for the moment, everyone in the washington dc area has forgotten about war with iraq and has focused on the sniper deaths. the other day, as i looked at a map of the locations of the murders, i was reminded of the board game scotland yard. did you play that game? i asked jared yesterday, and he hadn't ever heard of it. it's a two player game with one person playing "mister x" and the other person playing the detective. mister x is a criminal who moves around london (following underground, taxi, and water routes) committing crimes. the detective tries to catch mister x, also moving along established routes. the detective is always visible, but mister x only shows his location every 3rd move. mister x does, however, leave clues to his location on the previous turn. anyway, the way the sniper moves around the dc area, invisible, leaving clues to his location on the previous turn (i.e. bodies) reminded me of scotland yard.

i hadn't thought about that game in 15 years probably. i used to play it, but i never really liked it. in principle, i think it's a neat game: it involves strategy and bluffing, and it is interestingly different from most games in that the objective for each player is different. but in reality, i found the game terribly stressful, no matter whether i was the detective or mister x. as mister x, i was sure that the detective was going to figure out where i was/get lucky and land on my position (thus capturing me) the next time i had to show myself. as the detective, i was equally sure that mister x was going to elude me forever. jared said that showed a remarkable lack of theory of mind.

i wonder if the real sniper, and the real police in these shootings feel at all like that. from the tarot card note the sniper left, he doesn't seem to be nervous. but then again, he also doesn't seem to be sane. the police put on a brave public face; they will eventually catch this person--how could they not? i wonder if privately any of them are scared that they won't.