A Change of Pace

Part of what I'm doing in this Star Wars game is allowing a lot of freedom. The players are picking their allies and enemies. Often they're given large sums of cash (from 10,000 to 100,000 so far). They've gotten great equipment (from Mando armor to a starship). I've given them a clear path to the dark side, or the choice to stay on the light.
Part of this freedom is letting them play their characters how they want to and at a unique pace. I give them many opportunities for extra experience. These usually take place as "homework" where I ask for a written response to a question or such. Past examples are a back story, a sketch, character goals, reactions to the situation they were just in. I'm going to have to hunt down some more ideas so I can do this regularly.
Recently I started up the idea of playing short competitive games for bonuses. The first game we played was a card game called "Loot" and I offered a reward of experience points and later as a bonus prize for in the game instead of the experience. The player naturally took the bonus instead of the experience and then went on to enjoy it greatly. The second game was another card game. This one had a larger experience reward for winning, or if I won, it would be a split pot between the players.
I hope they enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed it and thought it broke up the monotony of playing a single game for so long. It also helped ease us into gaming (which as a social group, can be hard).