The last time I saw John, he was talking at a Mathematical Sciences Research Institute donor dinner. I was audience filler, after consulting on "A Beautiful Mind". He was describing games from his book with Berlekamp, and needed some fresh meat to play him in front of everyone. No one budged. The director gave me a certain look, and I volunteered. One of those "sticks on paper" games that never interested me, I was slaughtered. It all went very fast, some in the audience thought I had actually won a game counted against me. I got the biggest laugh when trying to outrun a certian loss, I enlarged the game board.