Games

I'm not a game player. If I’m in the right mood, I might play Sequence, Rummikub or Scattergories. Or a card game that I grew up playing with Rook cards, called Sets and Sequences (like Rummikub with cards.) But most of the time I would rather read a book, or watch a movie.

When I was a kid, we often used the games we had for other purposes. I don’t think I ever played a game of Risk; instead we used the little colored pieces to play market or something. I think we had Clue, but we’d just use the pieces and wander around a mapped- out world, with our matchbox cars parked neatly by the gate.

When I first started hanging out with Troy’s family, I was overwhelmed with the amount of game-playing. These people wanted to play random games every minute of every day. At the beginning, too intimidated to say “No thanks”, I suffered through hours of game-playing. You had to watch out for Troy’s Grandma, who invariably cheated, but laughed so hard about it, she never really got away with it.

Often when we go back to the US, Troy and his Mom will spend HOURS playing games. But I don’t understand because of how little they seem to enjoy it. There is always bickering about some real or imagined word, and they call each other “Sad” when they want to get in a really good dig.

Yeah, call me when you’re done. I’ll be on the couch, with a book.

Games are for winning. They are a measure of one’s self-worth. In fact, if you can totally humiliate your opponent in the process, so much the better.

Because of this, Heather loves to play games with me.

I grew up in a game-playing kind of family, so if I happen to be visiting my mom while on vacation, we will play game after game. Upwords, Scrabble, Boggle, Mexican Train dominoes, Skipbo, Uno, Rummikub, and Uff-da dice.

I also enjoy group games such as Balderdash, Catch Phrase, and Scattergories.

Oh, and let’s not forget: Settlers of Katan, Phase 10, Nertz and Sequence. (I can never beat Kelly Wills at Nertz, by the way. Oh, and by the way: I hate you, Kelly.)

There are very few games Heather and I will actually play together. Among them are: Sequence and…um…Sequence. There was a time when we used to play Battle Tetris together, until I started whipping her at it (and that has taught me the lesson that playing games with my wife often serves as a complication in the satisfaction of my….let’s call them “procreative proclivities”).

Did I mention my seven year old boy likes to play chess with me? And Madagascar (the board game) and Candyland. I like that one especially because I get to put on all the voices for Mr. Mint, Mr. Plum, Grandma Nutt, Princess Lolly, Queen Frostine, and King Kandy. This makes my kids laugh at my jokes, which is also another reason for playing games/living.