Drop in TONIGHT with Mike & Friends for "From Playing Cards to Pokemon!" with WFL
- Col (Ret) Mikel Burroughs
- Sep 22
- 3 min read
Join our Volunteer, Army Combat Medic Veteran, & Music Writer/Producer Mike Williams TONIGHT for "Mike Check" edition of Warriors for Life (WFL) Online, sponsored and presented by Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV).
We are asking everyone to share who we are and what support that Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV) is providing via WFL. If you know someone who is a veteran, first responder or a family member/caregiver, please ask them to join us for at least one meeting so they can learn more about what we do and how they can share their wisdom with others who may be able to learn from them.
TONIGHT's Topic: "From Playing Cards to Pokemon!"
Join Mike & Friends TONIGHT for a discussion about "From Playing Cards to Pokemon!" with a focus on the importance of Play and Emotional Well-Being.
On September 23, 1889, Nintendo was founded in Kyoto, Japan, by Fusajiro Yamauchi as Nintendo Koppai, a company specializing in producing and selling hand-crafted hanafuda playing cards. These intricate "flower cards" were popular in traditional Japanese games and marked the beginning of a company that would eventually become a giant in the electronic gaming industry.
Play and emotional well-being are vital for mental health because play releases endorphins, reduces stress and anxiety, and builds emotional resilience. Playful activities improve mood and life satisfaction, enhance cognitive function and problem-solving skills, and foster stronger social connections and relationships. Overall, a playful mindset is a lifelong necessity for balancing work and leisure, nurturing well-being, and improving how we cope with daily stressors.
How Play Supports Mental Health
Engaging in play triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural "feel-good" chemicals, which helps to lower cortisol levels and promote relaxation.
Boosts Mood and Fosters Resilience:
Playful activities can alleviate negative thought patterns and build a more positive mindset, which increases your ability to cope with difficult situations and bounce back from negative experiences.
Play improves creativity, problem-solving skills, and cognitive flexibility, making tasks more enjoyable and manageable.
Play creates bonds and fosters empathy, trust, and intimacy, leading to deeper connections with others.
Through playful activities, individuals can explore their feelings, build confidence, and develop a stronger sense of self.
Provides a Healthy Outlet for Energy:
Active play offers a controlled environment to expend pent-up energy, which can help release feelings of anger or anxiety in a healthy way.
"Play is the gentle practice of hope—the way we learn that joy is a skill and love is best played co-op."
TONIGHT Mike Williams shares his song
"Playing Cards to Pokémon"
Song Lyrics -
In a small Kyoto room,
hands inked flowers on rectangles of night.
Hanafuda—paper gardens you could shuffle,
quiet bridges where neighbors met in laughter,
a lantern of play held up to ordinary days.
Cards turned to consoles,
woodgrain to gray bricks, to bright cartridges—
a plumber vaulted the gap between worry and wonder,
a princess waited not just to be saved
but to remind us that quests begin at home.
Maps unfolded in our palms like courage.
We learned a language of buttons and breath:
press A to try again, start to forgive yourself,
up to find a higher view.
Play was practice for tenderness—
fail small, laugh loud, share lives.
Then the living room widened:
grandparents swung invisible racquets,
balance boards steadied more than ankles,
styluses traced new neurons in morning light.
Play said, “You belong here, too.”
And in our pockets, small companions:
creatures that asked us to wander, notice, care—
to meet the world with curiosity,
to trade, to trust, to become each other’s missing types.
The journey was always less about catching
and more about being caught by wonder.
Across cables, cartridges, cartridges gone—
now a screen that travels with us,
clicks that sound like well-made doors opening.
We gather on sofas and subways,
co-op as a kind of kindness,
distance becoming another level we can beat together.
Because play is not escape; it’s return—
to the part of us that still says “Let’s try,”
to the breath that loosens the spine of the day,
to the circle where stories are safe to be silly and brave.
From flower cards to pixel stars, from family tables
to worlds in our hands, Nintendo taught us this:
Joy is a skill.
Practice it often.
And when the screen fades,
the heart keeps its extra lives.
Warriors for Life (WFL) Online "Mike Check" edition presented by Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV) — Tuesday (TONIGHT), September 23, 2025, @ 3:00 PM PT, 4:00 PM MT, 5:00 PM CT, & 6:00 PM ET
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83145057228
Thank you,
Mike Williams,
Army Combat Medic Veteran, Music Writer/Producer, & Volunteer Facilitator, Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV)
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