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Winner stays on gives my older child twice the turns. Should I change the rule?

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My nine-year-old counted their games out loud. "You've had six. I've had three." His twelve-year-old sister replied, "Because I won six."

I'd suggested winner-stays-on for their fighting game because it was the rule my cousins used. I expected close matches. Instead, she knows the combos and he is still finding the block button. He gets a two-minute loss, then watches her play me while he waits.

She says changing the rule now punishes her for being good. I can see why: she's proud of learning the game, and I introduced the arrangement. He wants me to make her play badly, which doesn't sound enjoyable for her either.

We have three people and two controllers for Saturday afternoons. Would rotating after each match be a fair correction, or should I keep some winner-stays-on rounds so her practice still counts? I want the younger one to get actual time with the controller without turning every win into an apology.

Discussion

3 community replies

Rotating turns changes access to the controllers, not who won. Her six wins can remain six wins. Explain that you chose a rule that didn't give all three players the same opportunity to practice, and you're correcting your arrangement rather than correcting her skill.

A short winner-stays-on event could sit inside a longer rotation afternoon if both children want it. That preserves a place for the older child's challenge without making the younger child's time with the controller so much shorter.

The request that she play badly sounds like a child trying to solve the waiting problem with the only lever he sees. Give him a different lever: the same number of matches as everyone else. He may be less interested in controlling her performance once a loss doesn't mean she gets twice the play.

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