When I was in first grade my favorite board game was Sorry. I enjoyed sliding my Hershey-kiss-shaped widget into my opponent's to send them back home while saying the name of the game with much enthusiasm. Mr. Potato Head and Monopoly were ok, but by junior high we were all playing Clue. There was the wrench and other weapons and great characters like Miss Scarlett and Colonel Mustard all closed up in the mansion with what seemed like limitless possibilities for fun murder. Then my family discovered Rack-O, a not as well known game requiring players to arrange 10 cards in numerical order. Trust me, it's not as easy as it sounds. In my 30s it was Mastermind, Boggle and Scrabble. And that's where I stopped with board games.
Game shows on TV evolved from Queen for a Day, which aired mid-morning in the 1950s, where a woman had the opportunity to win a washing machine, to Who Wants to be a Millionaire broadcast almost every night in prime time. Maude, a friend of my mother's, was on some show in those early years and was thrilled when she won a pair of suede shoes. In between was I've Got a Secret, Pyramid, Match Game, Password and, of course, Jeopardy, amidst scores of others featured in reruns on the Game Network 24/7.
Now we don't need a board to play a board game. We play on our computers and phones, either individually or against the computer or 'live' online with an opponent known only by a chosen persona. The ease of access, the need to fill each minute, the soothing affects of repeated motions, the addictiveness of the challenge, the world into which a gamer enters is interesting and alluring. Games can engage the marginal or different learner, teach us all strategy and keeps the mind stimulated. They provide the opportunity to learn how to be a gracious winner or loser. I learned to count playing cards and often played canasta, pinochle, rummy or cribbage with my parents after homework was done. In my early years it is probable that my adult opponents let me win, but mine was a competitive family and I soon had to stand on my own.
Ludology is a fairly young discipline examining games, design and players and their role in society and culture. Anthropologists can probably tell us something as well. I imagine that after a hard day of hunting, gathering and cooking our distant ancestors gathered around a fire and some played a type of game with pebbles or teeth. I have faithfully moved a box containing many of those old favorites games from house to house, although I can't remember the last time I played any of them. Maybe in some retirement facility in my future there will be neighbors who will want to gather around a fire and revisit some of those classics. I only hope none of them cheat!
Marilyn
Linda and I have just returned from a visit to Colorado Springs. The only engagement, if you can call it that, with the adults was a game of Uno, which we played for about an hour towards the end of the visit. Katie, my daughter-in-law and Emily, my granddaughter, won the most games. I can only remember playing Uno a few times in life. I'm not even sure when. I'm not much of a strategist, I guess, but I could see that others must have had a strategy. I'm glad you mused on this subject.
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