game on

I recently sorted through some of the junk in our playroom, and look:

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We have a lot of games!

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I've got to say, the board games don’t get all that much action
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But this does:

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As does everyone’s favorite all-time classic passtime: pass the pigs (I guess Moki ate the other pig).

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Some games get more frequent use in ways not suggested in the directions

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My husband plays play this game with the kids, it was a fond memory from childhood that he asked for one birthday, except that he said it was called Carems. Thank you, ebay.
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Bill and I used to be bigger game people before we had kids. We enjoyed games like trivial pursuit, taboo, pictionary, scattergories, and a crazy thing called backwards that should have been more popular. One of the main reasons we had kids was to create our own fierce foursome for team games like these. We were pretty disappointed to find out that they were total amateurs.
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Growing up, we played games. We had this giant cube with games on each side, checkers of both the Chinese and American variety; backgammon, and who knows what else. That thing was cool, I totally want one. We played the classics: the game of life, parcheesi, monopoly, othello, clue, mastermind... my Uncle Brian taught us to play cribbage. My all-time favorite was when the whole family would gather around the kitchen table (a nice oval) and take down the big jar of pennies to play a game called Bonanza. Has anyone else ever heard of this game? I’d better go look it up. I have no recollection of how it was played, except that at some point it included poker. My parents knew how to party. In fact, my parents used to have bridge parties, just like the Bradys must have done. But I digress…. My point was that when my sisters and I were kids, we played a lot of games, surely due in large part to the fact that we were not allowed to turn the tv on during daylight hours.

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Our tv policies are dramatically less restrictive than my parents were, but my kids generally do not choose to veg in front of the tube unless they’re really tired or strung out. They love to play games, they are all-stars. Most of their games involve neither box nor board. When a glorious vacant spot of time opens up before them, one will turn to the other and say: “let’s play the game!” and off they go. The Game varies wildly, but the rules could never be contained by verbiage on the underside of a cardboard box top.

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The game this week is that they are rogue babies stay on the playground after recess has ended. (What kind of school is this?) They either “sissy fight” about everything, or play with their invented characters named “Tooshie and Megalon.” When my parents were here, the game was staged during wartime. My boy was the soldier and my girl was the doctor. At some point, my girl became the 11 year old boy’s 40 year old mother, then one age passed and he returned to find her paralyzed. She was paralyzed for an impressively long time, she thinks she might have died for a while.
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I’m sure that my boy won’t be long for this kind of open ended imaginary play. He happens to be the least competitive poor sport you have ever met in your life, and is thus the general naysayer when the idea of a family game is broached. But he is starting to show more interest in games of strategy.

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By the way, when did Battleship become a piece of crap?

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I see more family game nights in our future, which will be interesting because I flat out refuse to associate with pigs or other game pieces that have been retrieved from the dog’s poo.
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Post script: It took some looking to find the right version, the one we had with Michael Landon on the box and faux velvet chip cozies, but I perservered.

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Behold, Bonanza:

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Post post script: Turns out I didn't have a place for this photo, but did I stage it for naught? I think naught. Hey look, I just noticed that I did it wrong! ..

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A normal person would quit after the glory of Bonanza. Did You think I was normal? Silly goose. I really love backgammon. Especially when it is set up correctly. One time Ellie and I were playing, and in response to our repetitive utterances, my wee boy asked: "Is that game called dang?"