Everything I know, I learned from playing board games

Remember those great board games we played as kids? I mean, before the age of technology and hand-held devices.

You cannot compare the joy of actual games to the virtual world. People are so busy trying to replicate reality in the graphics and details of real life that they forget, real life exists!

Yes, I guess I am oldschool. I prefer reading a real book to my Kindle. I prefer the feel (and frustration) of a real 500-piece jigsaw puzzle to the neatness of my virtual challenges. I know that sometimes, the virtual versions come with great benefits — less mess, no real space required, accessibility, etc. But there is just something about old-fashioned games. Looking back to my childhood, they taught me a lot.

Let’s start with the classic, most likely in every home in America, Monopoly. Who hasn’t spent days playing this one? And I do mean days! This game most definitely taught me patience since it spanned several days to complete.

It also taught me the importance of paying taxes on time, of owning stock in the right companies and of spending hardearned money to buy real estate in the right neighborhoods. Oh, and one more thing — it taught me the importance of being on the right side of those prison bars: “Just visiting!”

Then there was Mousetrap. With this game, I learned the importance of building a structure just right, on a sound base. You have to stick to the specifications and instructions exactly, or chaos may ensue. You could easily lose your marbles playing this game, pun intended. If your stairs are off kilter, or if your bathtub is askew, your marbles are gone and the mice escape.

Candyland. For most youngsters, this is one of the first games they play. It teaches colors and counting, and it could also teach good sportsmanship… that is, if a parent would actually allow his or her child to lose.

If they are like me, I felt it was important to bolster self-confidence in my kids, so I invariably let them win. But no matter what, this game teaches that sometimes there are rules that you have to follow. As a kid’s first board game, it taught how to take turns and hopefully play well with others. Hopefully.

Battleship. I learned how to use strategy in this game. It is important to outwit your opponent by moving your ships around from game to game. It also taught me how to look for patterns in my opponent’s (aka my big brother’s) ship placements. It also taught me that bigger was not necessarily better. The smaller ships were much harder to sink.

Chinese checkers. This was a game that taught me balance. Literally. These precariously placed marbles on a board were easily displaced, and many was the time I knocked them all over the floor. I guess I also learned that a game that takes more time to set up than to play is not necessarily my favorite! However, it did teach me that simplicity in design should also not be confused with ease. While there was no fancy design to this game, it did require strategy and patience to master.

Clue! Now that was a fun game. I most likely got my love of mysteries and thrillers from this game. Each time you played, you had to solve a murder. A murder! Is it any wonder that I love the “NCIS” TV shows so much?

We had so much fun making up scenarios for each murder, “Professor Plum was murdered in the conservatory with a candlestick, by Mrs. Peacock!”

Of course, we would take it a step further, and offer a motive as well. We did indeed enjoy this game. I suppose we learned to pay attention to detail, to keep track of what went on around us and what clues we already had.

Scrabble. I do believe it was with Scrabble that I developed of my love of words. I love writing, and I attribute that to this game. I wanted to play all the time, with whoever was around. I even had a Spanish version of the game — it had a lot more vowels and a different number of the consonants. I enjoyed playing people who didn’t realize it. I suppose you could say I had a distinct advantage.

The list of childhood games could go on and on. Think back … which games did you enjoy playing? Every once in awhile it’s fun to go back to those days, and perhaps yell, “Bingo!”