I got a tour of a children’s museum recently (dream come true!). At this particular museum they had a really fun interaction. Well, it was an experience designed to teach small children about savings accounts (yuck!) but that’ll make more sense later. In this interaction, there is a room full of balls with a giant piggy bank suspended in the air. Kids would grab a ball, turn a crank, and watch the ball wind around the room and eventually drop into the piggy bank above their heads. In the room is a meter showing how full you’ve filled the bank. When the bank finally gets full, a SURPRISE! HATCH! at the bottom of the bank releases all of the balls as they rain from the sky. The kids go crazy, scream in delight at the awe of such a surprise.
When the person showing me around mentioned they do adult nights, I got so excited! I immediately imagined the adults filling up the bank. Oh to witness their childlike wonder when the hatch opens and releases SURPRISE! BALLS!. I love to see adults in a rare state of awe and delight—so beautiful!
But no. They said that the adults form teams and try to fill up the piggy bank faster than the other teams. The goal is to win, the balls are irrelevant to them. THE GOAL IS TO WIN?! THE BALLS ARE IRRELEVANT!!!!!!!!????