I play a lot of board, card, dice, and word games. As it turns out, you can learn lessons about kink from them. Who knew?

• Azul — Finish everything you wanted to do in a scene before you bring it to its conclusion, or you might find yourself less than pleased with the result.
• Carcassonne — Huge, complicated, involved scenes are great, but there’s value in little scenes too.
• Concept — Communicate your needs and wants clearly, and remember not everyone understands things the same way you do.
• Cribbage — Sometimes you have to sacrifice something good to get something great in return.
• Farkle — It’s okay to do something risky, but don’t overextend yourself too much.
• Fluxx — Scenes can change from moment to moment; adapt, don’t freeze up.
• Hearts — Shooting for the moon (in a scene) is all well and good as a goal, but be prepared for things to end differently than you planned.
• Scrabble / Words with Friends / Wordfeud — There’s always going to be someone better than you at the thing you think you’re best at. Accept it and learn from them.
• Settlers of Catan — Where you choose to begin your journey matters more than you might think.
• Ticket to Ride — Stretch yourself to do more things (like munches or community events); you’ll be surprised how well things can go.

Or, in my case, a new promising game on Kickstarter.