Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Gas Station Farkle

There is a game on Facebook called "Farkle." It is an online game played with 6 dice. You "roll" the dice (on the computer) and hope you get dice combinations that are worth points. You claim the ones that are worth something and then you can choose to quit that turn and hold your points or roll the dice you have left to try and earn a few more. As soon as you roll something that has no point value, you lose the points you had for that turn all together - you get a "Farkle."

So, when you get down to the last couple dice you have to decide if you want to risk the points you have so far on that turn to see if you can squeeze out a few more or if you want to play it safe and move on to your next turn.

Buying gas anymore is just like Farkle. You watch the price drop by a few cents every day and you start to watch your gas gauge. You wonder if you can squeeze out one more day and a few more cents savings before you gas up again. Never mind that the 4 or 5 cents you might save only translate to 40 or 50 cents for 10 gallons of gas. It is the principle of paying $2.45 instead of $2.50. 

Unfortunately, like in Farkle, sometimes you push your luck too far. You decide to wait one more day, or wait until after work and the price jumps 20 or 30 cents per gallon before you get back. You just rolled a "Farkle" at the gas station. It is annoying as anything, going up with usually no rhyme or reason. All you can do is grumble at the rising price on the pump or stay home for a few days while you wait for the price to drop again. And it will drop again, sucking you into another game of Gas Station Farkle. 

Good luck.

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