PHYSICISTS have observed that, when playing a board game, time passes four times as fast when it is your turn to move, than when it is an opponent’s.
Experiments under laboratory conditions found that five minutes waiting for an opponent struggling to choose the best move was long enough to hard boil an egg, but when it is you who has the analysis paralysis, the yolk is still runny.
Dr Martin Scott, of the Institute for Studies, said: “The fabric of space-time is stretched and compressed by gravity, by magnetism and by the presence of one or more opponents complaining that the game is going to take all night if you don’t move soon.
“When an opponent is thinking, times moves normally, and you have time to think about the game, or even something else if you have other things on your mind.
“In contrast time spent planning your own move speeds up, especially if your opponent just played an unexpectedly good move.”
Five Tribes enthusiast Gayle Bennett said: “When I was waiting for Gary to take his turn, I studied the position for ages, had a laugh with Emma about what the shape of some of the pieces remind us of, and then I went to the loo. When I came back he was still thinking.
“When it was my turn, I did a few calculations in my head, then glanced out the window and saw it had gone dark outside all of a sudden. How?”