The story in three lines. At the autumn fair a booth builds any game you wish, and Lan wishes for a race she always wins. It is fun for about ninety seconds, and then Inkling quietly walks away. After watching a dice game nobody can predict, Lan mends her own race: one plain die for both players, and a rule nobody showed her: whoever lost goes first.

One question to ask. "Why did Inkling leave without saying anything?" Listen for "because she always lost" or "because she knew how it ended." Then ask: "What did Lan's new rule do?"

One thing to do at the table. Draw a track of twelve squares on a piece of paper. Play it twice. The first time, one of you moves three every turn and the other moves one. The second time, you both roll one die. Which game did you want to play again? Then try Lan's rule: whoever lost the last game rolls first.

The grown-up layer. A game needs uncertainty to be worth playing, and chance is one way to give every player a real hope of winning. With two dice, seven comes up most often (six of the thirty-six ways), but nobody knows the next roll. Machines that build a game from a typed wish exist now; what they cannot know is what your child's friend finds fun. Only playing together tells you. You don't need any of this. "Could the other player still win?" is the whole idea.

Let your child tell the story back in their own words first. Telling it back is how the die goes in the pocket.