a love of board games
Apart from reading and books, one of my other loves is playing games - all games in fact - but Board Games in particular. Many a winter’s night or a rainy afternoon as child was spent playing games with my brothers and sisters .We would play for hours and we would learn how to cooperate but if the arguing over the interpretation of the rules got too loud my mother would always threaten to take the board away and then nobody would be the winner. We invariably quietened down as there was always great kudos in winning and I think there might even have been a league!
As an adult I still love to play Board Games and now I am able to pass this love on to my grandchildren, who like nothing more than coming over for a ’games’ weekend.
Board Games were and are a way of bringing the whole family together, where young and old can appreciate each others attributes. As an adult you might know the answer but a 10 year old will have quicker reactions.
The playing of Board Games has been popular for centuries and one of the earliest board games known to have existed was called Senet and was in a fresco in the tomb of Merknera in Ancient Egypt. Many of the board games we still play today have been around for centuries. Backgammon dates back to the 6th and 7th centuries and Snakes and Ladders dates back at least to 16th century India.
Over the years and indeed centuries board games have become more multi-media as they now include DVDs and CDs and now can be played online or with your computer as one of the players.
I prefer my board games without any of the above ‘bells and whistles’, I look for a good board and fun playing pieces - I have a game from when my son was small that contains dinosaurs, a pteranodon, a volcano with molten lava and treasure. You also need a game that is a combination of luck and strategy and that can be adapted for all ages.
I also prefer games that don’t last for days, I was never particularly fond of ‘Monopoly’ as a child as it seemed to last forever, or was it just the fact that my older siblings were better at it than me!
Don’t let my prejudices sway you, there are all sorts of board games from Word Games to War Games, some on boards, some in books - and Yes, some on your computer!
Contributed by Theresa
(Published 1st Nov 2013)
