Mike, I love the conversational approach you used in writing your article! It was fun to read it. I've learned about the variables in the past and am getting more and more comfortable using them. But your article was still a fun read. Because it was so conversational it grabbed me right up front and helped me stay engaged throughout. Good job!
I haven't used the numbers variables yet, but I like using the true/false variable to let me control a student's progress by requiring a true response in a custom button to navigate to the next slide or section. I also use them to trigger a state change of a particular character in a classroom setting.