Games people play…

I’ll admit…I love talking about my guys. Anyone who knows me…and quite a few polite strangers…can attest to this fact.

While Derek was home, we took a stroll down memory lane and landed on the big snowstorm of 2004. Over twenty inches of snow fell and for three days, Jim, Derek, Craig and I played every game we owned. We played Yatzee, Life, Scrabble, Pigs, UNO, Phase 10, etc. The last game we played was Monopoly. This was the last game, because after three days of games and three hours of Monopoly, Jim stood up and announced that “family fun time” was over!

I remember as a child that board and card games were a big part of my families’ entertainment. One in particular that I loved was Tripoli. This was a version of Rummy that had a game board that had spaces for poker chips. These spaces were marked with different cards like the ace of spades or the queen of hearts. Every player put one chip on each of the nine spaces at the beginning of the game and if you had a card that matched the space and you were able to play it, you collected the chips from that space. If not, they held over to the next game.

My son, Craig, is a huge gamer…board gamer that is. He has always loved games and has amassed quite an impressive collection of them. Along with some tried and true games from his youth, here are a few of the newbies he has: Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Love Letter, Tsuro, Carcasonne, Machi Koro.

Each time Craig comes to visit us, he brings two things: his wife, Karrie Anne, and a stack of new board games. Instead of spending the evenings watching television, we gather around the table as Craig explains a new game. Oh, the fun we have and the memories we share…it’s wonderful.

One game, Sushi Go!, was so fun that Jim and I had to buy our own. There are many others I’d like to own as well.

Not only does Craig share his games and his love of them with us…he shares them with the students at Central H.S. Craig is in his third year teaching there and one thing he did was to set up an after school club for students to hang out and play games.

Can you imagine? The generation of Wii and hand held tablets and phones that contain every game known to man…playing board games? They do…and they love it! Craig has also hosted several Trivia nights as fund raisers.

It’s neat to see your kids use what they love as an means to reach out and include others, especially those kids who may not participate in the traditional clubs.

My Craig…he’s something pretty special!