Growing older, everyone seems to forget about the things they used to enjoy as a child. For me, one of my favorite things to do was play board games. At summer camp, other campers and I would play games like connect four and monopoly for hours. It introduced me to a lot of new games that I got my parents to buy so that we could play at home. I got really good at these games, up to the point where my family won’t play monopoly with me anymore since I get too competitive. But besides that point, board games have been dying down for a while now, but that childhood feeling was revived last Tuesday night.
In the dorms, I didn’t expect anyone to have a board game. But someone had, “The Game of Things.” It was a game actually made for people our age. After someone reads a category, for example: things you wouldn’t give as a gift, everyone else writes down something for that category. The person who read off the category has to try to guess what response came from what person. It started off slowly, but warmed up once everyone started making inside jokes and getting creative.
With about 7 friends, it turned out to be a lot of fun. We ended up playing for a few hours, and enjoyed ourselves with the responses to random categories, some weirder than others.
“Things you would do as a dictator.”
Responses: mandatory dance parties, exterminate the poor… and so on
So here we were, 7 teenagers sitting around laughing hysterically, playing a board game that was actually made for our age. I didn’t even think they made board games for teens. But at the end of the night, we all wanted to play again another time.
I was thinking that the age of board games has passed me, but it was revived the other night and I am really grateful for that. It brought back all of the memories from summer camp and created new memories, shared over a simple board game with friends. It reminded me of when I used to play scrabble and cards with my family at home at night. All those feelings came back and I really hope that we continue to play board games, even if we are a little old for them.
Board games and video games are two things I will have a lot of trouble growing out of. I think most people will agree with me that the N64 was the greatest thing to ever be invented. I like the way you were able to relate the time you had playing this game to how it would have felt as a kid. This comparison is very important, and allows us to put ourselves in perspective.
Personally, I love board games. Although as an only child, I don’t usually have anyone to play with since almost all of them required a minimum of two people, and none of my friends were as interested in board games as I was. So I was glad when I got my first ipod touch, for I can download different games and play with people online! I guess that actually become my way to play these games these days.
Board games… Monopoly was the worst. I could never finish a game of it, and I’m a business major…