Games parents play (or not)
Being a parent has some wonderful moments. We spend quality time playing games with our kids to promote fun, family bonding (or so we thought). I took a trip down memory lane recalling some of those game filled moments and marvel how any of us survived. Here are a few games we played through the years and lived to tell about them:
Chinese Checkers:
I’m still not quite clear what the purpose of this game is, but do know that someone always lost a marble. You lose a marble, you are already a loser. Game over!
Jenga:
Now this little trickster of a game caused many an argument. Soon as you got your wooden tower built, just one move from the finish line then BAM, Junior pulled the wood out from under you. Loser!
Trouble:
Now the object of this game is to move your plastic colored pieces around the board according to the number shown on a dice which sits under a plastic bubble which you press and makes the MOST annoying as hell *click-click* sound. Fifteen minutes of that *click-click* sound and I was headed for the whiskey under the cabinet.
Operation:
This is another game with annoying sounds only this time it’s a BUZZER. No matter how steady the hand, quiet the room as soon as you went to pick up the rib bone or the coveted heart,*BUZZZ*. Loser!
Pictionary:
This game had good intentions or promoting one’s artistic abilities and creativity but always ended with someone making fun of the other’s drawing with tears and hurt feelings followed. So much for building family unity.
Monopoly:
Has there ever been a longer more boring game invented. Sure it starts out all fun, the banker is all ready to dole out money, you have your shoe or iron ready to do business and then it never seems to end. On & On it goes. Come to think of it, I never did get out of jail from 1995.
Life:
This game should have been burned upon purchase. A game to teach your kids how to be greedy, want that new corvette, big house in the suburbs and stress over how to pay the bills. This game will lead to mass depression at some point I’m sure.
Last but not least, Twister:
Help me out here, what is the purpose of this game? Unless you are an acrobat in training for Cirque de Soleil this game is a sure way to become a lifelong patient of your neighborhood Chiropractor. I really want to know whose idea was it to play in socks?
Now you may have gotten hours of enjoyment out of these games and for that I applaud you. However, I should have saved the money and bought a dollar pack of cards and played Fish!
Any games you played as a child/parent that causes you to shake your head?
I played all of these, but if there was a chance I might not win, my parents (and anyone else) would be cordially invited to remove themselves from the game before it was over. There was the occasional pushing the board and all the pieces onto the floor too
Hey, are you my brother?
He always had to win or else…
I may have seen chinese checkers and monopoly of course, but otherwise??? I think I must have played different games
These may be mostly American games. Trust me, you did not miss anything!!
Trouble– I couldn’t stand that game because of that annoying noise. And I always disliked the commercials — “What are you doing kids??”…. “Gettin’ into TROUBLE!” AHHHH not funny.
I was a total TWISTER queen. I was a gymnast throughout my youth, so I always liked showing off and contorting myself and winning. Such a cruel little child I was, making others wince in pain lol I was also obsessed with Limbo because I could bend back as far as I could forward.
I LOVE LIFE. Such a fun game. I always had a bad career though and ended up with 67 children. I would have to fill up an extra car just to cart my family safely to the finish line.
Ah, so you were one of them kids that could twist, turn, limbo (bet you were a great hop-scotch player too) the rest of us into oblivian.
Your comment about “Life” and all the kids cracked me up. You are too funny!!!
another game I remembered was “Chutes & Ladders” …I never got to slide down the really big slide that went from the top of the board to the bottom..Wahh!!!
Did you ever play “SORRY”, the game created with the sole intention of provoking siblings to antagonize each other?
Ha ..you are so right about that..
Kerplunk was another one that just reeked havoc on the family. Pointy plastic sticks are never a good thing to pass out to siblings … ever. I couldn’t agree with you more about these games.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that one.. Ha! It makes me wonder who thinks of these games for children.
My parents had to shut down Monopoly because it was discovered my younger brother and I were robbing the bank and passing large bills under the table. We also may have had a Ponzi Scheme in effect as well, but the jury is still out on that one. Needless to say, we didn’t play many family boardgames after that.
Haha..Somehow I can see you running a Ponzi scheme..too funny..
my brother was the loanshark when we played Monopoly..:-)
Don’t ALL of those games seem like they’ll never end, then when they mercifully do, there’s always the tears and hurt feelings?
of all those games i only played chinese checkers and monopoly…too old for the rest i guess. continue…
No way…most of these were out when I was a kid too
One of the best things this family ever did was take out the Play-doh to use with Pictionary. That really levels the playing field, as not many people are good at extemporaneous sculpting!
Oh that’s clever..play-doh w/ Pictionary..I would have probably won with that..I love playdough and silly putty
My parents, sisters and I still play games. We’re big on Scrabble, Uno and Mexican Train.
I enjoy Uno too.. Used to play that alot with my daughter
I still love to play Monopoly, and I love to win,
. Never liked Chinese checkers…
I never got to be banker in Monopoly.. only got to deal out the deeds:-)
Funny!
I played all these but Jenga. How about Kerplunk? Or Mousetrap? Good times.
Oh I forgot about Mousetrap.. yes, good times indeed
Those were great games!
I was never able to get into Monopoly. At least I know I’m not alone. Lol. I was more of a Scattegories and Connect Four kid growing up. And I can still play a mean game of Uno when the situation calls.
Uno and Spades are hands down my favorite games to play..I forgot all about Connect Four, I must have been busy with my Lite-Brite
I remember Monopoly and Chinese checkers, but would need a refresher course to play Chinese checkers again. I was world champion at noughts and crosses.
Oh my, what is noughts & crosses? I never heard of that.. I am a much better card player!!
Maybe noughts and crosses is peculiar to Australia, but like many things down under, it is impossible to explain without steps and diagrams. It is, basically, a game for the simple minded.