GAMES PEOPLE PLAYED
I think it
is great that some people still play board games. Computers and apps and stuff have made most
of those old popular games obsolete.
I remember playing
some board games even before Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley “Invented them.”
I understand
people paying money for Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Clue, Sorry and a whole
bunch of games, but there are some games that only need paper, pen, and dice to
replicate.
It drives me
crazy when I go through the game section of a toy store and see people paying
good money for “Hangman,” “Battleship,” and “Yatzee.” Hell, I’m surprised Parker Brothers didn’t
put out an expensive version of Tic Tac Toe!
Or did they?
Hangman –
We played this for years without any fancy store bought board. A paper, a pencil, you draw a hangmen’s noose, add spaces below the noose, give a clue and play. What are people paying Parker Brothers for? The rules…like they’re so complicated.
We played this for years without any fancy store bought board. A paper, a pencil, you draw a hangmen’s noose, add spaces below the noose, give a clue and play. What are people paying Parker Brothers for? The rules…like they’re so complicated.
Battleship –
Milton Bradley supplies the different size ships, a board with zones, pegs, and something to separate both playing grids. We used graph paper, penciled in our ships, and simply x’ed out every called grid block. If a ship was hit then you said, “You hit my battleship.” Kinda like the MB version. Any large box cover served to separate the two sheets of graph paper.
Milton Bradley supplies the different size ships, a board with zones, pegs, and something to separate both playing grids. We used graph paper, penciled in our ships, and simply x’ed out every called grid block. If a ship was hit then you said, “You hit my battleship.” Kinda like the MB version. Any large box cover served to separate the two sheets of graph paper.
Yahtzee –
I was taught this game by my Grandma’s friend my Aunt Betts long before it was sold on the shelf of “Toy’s R Us.” Apparently it was a game invented by boating enthusiasts to pass the nights at sea away; hence the name “Yaghtsy” or Yatzee. All you need for this game are dice (5), a piece of paper and a pencil to record the scoring possibilities with the dice…pair, two pair, three of a kind, full house, straight, four of a kind and Yatzee or five of a kind.
I was taught this game by my Grandma’s friend my Aunt Betts long before it was sold on the shelf of “Toy’s R Us.” Apparently it was a game invented by boating enthusiasts to pass the nights at sea away; hence the name “Yaghtsy” or Yatzee. All you need for this game are dice (5), a piece of paper and a pencil to record the scoring possibilities with the dice…pair, two pair, three of a kind, full house, straight, four of a kind and Yatzee or five of a kind.
We played
all of these games with materials we had at hand. We did not need Parker Brothers.
I wonder if
anyone has patented:
“Hide and go seek.”
I could package the rules with a blindfold, a clock to count to 100 and
a home base.
“Tag.” Sell the rules along with a vest to
be worn by “It.”
“Kick the can.” A package would include rules, a
piece of chalk to draw a circle, a can, and a rock, scissor and a piece of
paper to decide who is “It.”
Then there
is always “Blind man’s bluff,” “Hopscotch,”
“Hot potato,” “I spy,” “Keep away,” “Running bases”…the possibilities are
endless.
Too bad
technology has made most of these good old games obsolete.
