 cards. Out of the 40 that he brought with him. All that work, effort, training, and dealing to assemble the perfect deck. To be the best Yu-Gi-Oh player he could be. He put so much work into it, and it was all gone in an instant. He felt numb. Why did they do that? He never suspected it. They seemed like such nice kids. They were his friends. Why did this always happen to him? He would work so hard to assemble a great deck only to have it stolen. Theft? That's what he's losing to?! What's the point in playing Yu-Gi-Oh if the thing that's beating him is totally out of his control. The last time he got his cards stolen he was in a card shop. Someone swiped his book while he was in a game. This time they did it right in front of his face. He was outnumbered, once he was on their territory there was nothing he could do. They knew what they were doing, he was the sucker. He couldn't help but wonder why they did it. Why?

Over the next few weeks, Tim's heart wasn't in Yu-Gi-Oh anymore. He had more cards, he could assemble a deck and try to compete but he just didn't see the point. When his cards got stolen the first time, he was resilient. This time he was dejected. What was worse was that he stopped going back to the rec center. He couldn't face those kids again. And what was he going to do? Try to fight them all? Get his ass kicked on top of losing all his cards? There was no point in that. He had to face reality, it was time to call it quits. He took all of his remaining cards, put them in a large box, and put the box in the back of his closet. He decided it was time to find something else to do.

A few weeks later Tim was in his room focused intently on his computer screen when his father walked in.

"You've been spending a lot of time on your computer lately, what's going on?" asked Tim's father.
"Well Dad, you were right. It was time for me to do better things to do with my time, so I found a new game," replied Tim with a smirk. His eyes did not leave the computer screen.
"Great! Please tell me your playing chess?"
"Close. I'm playing poker."
"Poker!" Tim's father couldn't help but put his hand on his forehead. "Why do I even bother?"
"That's a fair question," replied Tim with a smile.