#412 – Gamed
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 12:00 am by Chris
Chapter: Comic
We have lots of board games in the house that are beyond the attention span of my 4 year old. I realized recently that we don’t have to play the actual game to have fun. He enjoys unpacking all the pieces, setting up the boards and cards and then a few rounds of rolling the dice. It will probably be weird for him when he’s older and encounters these games at a friend’s house.
Tags: games, kids, parenting, poker
My grandmother was like that. There were no friends nor family when she had cards in her hands — only enemies that had to be destroyed. I ended up learning how to play from other people.
My brother and I used to play with chess pieces like they were dolls or action figures, developing complex story-lines involving princesses, wars, (simplistic) politics, and the like.
Never underestimate the power of random pieces to become entertainment in a child’s hands.
I, too, have a four-year old. She liked to pull out my Star Wars version of Monopoly. It takes some time to set up and lay out the cards, which she likes. Then we roll the dice (it ends up being good exercise for counting). We play that you get to keep the card of whatever property you land on and whoever has the most cards at the end wins. The end, by the way, is whenever she loses interest in the game. Usually once around the board is all she has the attention span for.
The wife beats them both at Fizzbin.
I must have drove my mom nuts; at 5 or 6 I always wanted to play Monopoly and Life to completion. This meant we played Life a lot since Monopoly can go on for hours and hours. I almost think she was more excited when Super Mario Bros came out than I was…
Haha!
lol, yeah I was one of those kids too. Nothing annoyed me more than people giving up in the middle of a monopoly game, must play to completion! even if that end is some 6-8 hours on…
Truth be told, I’m the same way with Talisman. But many of my adult friends don’t have the same fortitude for a long match.
Oh, Talisman… Occasionally one of my roommates gets it into his head that we should play a game, and then I either successfully remind him of how tedious it gets, or four hours later he swears he’ll never suggest it again.
I’m not mean, just absolutely merciless.
I’m absolutely ruthless when playing board, card, or video games. This is why my friend (who designs board games) uses me as a play tester. If there is an unfair advantage I can gain, I will do so, and exploit that advantage as much as possible.
I know I’m three years late on this one, but I remember my dad this same thing to me in Monopoly one time, apparently forgetting that I was five years old. I ended up running in tears to mom. The whole thing became a family joke.