Why can't our group just play without keeping score?

Three men in my village started a Tuesday backgammon game, just for the pleasure of it. By the third month, one kept a notebook of wins. By the sixth, they argued about handicaps like tax auditors. The dice were still dice. The joy had moved to a filing cabinet. This is what happens when people who care about each other start caring, without noticing, about getting better at the one thing that was never supposed to have a 'better.' Improvement doesn't announce itself. It just quietly starts keeping the minutes of the meeting. If your group can name every player's stats but not the last time you all laughed mid-game, you have this. It is common, it is fixable, and no one has to be blamed for bringing the notebook.