I took this off Gwynn's Island on the day that it (the wind) was blowin' so hard it would knock you over. You can't tell it from this picture, but the white caps were everywhere--not only on the bay, but also in our creek.
Christmas (yes, I'm still talking about Christmas...probably because my decorations are still up and likely will stay up through Valentines Day) always makes me reminisce about presents I received as a child, and the Chesapeake Bay Sisters always looked forward to new board games.
There wasn't a lot to do in Mathews as a kid, other than torture your younger siblings and force your neighbor to eat mud pies, so the prospect of a new game was always exciting. (Sorry, neighbor, I only made the mud pie, it was the other individual with me who forced you to taste it.)
Interestingly, this summer when I was fending off fiddler crabs in the yard, I discovered a tiny plastic pumpkin that was a game piece to one of my all-time favorite games, Pig in the Garden. It was not a board game per se in that there wasn't a board, but rather a sheet of plastic on which you put your little pig, and you collected plastic vegetables and stuffed them in the pig. Naturally I don't remember the object of the game nor why we were stuffing the vegetables into the pig, but I just know I LOVED those plastic pigs and vegetables.
(I'd like to press pause for a minute and mention that I just realized I have a deep-rooted, bizarre fascination with and admiration for pigs...the Valleydale commercial--my favorite commercial of all time--was loaded with marching musical pigs; Pig in the Garden was my favorite game; eating like a pig continues to be one of my hobbies; my house is like a pig sty; the list just goes on and on. Oink.)
Stratego was always fun....I loved it when someone landed on one of my bombs. Oh, how I loved that, especially if "someone" was a certain Middle Sister.
Mystery Date was another good one, but all I remember is opening those doors, and I also remember that none of the guys were my type, that's because none of them was Harry Connick, Jr.
Sorry was always a good one....I just loved making Middle Sister have to move back to Start--"Sooooooorrrrry." This summer my kids and I played it on a camping trip, and the game became so violently competitive that two of the three players stormed off in tears. It's a shame when a grown woman cries over a board game.
Which Witch --LOVED IT! Can't remember anything but a really cool castle and that's it, but I loved that game. Middle Sister and I played for hours on end.
Mouse Trap - Not being mechanically inclined but being very impatient, I found this one to be extremely vexing and very frustrating...
Ants in the Pants - A slightly bizarre concept for an otherwise entertaining game
Life - We never had this one, but all my friends did, and I loved it. I don't know why we never had it, probably because my mother or grandmother thought it was going to teach us the facts of life, and they didn't want any part of that. Indeed I am still waiting for my "talk," but this has nothing to do with childhood games. Let's get back on track, shall we?
Twister - Loved it, but hated it when I had to get too close to sisters....was definitely more fun in college.
Go to the Head of the Class - I can't remember one single thing about this game, but I can assure you Middle Sister and I spent hours and hours playing it.
Tiddly Winks - Yes. I confess. I actually played tiddly winks. Please see earlier statement about there not being much to do in Mathews.
What were some of the other board games you remember? Not the obvious ones like Monopoly, checkers or Bingo (I remember Middle Sister and I always wanted to be the person announcing the letter/number combination, and we hoped we'd pick B-4 because then we would say it as "before." Each and every time we thought it was clever and hilarious. What a couple of saps we were.)
Anyway, my kids today would probably call these "bored" games because they can't compete with all the Nintendo and Wii and Play Station This and That.
Or can they?
28 comments:
Two of my favourite board games as a child were Scrabble and Clue.
And when Trivial Pursuit came out in the eighties, I was in my glory.
But only for a short time because no-one wanted to (and many to this day) play with me.
Bear((( )))
Don't break the ice is a big old fav aroung here!!! and CandyLand was....They like Jenga but we did not have that when we were little!!Twister is a big hit and everyone will put down all electronics to play!!!
Operation, zzzzt, zzzzt.
CBW didn't put Quija? Oh, I forgot, it's not a game. And besides, who needs Quija when your clairvoyant anyway.
MMM
Last night college child and friends had a rousing game of Monopoly going in the living room. In the dining room was high school child and friends playing Clue.
Today, Father and children are going to have a 'discussion' about hosting parties without father's knowledge or attendance....again (sigh).
Did you mention "Mostly Ghostly"....?? I don't remember the point of that one, either, but the ghosts glowed in the dark. And I was also going to say Operation. They should do a more advanced version of this one for med school students!
I wish I could remember Pig in the Garden....I definitely remember playing with those plastic vegetables that were very cool.
Happy New Year Everyone! QWAH!!!!!
-Middle Sis
BN - I play Scrabble even today. We had Clue but for some reason we didn't play it that much - I want to say that the rules were a little too much for Middle Sister to grasp...or something (where "something" equals more than likely I couldn't understand the rules).
Anonymous - We played Candyland so much we wore the cards out. That was a good one - there was also Chutes and Ladders.
MMM - I LOVED Ouija and played it often. IN fact, CB Children have it as well. Clairvoyance...well, I do have an unusual ability to feel or sense things, but it is inconsistent and sporadic. CB Mother's ESP is more finely tuned. I absolutely adored Operation but it scared me to death.
Anonymous #2 - Good luck with the conversation, I don't have any words of wisdom for you at all, because I'm in denial that mine are ever going to be high school/college-aged. On the brighter side, at least they were playing board games and not strip poker?? Sorry, I'm no help.
Middle Sis - Mostly Ghostly - good one! I can't remember the details but I remember the name. You played Pig in the Garden a lot and loved it too. I'll bet if you saw that plastic pumpkin game piece it would trigger your memory. Happy Qwah Year!
Mancala and Battleship were two of our favorites. We also enjoyed a wide variety of card games. There wasn't much to do in K&Q either...funny though, I don't recall the three of us EVER being bored:) What happened to my imagination???
I still love board games and love the fact that my family does too! CandyLand & Chutes and Ladders were my favs as a child. Backgammon and Rummicube was the favorite games of battle between me and my Dad in High School.
Just had a rousing game of Trouble with my sister, neice and nephews over the holiday. And I have Sorry/Trouble/Battleship for my Nintendo DS.
Love Board Games!
Happy New Year!
OMG!! We are on here at the same time AGAIN!!! Psychic!! (Psycho?)
BHE - I didn't play Mancala until I was an adult, in fact I was in my 30's, but liked it.
Wherever your imagination went, mine is probably there too, along with my memory. We need to send out a search party.
Phyl - Loved Trouble!
BHE - Yes, psycho, definitely!
I think you named all that we had.. oh wait. I just remembered Hungry Hungry Hippos! I had that thing. OMG if there every was a stupid game it was that. (I loved it until my brother said that the hippos looked like me.. I don't think I ever played again) Nothing like a Hippo with a sprining neck shooting out to eat eggs. Odd.
We played Payday for like three years at a time (with the regular game being one year). Also Life and Monopoly. But our longtime favorite was Scrabble. Still is. I beat Curt handily while enduring enduced labor for middle son. Had to pause for contractions, but still won, and he didn't even let me.
Two more obsucre ones - Mastermind and Black Box.
YOu always come up with topics that elicit many comments! What a talented Chesapeake Bay Woman you are. thanks for this!
AM - What a mean brother. I promise I didn't give him lessons in how to treat sisters. My kids had Hungry Hippo, but during one particularly violent game, some of the plastic hippos met their demise, so I am pretty sure we had to throw the thing away. Fun game though.
Meg - I want to say we played Pay Day too but I can't remember it. If you were sane enough to play Scrabble without killing someone while in labor, you deserve a gold medal. It would not have been possible for me to focus on a game while in labor, what with my head spinning around on my shoulders and all the growling, hissing and spitting that was going on and all. My hat's off to you.
I was a scrabble player, I still love it and play a game online that'a basically the same thing. Monopoly was our big family play and fight board game growing up.
I love yhatzee but I don't think that's a board game. How about dominos?
We played all those games, in fact we played Clue and Yahtzee on Christmas Eve this year. My Grandmother was the undisputed Queen of the Universe in Scrabble.
Risk has got to be one of my all time favorites, a game that could literally last for days, to determine the superior army of the world. world domination, muahaha
I LOVED Mystery Date. And Trouble. And Risk. But my brother would shoot at me with his BB gun if I won. Oh, and let's not forget Operation....
Happy New Year! I remember playing long games of Mah-Jong on rainy days at my Granny's. We also had a Pig game, but rolled the little pigs and depending on the position they landed you got certain points.. like more if they landed on one leg and one ear... happy memories. Catherine and the Bumpkin Bears x
GJ - Maybe we'll have a Scrabble match as part of the blogapalooza. I had dominoes but didn't play them much, I don't know why. Probably the association with numbers, which always scare me.
PJH - I don't think I ever played Risk but I had friends who loved it. Good one..also wasn't there one that had to do with a battleship and the commercial always had the whiny kid who said, "Awww. You sunk my battleship."
MPM - I take it the brother was older, sounds like an older sibling tactic to me, not that I know that much about it. Mystery Date was fun.
BB - Never played mah jong, but I would love to have seen that pig game. I seem to love pigs and am only now realizing it.
When I was younger I LOVED Monopoly. Now, not so much. Candyland was another fav. Chinese checkers was something I'd only play with adult relatives but I loved it. I think my mom refused to let us have it because she was afraid I'd start lobbing marbles at my little sisters and brother. She was probably right.
Operation was another one. Although I always wondered why they had to make the patient look like such a doofus?
We got the Little Imp her very first game this Christmas. Not a board game but so much fun just the same. Don't Spill the Beans has been riotous fun around here. And wouldn't ya know, it's the hubby and I who play it most of the time!
Yes, Battleship. Dad was a navy man and almost forgot, Chess! Didn't play much as a kid but would skip class at comedy college (RCC) to play Chess and Spades (not a board game but none the less addictive)
As for strip poker....the vision of college age coeds intimate apparel littering my living room while hearing the squeals and shouts of a heated game - can only be topped with the possibility of recognizing a pair of panties nailed to the wall in some Key West bar.
How about a quiet game of Euchre instead....a bit easier on an old man's blood pressure :)
Auds - I LOVE Don't Spill the Beans, good one.
PJ - Comedy college...that's a new one for me. Right up there with Guinea General (Walter Reed). No offense to either RCC or Walter Reed employees or patrons, or to Guinea.
Anonymous - Don't let your daughters go to the state of Florida. Ever. (Well, at least not until they're adults in the working world.) Especially not during spring break. Failure to heed these instructions could result in the need for blood pressure medication and/or an increased consumption of wine.
I always liked scrabble, monopoly, chess, and batlleship. Do you remember light brite. You put the colored pegs on the picture. I liked that too. We also liked cards, old maid, crazy eights, spades and go fish. Dominoes and don't forget jacks with that cool little ball. I also loved to play trouble with my son.
Now, he likes pool. Any good pool players out there?
Thanks for making us think today, girl. LOve your blog,as ususal
yes, all of those...mastermind, backgammon, monopoly, scrabble, cleudo (it was called here..is that the one...mrs so and so in the closet with the such and such)...we have played games all the time, but now esp things like articulate, pictionary (did you ever play dictionary), yes, trouble, risk the kids played.
mostly a lot of card games, 500 , euchre, up and down the creek, now I play a version of canasta with 7 packs of cards that we call hand and foot (sounds like a disease)..etc etc, trivial pursuit, rummyking or rummykub, boggle, yahtzee, could go on and on....you name it we prob played it..!!
Annie
crib or cribbage, (wish I could remember how to play that again), snakes and ladders, (it is interesting to hear the name differences from one country to another)... the little kids are now playing "connect four" and dominoes..not to mention good old snap!
Annie (again)
Did anyone ever play a game called chook chook...that was a long time ago when I was little (50 yrs ago)..it was a very loud trading game. There was another game came out when my kids were young, that was a similar trading game...LOTS of noise as you all traded cards...what fun that was, and I cant remember the name of it!!
Cats - funny you mention lite brite - I was thinking of that this morning after we started talking about all this stuff. We spent a lot of time in front of that light bulb creating "art."
Annie - Cleudo? Interesting. For sure it was the same as our Clue...."Mrs. Marple in the basement swinging from a trapeze with a BB Gun." Or something like that (that may have been the Mathews County version). Never heard of chook chook. The only trading game I can remember off the top of my head is Go Fish or Old Maid. Loved me some Old Maid.
Thanks for bringing back some great memories, everyone.
Annie, you have left out one of the family favourites you play today: Carcassonne
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