Playing by the Rules The complex world of compliance Charlene O’Hanlon, ACM Queue Some of my favorite childhood memories are of playing games with my sister—both structured games such as Monopoly or hopscotch and imagination-fueled games such as cops and robbers or roller derby girls (don’t ask). Regardless of whether the game had established regulations, often our play would devolve into what I call Calvinball, a term coined in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes referring to the act of making up the rules as you go along. Our Calvinball play had some distinct advantages: It was a lot more fun to change the rules in the middle of the game. No one ever got bored. It allowed us to stretch our minds beyond the parameters of regular play. And—quite possibly the best advantage—everybody won in Calvinball. Of course, there was the occasional cry of, “Hey, that’s not fair!” but that person was quickly outnumbered if there were more than two players.