Game time
There was a period one summer where my brother and I played Monopoly every day. My family was doing this thing where we had a chart that had a list of chores on it, and however many check marks we got meant that we got poker chips. Poker chips could be redeemed for things like television time or computer time or candy. My brother and I, both fearing that the other would have more chips, hoarded chips like mad. So we watched practically no television whatsoever and played Monopoly instead. I am sure we thought we were being very clever. We showed them! We had all these special rules, like we never used the $1 bills. We just rounded everything to the nearest $5. I have no idea why we did this. I think it might have had something to do with always running out of $100 bills, so we always just used the $1 as $100 when we ran out. Sometimes we’d line up our bills to show off how much money we had, and sometimes we’d put it all in a big stack. I remember Joseph would get everything in $5 and $10 bills so his stack would be taller.
Joseph and I liked to play games together. He would even play Sweet Valley High with me if I asked, although I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. It wouldn’t have been cool for people to know that he played a game where the point was to steal each other’s boyfriend. We had this really neat game that had to do with finding hidden treasure, and the regular stuff, too - Sorry, Trouble, Clue. I didn’t wish for another sibling except when we wanted to play Clue. You have to have three people, and sometimes Mom was too busy.
Last week I read Sars’ description of her family’s competitiveness, which includes things like marking each other out of the will for accusations of cheating. It reminded me of a long-forgotten story. For some reason, probably involving a game, Joseph wrote out a will that said, “When I die, Kari cannot have or read my Calvin and Hobbes books.” This was the ultimate punishment, because we read those books all the time, but it was only when we put the books together that we had a complete set. I wish I could remember what I did that pissed him off so much. I probably put hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place. hehehe.
My family played a lot of games in general. I remember playing Uno on the floor of our house in Charlotte. My dad would always keep an extra card under his leg, in case he forgot to say “uno.” He’d pull it out and say, “But I have dos cards, so I don’t need to say uno!” On Sunday afternoons, we often played Trouble in all its pop-o-matic glory. There’s a family story that involves Joseph and a Trouble delay-of-game that I shouldn’t share here. But his game delays were legendary. We played Skip-Bo and Milles Bornes and Battleship and Hungry Hungry Hippos (which I gave my mom one year for Mother’s Day. Loud games are what every mom dreams of for Mother’s Day).
After I got the Sweet Valley High board game, I tried and tried to get my dad to play it with me. He refused. At some point, we bet on a basketball game - he’s a Duke fan, so if Duke won, I was going to have to wear a Duke sweatshirt, but if Carolina won, he had to play Sweet Valley High with me. And, to my great delight, my team won. Somewhere I still have a polaroid of him sitting at the kitchen table playing the game. He definitely stole my boyfriend.
Mike and I love to play games, too. Trivia games are my favorite - we have Trivial Pursuit versions 5 & 6, Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit, and, as aforementioned, Book Lover’s Trivial Pursuit. Mike won’t play Scrabble with me, though, because I suck and he is tired of beating me. I just can’t seem to visualize the words. And I won’t play Yahtzee anymore, because I am tired of losing. At least in Scrabble there’s a chance I will eventually get better.
When people tell me it’s not about winning or losing, I always quote Worf: “If winning is not important, Commander, why keep score?” But I don’t remember whether I won or lost most of those games (except an occasional crushing defeat or victory in Monopoly). I just remember it being fun to sit next to my dad and think we finally got him in Uno, only to have him pull out another card. I remember laughing at Joseph’s Trouble delays. I remember playing Trivial Pursuit with Mike one New Year’s Eve, the “Is a pickle really a vegetable” question, and making up words in the worst Scrabble game of all time.
I love playing games with my friends and family, because they create the kind of memories you can still tease one another about years later. Maybe that really is better than winning.
(I’ll have to think about that one.)
September 20th, 2004 at
I also come from a family of inveterate gamers. If we’re at a loss of something to do, a game is going to get pulled out.
Kari, you should look at Cheap Ass Games. Lots of cool stuff there, and hey, it’s cheap.
September 20th, 2004 at
this story was great.. and on a different note.. I despise board games of all kinds..
Thank you for your time and attention..
September 20th, 2004 at
How about card games?
September 20th, 2004 at
I love to play board/card games with my wife!
September 20th, 2004 at
Do you enjoy playing Milles Bornes? We have it, and my sister-in-law and her husband absolutely love that game. But I’ve never enjoyed playing it (we’ve played it 3 or 4 times and I was bored to tears each time). I think the clue to gameplaying is that it requires TIME TOGETHER, and that’s the stuff we cherish.
September 20th, 2004 at
I haven’t played it in years. I remember it being fun, but I don’t know if we were even playing it right. hehe.
September 20th, 2004 at
no mention of chutes and ladders or candy land….:(
i’m with trey, i really liked reading the story.
September 20th, 2004 at
chutes and ladders rocked!
also…if a cucumber is a vegetable…then so is a pickle.
thank you.
September 20th, 2004 at
I was a genius at Chutes and Ladders. I loved that game.
My favorite game in the history of games, though, is called Babble On and for some reason, I can’t find it anywhere but on E-bay.
September 20th, 2004 at
no.. no card games either.. Ive been trying to get into playing Texas Hold Em.. because all my friends are playing.. but I just loose interest after 30 or 45 minutes.. the only card game Im remotley ever interested in is Spades.. but I still dont play..
September 20th, 2004 at
I wish I was in your family! Your game playing sounds perfect. No on in my family would ever play board games with me, and it was pathetic because Santa ALWAYS brought me a board game. I tried so hard to get my brother to play Trivia Adventure, but whatever, he wasn’t as nice to me as Joseph was to you. You should send your brother a thank you card for playing Sweet Valley High
Anyway, this was a great post.
September 20th, 2004 at
I have really vivid memories of playing Chutes and Ladders and Memory with my mom while my brother was napping.
Mike and I have Candyland. We realized it’s not as fun as it was when I was six. However, the gingerbread house and all that are still very cool. But they changed the pictures! That was disappointing.
I have never heard of that game, Chrissy. What were the rules?
Trey, Mike’s been learning Texas Hold ‘Em lately, too. I have never really played poker.
You are right, Alisa Beth. I will let Joseph know I appreciate him.
September 20th, 2004 at
My mom put Candyland under the Christmas tree last Christmas…or maybe it was the Christmas before. And my sister and I played it for hours, seriously. We made up new rules and stuff. But we had so much fun!
September 21st, 2004 at
Where do you think Fact or Crap came from? .net weekend, board game! (sucky game but game none the less with memories)
September 21st, 2004 at
I really enjoyed reading this too! It made me smile thinking about my sisters and our baord games. I LOVED Sweet Vally high! I so wanted to be Jessica. We also played girltalk a lot, but I am guessing your brother wouldnt have been up for that one.
Do you play Cranium? It it my favorite new game. ANd Mad Gab is pretty fun too… oh and Stagories….
September 21st, 2004 at
Girl Talk! I never had that one, but I do remember it.
I only played Cranium once. It kind of stressed me out. I don’t love games where you have to do stuff really fast. Isn’t there a new version of Cranium where you all play on the same team? I’d probably like that better.
September 21st, 2004 at
This post reminded me of playing Uno with my mom and dad, and my dad somehow managed to forget the rules EVERY time. We’d be like “Come on, they’re not THAT complicated,” but nonetheless we’d still have to explain it all to him every time before we played.
We also used to have this game called Journey Through Europe, with all these little destination cards and a big map of Europe that you pushed pins into (to the spots you were trying to get to). It was really complicated though so I think I made up simpler rules…made it more fun. We got it at a yard sale though and I’ve never seen it anywhere else.
September 21st, 2004 at
Kari…Babble On is basically a word game where your team has to read off phrases and figure out what they say. Example:
High Knees West Want
Read that five times fast and hear what you’re saying…
“Chinese Restaurant”
It’s HILARIOUS!!
September 21st, 2004 at
Oh, like MadGab!
September 21st, 2004 at
journey through europe….that does sound complicated.
speaking of games, has anyone played pig pong? that was awesome! my parents still have all the games my sister and i used to play. i might have to stop by this weekend and play one with them.
card games, i used to play gin rummy. but nothing beats a good game of spoons!
September 21st, 2004 at
PIG PONG!!! We had that one, too. lol.
September 21st, 2004 at
I like Cranium and Therapy for group games. Scrabble, Uno, Phase 10 and Skip-Bo for smaller groups and 1-1 games.
September 21st, 2004 at
Sorry to be the one to break the news to Eric, but your weekly “Therapy” game isn’t really a game, pal.
September 22nd, 2004 at
I LOVE Skip-Bo. I think Brandon has it, I don’t know why we haven’t played it yet.
And Speed Scrabble used to be THE game of choice with my neighbors in high school…we’d sit around and play it for hours. Now nobody wants to play with me ’cause I got really good at it and it’s really no fun anymore without good competition.
(Yes I am giving myself props!)
September 22nd, 2004 at
i will take you down in speed scrabble the next time we meet!
September 22nd, 2004 at
Scott - you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into!