Since ours days of Shoots and Ladders and Checkers, we are taught to play games. It is ingrained into our very beings as soon as we are old enough to utter the words "checkmate." If you really think about it, life is kind of like one big game of, well, Life.

There are millions of reasons people play games both in relationships and on a game board. There is the thrill, the challenge and the hope that one is good enough to win. No one wants to be a loser, even at Tic Tac Toe.

The little games that we were all brought up on have become the very actions that we inherently perform in our daily lives. Like Poker, people hold their heart, I mean "cards," close to their chests, never allowing the others to know what their hand really is. And the calling game. Think about it, it’s really just a perverse grown up game of hide and seek. Can you find me? Will you call me?

We are perpetually that little child hiding underneath the kitchen table wondering if someone will discover our brilliant hiding spot and make us "it." And no one wants to be "it," because once you are, you are alone.

People play games to defend themselves, to protect their feelings and to make sure they are the ones that come out on top. As the saying goes, "the best offense is a good defense." But in my opinion, if your defense is too good then no one gets to score.

Why do girls pretend to be unavailable? Why don’t men call? These are all games. Relationships are games, life is a huge game. People are continuously switching sides, making alliances and breaking them. Just like in Monopoly, everyone wants to be the one with Park Avenue.

The problem is that there is only one Park Avenue, and people must understand that you can be happy without the most sought after space. After all, if you spend all your money on one thing, then there is nothing left for anything else.

When one is playing a relationship game, the whole issue behind it is power. Power over the other person involved. If he calls me in two days I will go out with him, but if it is three then he has to wait. Everyone has this hope that the other person will play their game and succeed.

No one is perfect. And some people are just really bad at games (like me and Twister . . . don’t ask.) It is unfair to put pressure on the relationship and on each other, hoping that in some way the games will all work. That you will be the one to yell, "checkmate." But my question is, what happens when the other person yells, "checkmate" and it’s about your heart?

Every game is started with an underlying sensation of fear of the unknown. No one wants to gamble their heart away, so it’s easier to play games with the other person’s feelings than their own. Sometimes the roles become reversed, and the player becomes the playee. By this point, the web of game rules and falsehoods is so tangled that even a skilled Jenga player would get stuck.

In the end, it is really all about winning. The games people play are all set up in hopes that life will end up like Bingo. One big moment when you can stand up on your chair and yell, "I won! I won!"