I: Sick Kids — Chapter 3

Summary

• The chapter introduces an 'Advanced Games Seminar' at MIT, led by Dov Mizrah, a famous game designer having a successful game under his belt called Dead Sea. This seminar was attended by Sadie, who idolized Dov and his game.
• The seminar involved students making two games during the course of a semester and presenting them for class critique.
• Sadie found herself attracted to Dov, who was known in class for his directness and vulgar manner of speech.
• Sadie's games were well-received by Dov, who recognized her unique skills and creativity. They gradually formed a bond and started dating, even though Dov had a wife in Israel.
• Meanwhile, Sadie had personal issues with the other woman in the seminar named Hannah because Hannah took offense to one of Sadie's games, called Solution, which was designed to make players complicit in Nazi war crimes.
• Although Dov warned Sadie that he would be less communicative during his winter break in Israel, she continued her relationship with him. She started feeling Dov was losing interest in her. In an attempt to hold his interest, she changed her appearance, read about his interests, and even held back her opinions in front of him.
• With time, Sadie started feeling like she was playing someone else’s game in her relationship with Dov, giving her an illusion of choice instead of actually having it.

• Alice informs Sam about Sadie's community service project.
• Alice and Sam meet at the hospital where Alice was there for a regular follow-up and Sam for a surgery. Though Alice is unkind to Sam, she is still recognized as Sadie by the hospital staff because of the resemblance.
• Sam finds out about Sadie's timesheet at the hospital and confronts her about it, causing a rift between them.
• Sadie writes Sam a note apologizing for the misunderstanding, but Sam refuses the note and blocks Sadie from his life. It causes great distress to Sadie.
• Sadie tries visiting hospital several times later to mend things with Sam, but to no avail. Sadie's grandmother consoles her and makes her understand that she was there for Sam when he needed a friend, unintentionally validating their friendship.
• In another part of the story, Sadie doesn't hear from Dov for a long time so she sends him an email. He replies after a day, revealing he's leaving for Israel.
• They meet up to say their goodbyes, and they spend the evening together with a video game and Thai food.
• Sadie struggles with her feelings as they share a last intimate moment. Despite the circumstances, she shakes it off and ensures she keeps the door open for a possible friendship with Dov.