I went to a Brewers game recently and bought some 50/50 raffle tickets. Of course, I did. I always do.
I love my lottery tickets.
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A lot of people have a negative opinion of the lottery. Your odds of hitting are so small that it feels less like an opportunity than a donation. I don’t blame anyone for feeling this way, but my logic has always been that someone has to win eventually. Why not me?
(I have much deeper thoughts about the lottery and how people’s inherent selfishness comes up when dreaming of winning, but that’s a blog for another day.)
The reason I know someone will eventually win is that it happens all the time. Not just with the actual lottery, but with everything. Do you really think Jeff Bezos is a super genius, or did he hit the lottery? Every Fortune 500 company is the lottery, with a dash of evil after getting some success. Is every famous YouTuber just way smarter and more talented than everyone else on the platform? No, nobody understands the algorithm. (Except, possibly, Mr. Beast, but that’s clearly more of a crossroads demon type thing.) You just get one hot video and keep posting. TikTok is somehow a dumber version of YouTube with an even more confusing lottery system.
Everything is the lottery. I know it because this guy sold his screenplay for $3.25 million. I know it because Balatro exists. I know it because that one restaurant is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and that other, much better restaurant closed after a few months. I know it because of more authors than I can possibly list.
Talent and quality matter, of course, but not nearly as much as you’d think. It’s just luck. It’s algorithms working together to keep everyone out, but sometimes someone sneaks in. It’s all a lottery.
My latest lottery ticket is to make a game.
The game idea, which I will not share just yet, is amazing. I’m in love with it. It’s the game I have wanted to play for a long time, but it refuses to exist. So, if I want it to exist, I just have to make it myself. It’s been taking up my entire life since I started, but I’m having a lot of fun, and it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ve actually had this blog 90% written for about two weeks now, but haven’t been able to finish it because I’ve been spending every free second on my game.
If you can’t tell, I’m excited about it. How excited? When I first told Sam about it, I said it would “probably make us a million dollars”. I was dead serious.
I said this for two reasons. The first being that I fully believe it. The game I am trying to make is inspired by some games that have made a million dollars, and I plan for this one to be just as good as those and appeal to the people who love them. The second reason is that this, and things like it, are my only real options.
Writing a screenplay that sells, writing a book that people like, making YouTube videos, building a website, blogging, and now writing a game. These are my lottery tickets. I know that the odds are against me, even if I make really good shit, but I can’t help myself.
What else am I going to do? The lottery is my only option. I’m just going to keep playing.
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