Re-discovering Board Games
When Did You Last Play a Game?
In a less technologically driven age, games formed a vital part of social interaction with many families; they were played by young and old, and most people have at least one fond memory of a family gathering where the intention was just to spend the evening with everyone pursuing a common goal – winning!
For the young, board games represent a terrific opportunity to learn key concepts and social skills; often, a game will require at least partial co-operation between players, and fundamentally, that winning is not really the reason to play, but to experience the enjoyment of that journey. Another hugely useful facet of gaming is the concept of waiting one’s turn, requiring patience and (for the sharper minds, at least) an opportunity to study the tactics of other players, perhaps gaining experience from their successes and failures during their go.
These principles apply to virtually all games, from noughts and crosses up to cribbage and chess. Children soon learn that, whether it is a pack of cards or a boxed board game, the notion of sitting down to a game means excitement and fun, but within the boundaries of the rules. Yet it is commonly recognised that this kind of gameplay will not carry on into adulthood; maybe a bitter experience of a long, tedious game of Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit can leave some people with the idea that it was some kind of childish phase that they outgrew, leaving the games to gather dust in the cupboard.
Games Now
To most people these days, a game means something disc-shaped that goes into an Xbox or Playstation. As visually sophisticated and exciting as they are, video games are usually solitary adventures with little or no opportunity of interaction with other (real) people. This is of course not the case with the traditional board game.
It seems that children may need to rediscover what a board game is in order to remind themselves of just how much fun can be had interacting with other (human) opponents. The question is: how do you convince a child to commit time with family members when they have the latest incarnation of Sonic or Mario to keep them company?
Grandparents to the Rescue
Who better than a grandparent to introduce a game to the children (or, better still, get the rest of the family around the table)? With the kids attention spans fine-tuned to deal with games in bursts, maybe they aren’t the best ones to read the rules, so this is where grandma and granddad can shine – being the tutor who explains the rules, sets out objectives, and act as arbiter and judge of proceedings.
But – what to play? This all depends on personal tastes, of course, but if you want this to be a regular activity instead of a one-off event, pick a game that looks like it will remain interesting after a few plays; avoid those ones which are really just gadgets or balancing acts if you want more than a few minutes of fun.
Thankfully, there are plenty of new, innovative games on the market, plus some old favourites that have been given a new lease of life (new versions of Cluedo/Clue, Monopoly and Risk, for example). Dig a little deeper and you will discover the wonderful games coming out of Europe, which are mostly language independent (great for those of us who have yet to learn a second language). Thanks to the internet, there are many suppliers of such games online.
So why not give it a go? You may have some games still, in the back of the cupboard, just waiting to be played again.
Gaming with Gramps
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