There’s always a better way

LAST month, I wrote about playing Zen Word on my mobile phone, chasing for bonus points by running 30-second ads, playing the Koi Race, and all other side deals being offered, most especially the Koi Race because a first place finish gives you 50 points, 30 points for second, and 10 points for third. That’s after five rounds.

But since I don’t play ALL the time as other Koi Racers seem to, the highest I could reach was second since you have to complete the five rounds ahead of all others. Most of the time, I get zero. But in those times that I play, I am focused on speed, still thirsting for that 50-point bonus from a five-game sprint.

Of course, I also rack up the extra words I can create, but I limit these extra word bonuses to still being in the race.

That was before I realized that at the rate I’m going, and since I’m unwilling to waste my whole time playing, that’s an average of 6 points for five games that only come occasionally.

I checked my progress and realized that the game itself, except for the occasional extra point that appears on tiles for a maximum I think of five coins when there are any, a finished game does not give any extra coin.

If I focus on the generation of extra words instead (words that are not on the grids but can be formed from the available letters), one extra word generates one extra coin, and I can make as little as five to as many as 20 coins per game if I take my time making them.

It was then that I realized there is absolutely no need to race. I only need to generate as many extra words.

From my maintained coin points of just around 2,000 because I have to spend from 80 to 240 coins per hint, which eats into my accumulated coins for a Koi Race or a sped-up completion of the level. Imagine, as I race and lust for the Koi bonuses of which I can get a max of 50 coins for five games or 10 coins per game, I am dipping into my savings if I need a hint. A five-game win is quickly wiped out with a credit of 30 coins more taken from my savings. It gets worse when I need the 240-coin hint.

And so, I changed tactics and went for the slower game with lots of extra words.

Now, I am maintaining 4,000 coins and can afford to buy hints as often as possible. But I also devised the strategy of earning my hints by making at least 80 coins in extra words before spending that.

It’s a reflection of life again. Even after we learn where the bigger source of coins are, we get so close to this worldly source that we do not see that an even bigger and sustained Source can be had.

Of late, a piece of my income was shed off because of a decision outside my control. I accepted that decision and went for the unlimited source – the Divine. And true enough, I have recovered that piece immediately and more. And unlike the arbitrariness of humans to cut you off, this one is a sure win.

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[? – Matthew 6:26-27.

Indeed, through every challenge we face, there is God, and He is above all, including arbitrary decisions you would have been tempted to blame on fate or people. That is how I roll with the punches.

Are you hungry for more insights and healing? Please message me. Email: saestremera@gmail.com, fb: /saestremera, IG: @saestremera, Tiktok: @stellaestremera