Sinterklaas and Santa

In the United States, you have Christmas eve as an extra birthday. In the sense that you’ll get presents you wanted since your birthday. Of course, it is for a different reason, but that doesn’t matter at this point, because we’re looking through the eyes of little kids who value only one thing; presents! In the Netherlands we have something similar, called Sinterklaas. It is the same concept as Santa, but with an actual story to back it up. The story is altered a lot, but Sinterklaas did actually exist. He was a priest in Turkey. But as we grow older we know he is long dead and your parents provide the gifts for you. However, it is still a traditional holiday and in the end for young and old. So, as we grow older we still make rhymes and give presents to each other. The setting is only a little bit different, the rhymes become funnier and more insulting. We celebrate it twice, with friends and the other time with family. And finally, games are made up.
                One of those games involves a dice and a big pile of presents in the middle. Beforehand you arrange a maximum price for the gifts and when the evening has come, you just throw them in the pile. A certain number on the dice gives you the option to pick a present from the pile, the earlier you roll that number, the most choice you have. After all the presents are gone the trading begins, or stealing it depends on the rules. With the same dice roll, you can now pick other peoples’ gifts or trade them with others. This brings a whole new aspect to the game, loss aversion.
                For the ones of you who have read Predicably Irrational by Ariely you know that there is a concept such as loss aversion, we value the things we own more than the same product that we don’t own. For example, if you own a candy bar and somebody wants to buy it you’d ask $5 dollars, but if you were the one to buy it you’d only be prepared to pay $2,50. This concept comes into play when playing this game. When you’ve picked your present from the pile, you’ll get the feeling that it is yours and therefore value it more than the other options. So, when this round starts almost nobody trades their present, the only thing they do is steal, which is fascinating. However, in the end when everything is unwrapped, it mostly comes down to the worst presents you could ever get or something with alcohol involved. Which gets shared anyway.