This wasn't really a game, but I was completely restrained for a while. That starts in part 3.
Important note: this was before the time of cell phones.
Part 1: Buddy System
It was my friend Nancy's birthday party. She wanted to go skiing to celebrate, and her dad had gathered quite a large group for the occasion. He insisted we all team up with at least one buddy. I had only been skiing once in my life, several years before, so I got paired with the only other person in the group who had so little experience. It was some guy I'd never seen before, a few years older than me.
That was disappointing, but I couldn't really expect my friend to wait for me while I learned how to ski again.
My buddy and I went to a hill called "speed control" first, to remind ourselves how to ski. After one pass he was done and ready for more. I wasn't. Not by a long shot.
He begrudgingly accompanied me on a few more passes. I was trying as hard as I could because I felt bad holding him back, but I know when I'm in control and I still wasn't.
He started telling me that if I didn't push myself I'd never get off this hill. I argued back. The last time, I had gone at my own pace and made it to the black diamond by the end of the day. (For those unfamiliar with this, "black diamond" is the symbol to indicate an advanced hill.) Granted, I had gone really, really slow down that black diamond, but I had done it. I just needed a little more practice to get control.
We went once more, then I finally gave in to his impatience, even though I still wasn't ready.
"Let's try an intermediate hill."
The ski lift ride to the new hill seemed to go on forever. When we got to the top, I didn't get a good look at the sign indicating the skill level required, but I got a glimpse at the last second.
"Hold on! Wasn't that a black diamond on the sign?! You said this was intermediate!"
"This is intermediate."
"I'm pretty sure I saw a black diamond."
"No, no, it was saying if you go that way," he pointed, "it would be black diamond. We're on the intermediate path."
I looked. There did seem to be another path. "Ok, because I'm not ready for black diamond yet."
"No, I know. This is intermediate."
So, we continued.
I was definitely not ready. The mountain was much tougher than I had expected. I fell a lot. My buddy didn't conceal his frustration very well, but at least had the decency to ask if I was okay and offer to help me up when I fell. I was always up and ready to ski again before he got close.
And then I saw another sign. I saw it before he did, so he couldn't block my view this time.
We were on a double black diamond.
I pointed at the sign in disbelief.
"Huh," he said. "I guess it gets tougher ahead."
His attempt at nonchalance failed. I realized he had tricked me!
I lit into him, berating him for this, reminding him I wasn't even ready to leave speed control yet and had only left for his sake. He just shrugged.
"There's no way I can do a black diamond yet, let alone a double black diamond! We have to go back!"
He looked at me, then up behind me. "And how would we do that?"
I turned and looked with a grimace. You ski downhill, not uphill.
"We have to keep going," he said. "Come on, you've made it this far."
I didn't really have a choice. But I decided I wasn't going to let him rush me anymore.
On we went, slowly. I still fell a lot. Any time he seemed impatient I told him it was his fault for tricking me into something I wasn't ready for.
"I'd be faster on an intermediate hill."
He scowled, but kept quiet.
At one point, the back of one of my skis got caught and twisted me around. I fell flat on my back, downhill, the back of my head landing against impacted snow.
I didn't think this fall was particularly different from any others, but I was stunned enough by it that I didn't bother trying to get up on my own this time, and instead waited for him to come over and pull me up.
Then we continued skiing. But not for long.
After a couple minutes we came to a small cliff. You were supposed to build up speed, ski off it, and land a few feet below. I stopped dead.
"I cannot do that."
"Sure you can. Just keep skiing like nothing's different."
"You're kidding."
"Here, let's stay off to the side and watch a few people. You'll see it's not hard."
So we watched several people zoom past us. It actually made it look worse to me, to see how long they were airborne.
"No way."
"It's the only way down."
I looked around desperately, but he was right. I started yelling at him again for tricking me. He still didn't care.
"Just do it. Watch; I'll go first."
And off he went. When he landed, he kept skiing. He never looked back.
So much for the buddy system.