They say some things skip a generation, and I think Iāve found one of them.
From as early as I can remember, my grandparents were big fans of games: card games, board games, outdoor games. They still are.
Some of my earliest memories include sitting on the floor at my grandparentsā house playing absently with a set of cards designated for Bridge or Pinochle, and having absolutely no idea how to use them.
When I was older, my brother and I would spend hours playing āWarā with my grandpa, always hoping to achieve, and subsequently win, a three-way tie (are you familiar with the suspense of revealing that determining card?!). Then there was Probe, Pictionary, Kerplunk, and Scrabble, all games that we would get to play when Grandma took them out of the closet, and we were getting a little too restless, needing something into which we could channel our bondless energy.
I am pretty sure the first time my brother and I picked up a chess piece was sitting in my grandparentsā den, just enjoying analyzing the marble set of knights and pawns. When we were outside at my grandparentsā house, we played bocce ball or badminton. Grandma and Grandpa and games went hand in hand.
This game obsession continued into my older childhood with household favorites like Mille Bourne, Monopoly, Twister, and Around the World in Eighty Days (okay, maybe that last one wasnāt exactly a classicā¦). Recently, playing board games has made a huge resurgence, and not just among my friends and me. Board games are all the rage. To be sure, the games themselves are different now.
You may or may not have heard of them: Settlers of Catan, Machi Koro, Twilight Imperium, Seven Wonders, Love Letter. A lot of them are German strategy games, some of which require multiple hours of play and a few YouTube videos to learn how to play them. Some games are comprised of only cards, and others contain a board, hundreds of little figures (usually spaceships), and other tiles. There is even an annual board game convention, called GenCon, for the truly obsessed.
I have a weekly game night with a core group of my āgamerā friends, and itās not all that unique. These days, my peers and I are always playing board games, whether itās on a Saturday night or unwinding after a long workday.
For me, itās usually Thursday nights. In fact, my Thursday game nights distinctly remind me of my grandmaās monthly Bridge days or marathon Bunco sessions.
While I canāt really say what happened to the in between generation (although my mom and some of my friendsā parents do enjoy a good round of Catan), I will say that I can see the appeal. Itās not just the fun of a challenging activity, but also the inside jokes, and the casual conversation in between turns (or lengthy conversations when someone takes extra long on their turnā¦).
While the games I play might be relatively new, sitting down with a board and some cards is certainly not.
You guys in Sun City were ahead of the game.
