I grew up in a family of gamers.
From a young age, I was playing Skip-Bo and Phase 10, then Labyrinth and dominoes at the kitchen table. By middle school, my friends and I were playing Kemps and euchre during recess and on the bus. In high school, “Uno Spin” was a staple on our bus to go to golf tournaments to play after we competed while we waited for the results.
I have a lot of fond memories playing games throughout my life. With my Grandma Doris, we would often alternate between Rummikub, Skip-Bo and Aggravation.
When I would visit my grandma regularly well into my 20s, we would continue to play games even though macular degeneration stole her eyesight. I would help her with the cards or with the marbles, never cheating because that was always Grandma’s one rule: “If you cheat, I won’t play with you and I’m sending you home.”
That was easier to do when she lived on the same property as my family growing up, and my siblings and I could walk to and fro within seconds if needed. Nevertheless, the impression was made from an early age and you never tried to cheat with her.
When Grandma Doris died in 2018, I latched onto her hand-carved Aggravation board that has been in my family for a long time, as well as her marble and dice collection. Countless hours were spent rolling those dice and moving the colorful glass marbles around the board.
All of these memories have resurfaced recently in the purest of ways.
Within the past six months or so, my almost-5-year-old son has shown quite the propensity for board games. As a way to promote this, I re-imagined our dining room to feature a two-shelf console table where we can store and display all of our board games for easy access. Then for Christmas, I made sure to fill it up with a variety of games and cards.
We now have all sorts of games, like a few of the classics — a Labyrinth Junior board, a thrifted Rummikub game unopened in the box, and a set of dominoes — and new games that we’ve discovered along the way. Some focus on strategy, some are luck games, and some we’ve modified in small ways to encourage learning the game before enforcing tough rules.
Want to practice counting and identifying colors? Break out Candy Land. Want to work on fine motor skills? Get out Trouble. (Is it just me, or is it extremely difficult for little hands to pop that die in the center?) Looking for a silly game? Let’s play Rock, Paper, Scissors, Pickle — a take on the classic battle game but with the twist that the elusive and goofy cartoon Pickle trumps all.
A recent favorite in our house? My very own Uno Spin board, which my parents got for me in high school and that has miraculously made multiple moves with me over the years without losing a card.
It combines the classic Uno game with special cards that indicate when to “spin” the board. Whatever action the arrow lands on, you have to do. For example, draw until you pick up a blue card or a wild card, discard all but two cards for an “Almost Uno,” or let everyone see your hand. Our personal favorite actions: switch hands (even if you are down to one and the person beside you has accumulated 10 cards), and the first person to yell “Uno Spin” gets to discard one card. (How we were allowed to play this game on any golf course, I will never know.)
If you purchase games second-hand or discounted, there is little risk in trying something new or building a collection from scratch. We play at least one game almost every single day. It has served us well as an incentive for completing chores or as a way to wind down at the day’s end.
More importantly, it has become a great way to spend time together, without the distraction of a TV or tablet screen, making new memories in a family of gamers.
Jessica Bricker is a former editor of The News-Banner. Although she’s no longer in journalism, she enjoys writing about life in Wells County.
jessicabrickerwrites@gmail.com
