“I think it’s wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.”
The day is again beautiful with sunny skies. It will not be as warm as yesterday, but I’m still content. This is an amazing April so far.
It was a shock. In the morning paper I read that Scrabble is issuing a new game in the UK called Scrabble Trickster. It will allow proper names and playing words backwards or playing words unconnected to others on the board. It is a sacrilege I say.
I grew up in a family which loved games. Every Christmas a new one was under the tree. I think the first board game I ever played was Candyland. All I had to know were my colors, and besides, how can you not love a game with a Gum Drop Mountain? Chutes and Ladders was next. I remember hating to land on the giant chute which sent you right back to the bottom. It guaranteed your loss unless your opponent hit the same square. What I didn’t realize until I was much older was you got that chute for taking cookies and breaking the jar. All the chutes were punishments for bad deeds. The ladders were rewards for good deeds. All those little kids on the board were really morality lessons, but I think someone should have told me-I missed the point when I was little. I was too busy counting the spaces, moving upward or bemoaning my falls down the chutes to notice the kids, bad and good. From the first time I pulled it out from under the tree and played it, I loved the game Sorry, still do. I even gave it to friends recently for Christmas. We think it about the best game of them all.
Go Fish, Steal the Old Man’s Pack, War and Slap Jack were the card games we played. War seemed almost endless. We usually gave up out of boredom before anyone won. Slap Jack sometimes got vicious. A hard whack on your opponent’s hand over the jack was the start of a fight or at the least an argument. Go Fish was fun, but Steal the Old Man’s Pack was the best fun. You got to take your opponent’s cards and taunts were acceptable. Those were the days when nyah nyah, na nyah nyah was the perfect insult.
No games needed batteries. Moves were made after throwing dice, picking up a card or spinning the arrow on a cardboard square. I remember it took a while before I got my snapping fingers to work right. Sometimes I even had to whack the little metal arrow a couple of times before it spun.
Even as adults we got together, my family and I, and played games. We’d sit around the kitchen table for hours. Cards were huge, and High Low Jack was the favorite. We played Uno, and I remember my father always forgot to say Uno and had to take another card. We loved it when he did. Kismet, the dice game, was another favorite, and we kept track of the high scores on the inside top of the box.
My friends and I have game nights. We pull out the Sorry, dominoes, Phase 10 and Bananagrams. We even play a silly kids’ game I call dog dog. I have no idea its real name but plastic dogs and cards are the game pieces. I never win dog dog which is probably why I keep forgetting its name.
Tags: board games
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
April 8, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Thanks for the great refresher on games. I, too, was fortunate enough to have grown up with game people. My folks always liked “buck dice” and pinochle. And my Mom and I spent countless hours playing All-Star Baseball, Scrabble, and various card games. Good times.
April 8, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Bob,
You are most welcome!
Growing up with game people was the best fun. It wasn’t easy to be bored-too many choices to play.
I don’t know buck dice. What is the game?
April 8, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I loved Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. Liked Go To The Head of the Class.
Monopoly was fun for a snowy or rainy day.
I agree about Scrabble. We need to hold on to tradition. This is not Barbie!
April 8, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Linda,
I love Go to the Head of the Class and still have the original game we played as kids.
Monopoly went on far too long most times. I loved it starting out but got bored when it lasted too long.
Yup, keep Scrabble as it always has been!
April 8, 2010 at 12:57 pm
I can only agree with You when it comes to the new Scrabble, SACRILEGE!
Yatzy has always been big in my family, besides scrabble. But I learned card games at my best frinds. Canasta was something we could play all summer 🙂
We also often played Backgammon and what I think is an ASfrican game called Kalaha.
Have a great day now!
Christer.
April 8, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Christer,
We also played Yahtzee but preferred Kismet which is similar except the numbers are colored, and you have to get stuff like two pairs same color.
I didn’t learn Backgammon until I was older. In Ghana they played Oware which is, I think, the same as Kalaha.
April 8, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Kat, My “souvenir of choice” is a deck of playing cards. A few years ago I recovered an old small cabinet that belonged to my Grandparents and had been used to store their card games. Since that time, wherever I have travelled I have picked up packs of playing cards and returned that case to its original use.
We were just in Paris and among our goodies were some lovely cards from Deux Magots, a Tintin Shop and the D’Orsay but I was not willing to cough up $25 for a set of cards from Laduree.
Now if only I could find one of those card shufflers with the hand crank.
April 8, 2010 at 9:51 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I too bring home cards but mostly as stocking stuffers.
One of the most beautiful decks I kept for myself came from Russia-bought in 1972 when I first went there.
I’ll be on the look-out!
April 8, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Totally agree with you about Scrabble. What’s the problem, today’s generations don’t know enough words to play?
At home we often play card games with our kids (they are very yooung and love Top Trumps, do you know it?), and other board games. With our friends we enjoy a good game of Cluedo!
At work (teaching English as a foreign language), I’ve had three games of Scrabble today!
Haven’t played a video game since I had my Atari back in 81, but I suppose as the kids grow up, we’ll have to start again – though, I hope they continue enjoying simple games too and not just the flashy electronic and computerized ones.
April 8, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Brian,
I suspect that very well may be true.
I haven’t ever heard of Top Trumps. How is it played? We called it simply Clue here. We stopped using the board a long time back and just keep the deduction part with the cards.
Me either-in the video games.
April 9, 2010 at 4:06 am
Top Trumps was popular back in the early 80s, and now once again seems to be back in fashion. It’s a kids game basically – there are about 40 cards relating to a topic, example Train, o Simpsons’ characters. On each card there is one train or one Simpson with 5 different features, each given a value. i.e for a Train, we could have weight xx, top speed xx, year xx, etc. You choose a feature and compare values on your top card and your opponent(s)’, and whoever wins, keeps both cards. And so on till one person has all. It’s popular with kids, as there are many collections relating to all kinds of interests/hobbies, and whiles away many a long hour on train/plane journeys!
April 8, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Kat,
I only played Scrabble once or twice so I don’t have your sense of sacrilege at the news.
My family played Yahtzee, Monopoly and Pokeno. When I was a teenager, some of us got addicted to Canasta and played that obsessively. My prized possession was a twin deck of plastic cards with a Japanese woodblock print of a crane on the back. I still have them.
My mother liked to play Hearts. Her father made a Hearts playing board for her when she was young. I’ve repeatedly saved it from various family members who think it ought to go in the dumpster. Considering it’s 80 years old it’s probably valuable folk art. 😉
April 8, 2010 at 9:55 pm
caryn,
I had forgotten all about Pokeno. We used to play it and bet pennies. My mother and I were always a team against my father and brother when we played whist. They taught us when we were young. Hearts was big when I was in college, and during Peace Corps training in Ghana we played it a lot of nights. I still enjoy playing it. What does the hearts board look like?
April 9, 2010 at 9:29 am
Hi Kat.
The Hearts board is made out a thin piece of wood such as might be found in drawer bottoms. It’s a dark green square just a bit smaller than a folding card table and has a raised edge all around it. In the middle there’s a bright orange-yellow circle labeled POT. Around that is a large brown circle that has been divided into labelled sections for the Kitty etc. Most of these sections have a big red heart hand-painted in them. The circles were plotted out with a compass and the lines carefully hand painted. The block lettering is free hand but you can hardly tell. The board had been used a lot and not stored carefully so there’s some wear but the painted parts are in good condition. My brothers think it’s ugly. I think it’s lovely.
April 8, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Conasta? Am I spelling it correctly? That was a favorite game and endless chess games that spread throughout our neighborhood consuming entire summers till someone killed the king. And Monopoly was big, some of the ones you wrote about I didn’t play although I think everyone tried Uno at least once but it wasn’t popular in D.C. Poker came along in the teen years and we played for pennies. I loved Crazy Eights! I gotta agree with you on Scrabble. That still is a wonderful time waster.
April 8, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Around here, the games of choice are dominoes and euchre. As a child, I played Monopoly, Checkers, Cootie and TiddlyWinks. I also remember playing a card game called Authors. As an adult, I am not overly fond of games. Sorry, Kat. Hugs, Rita
April 9, 2010 at 10:42 am
Rita,
I have loved dominoes since I was a little kid when my parents first taught it to me. I have also taught it to friends who grew up making houses with them and never learning to play. It’s okay-not everyone is a game person. I think growing up with games is why I am
April 8, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Z&Me,
I think I played Canasta only once or twice. Yup, we too played Pokeno for pennies. I remember the bowls in the middle of the table. We used to joke that we’d get our allowances, and my parents would suggest Pokeno so they could win them back.
I loved Crazy Eights too!
April 9, 2010 at 10:15 am
Brian,
That’s a great game-now I’m going hunting for it. My sister’s grandson is too young, but I’ll put it away for him.
April 9, 2010 at 10:15 am
Caryn,
I agree- a family memento is never ugly. It’s a treasure.