UNO!

Yahtzee!

It was Col. Mustard in the library with the wrench.

Given the crazy, nerve-wracking, uncertain world we find ourselves in, we need positive distractions more than ever. Remember the TV show called “Family Game Night” that featured two teams playing Hasbro brand games? Me either. I looked it up. Maybe that’s how Friday became Family Game Night; families could do something together that didn’t involve the TV. And man oh Manischewitz do kids and adults need to just have fun. Stop thinking and worrying.

With schools closed and social distancing prohibiting play dates with school friends, kids are b-o-r-e-d. Enter bored games! There are so many to choose from and you might want to make up some of your own. When my kids were young, every birthday party had a theme. All the games dreamed up and prizes sewn or gathered made it all the more special. Those stopped when each daughter had her 10th birthday murder mystery party.

But, back to those traditional bored games: Sorry! Twister (if you’re an adult, I hope you’re flexible and limber!), Stratego, Life, Jenga, backgammon, Clue, Masterpiece, cribbage, Pictionary, Scrabble, Upwords, Trouble, Scattergories, Parcheesi, Operation, Concentration … And, if you’ve got four to five hours to kill, no game list would be complete without Monopoly, right? And Risk might be very appealing, and perhaps even therapeutic for those needing to take control of the world … risky indeed.

Last night at the ranch, we played Sorry and Jumanji. And each game brought its own laughter, taunts, and jokes about how old people (me) take so much longer to move their piece… basically to do anything. It still brings a smile to my face today. My favorite game to play with a group of people (yes, including family!) is charades.

Oh! I almost forgot about Spirograph. I loved this. I could spend hours making designs and patterns with this baby. Entire afternoons would be spent playing with this game. Nothing made me happier … Except maybe beating my sister at Stratego … or spending an afternoon reading (lots of ’em were spent this way from the time I was 9) …

I’m thinking of bringing back my twist on the game: Character charades. In this version, players must play as a fictional character and all their um, charades, are interpreted as that character. This version I’ve not had the opportunity to play for a l-o-n-g time. When we no longer have to practice social distancing, it’ll be time to call my fellow thespians for a gathering of the entertaining prose interpreters!

Other games best suited for adults? Trivial Pursuit is always a blast; and there are so many versions – Baby Boomer, Silver Screen, All-Star Sports, Walt Disney, the Junior edition and more. Ahhhhh ... Trivial Pursuit. When I started playing this game in the early 80s, I found it difficult to stop. I was still in Connecticut then dating Joe (we would eventually become each other’s third marriage and divorce person), but before the end and the “I dos” came the let’s play years. And we knew how to play. Sometimes too well … But I digress … We’d climb up on the water bed and shake the die til one of us completed our pie – and I managed to answer the sports or geography question – usually a fluke! I mean, seriously, how many non-golf fans would know the youngest golfer to have won the Masters? Remember this is as of 1979/1980. Severiano Ballesteros. I had to Google it. OK. Enough board bored games …

Deal me in! 5-9, setback, Old Maid, UNO!, war, rummy, cribbage ... and poker. When playing poker with the kids, pennies or Chiclets are good!

And remember … when all that togetherness begins to overwhelm, best retreat with a game of solitaire, or a book … the one passport that cannot be denied. OK, so maybe you shouldn’t choose “Fahrenheit 451” ...