#365DaysOfWriting Day 22: Board Games

I’ve loved playing board games ever since I was a kid! Today, my brother and I visited a café that had stacked lots of board-games. After ages, my brother and I played multiple rounds of Uno and Pictureka, and we had a ball of a time!

As a counsellor, I often use board-games when working with children and adolescents. It has come to my notice that children, these days, aren’t as fond of board-games as we used to be. They prefer fast-paced games on their tablets and smart-phones. However, after one or two rounds, they do get excited and join the fun! I also play board games with my friends especially when we are cooped indoors during the Mumbai monsoon season!

In this post, I am compiling a list of my all-time favourite board games:

10. Chinese Checkers: Playing Chinese Checkers was a lot of fun! This game is simple, requires no memorization of moves (as in the case of Chess) and up to six people can play at a time. Of course, with time, seasoned played can beat the newbies in a fairly easy manner. One of the pros (or cons if you choose to see it that way!) is that there is no “luck” involved — there is no dice to decide your fate. It is a game which kids definitely love. Adults also can have a go! I remember one thing, in particular, that stood out for me when I was small was the fact that I could choose to play with orange or pink pegs — most boards restrict the pegs in red, blue, yellow and green colour.

9. Twister: This game is so exasperating and so much fun, both, at the same time! Playing with friends is bound to lead to tons of laughter and merriment. I’ve played this game in my college-days also, and it just lifted the mood of the party. Winning is simple — you just have to be the last person standing. Sounds easy? Well, give it a shot and then get back to me?

8. Snakes ’n’ Ladders: A game completely based on “luck” but it’s still fun to play. Roll the dice and pray that you can escape the snake or grab the ladder and go forward. Ultimately, isn’t that what we want in life — to march forward, avoiding all the “downs”? This board game shows you, at a tangible level, there are no ‘ups’ without ‘downs’ — to reach the top, along with climbing ladders, you may also get bitten by snakes — it’s all a part and parcel of life. Also, when playing with children — it is a good way to teach them addition of small numbers (“You are on ‘7’ and you’ve rolled a ‘3’, now on which number will you land?”).

7. Battleship: Battleship is a fun strategy game for two players. As a kid, I’ve also played this game on pencil and paper but there’s something about Battleship that is a lot of fun! It’s simple and easy to play, but the biggest ‘con’ is that you can easily cheat by strategically moving your ship elsewhere in case of a ‘hit’, and there is also the possibility of you accidentally seeing your opponent’s ship. Overall, it’s still a fun game that gets over in a short while, so you should definitely play it with your friend or kid!

6. Pictionary: This is a good game to play when you have a big group — you need a minimum of four players for this game. The ‘board game’ version of ‘dumb charades’ where instead of acting, you have to draw to make your group-members guess the answer. This game is not easy, even if you have good artistic abilities. The player is required to communicate a thought on paper — the other members have to turn that drawing into a phrase or a word. Converting words into images requires visualization, memory, and organization of thoughts. With one game, you are unconsciously improving so many skills! Also, this game can be exasperating if your group-members don’t think the same way as you and cannot guess what it is you are trying to communicate. Don’t believe me? Watch the fourth episode of the sixth season of The Big Bang Theory, “The Re-Entry Minimization” where Amy and Penny battle it out with Leonard and Sheldon over a game of Pictionary and you will know what I am talking about!

5. The Game of Life: An absolutely family entertainer that takes you on the journey of your life, right from adolescence to early adulthood where you choose a career, marry, have kids and then, ultimately, retire (hopefully in style!). However, it is a game that does not carry appeal for a long time. After some time, you may get bored and put it away — this happens a lot of times with games based purely on ‘luck’ (in this case, on the number you spin on the wheel). But, it is definitely a game you don’t want to miss out on — try it if you haven’t already!

4. Scrabble: This is the “Holy Bible” of all word-games! The game helps you build vocabulary. It is a game of word prowess and a little bit of tact. It is simple and exercises your mind. It is a good way of developing English! If you have a child at home, please encourage him or her to play this game. That’s all I have to say.

3. Pictureka: This is a game I discovered only recently, but it is a fabulous board-game! The best part about it is that the board is not static — you can flip it, arrange it, turn it back and re-arrange it — the board will always appear new to you. The game is challenging, helps you pay attention and develop focus and concentration, and more than anything, it is a lot of fun! In the end, that is what is most important.

2. Monopoly: This is the perfect game to play if you have a lot of time at hand. My brother and I are ruthless when we play Monopoly, and there are times, when there have been many players, that one game has lasted for over three hours! While I am a stickler for playing games by the printed rules, I have played this game according to different house rules, and those games have also been fun! This game definitely awakens the greed lurking inside each one of us as a sleeping animal, as players sweat over buying property on ‘Regent Street’ or ‘Mayfair’! A wonderful game to play especially when you have a lot of time in hand!

1. Uno: Although it is technically more of a card-game than a board-game, it is the most fun of them all! As each player does his or her best to get rid of all cards in hand, best friends turn into mortal enemies the moment they push you to draw four cards the moment you’ve said ‘Uno’! One round gets over in a very short while — and if you have lots of players, you can still play using more than one deck of the Uno cards.

Which board games do you like playing? Is there any that you feel I’ve missed? Do let me know your views.

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