“Game On!”

Last Updated on March 11, 2024

My fondest childhood memory is when mother set up the Monopoly game board on the dining room table to signal “Game On!” As a single parent, relaxing over the weekend meant playing monopoly with her children. We would play the game for hours accumulating properties, hotels, and piles of money.

Both my mother and brother were ardent Monopoly players. I, too, was competitive, but I enjoyed the marathon game because it was family fun! The laughter and chiding one another was great.

Recently, my three oldest grandsons visited for over a week. We didn’t play monopoly but I introduced them to three new games: Blink, Apples to Apples (both the Disney and Bible editions), and Whoonu!

Now you need to know that the boys, ages 11, 9, and 7, are tough competitors and veterans of all types of games. These new games were a challenge but they were eager.

We played either all the games or any of the two every day. I realized that games are good for conversation and impromptu character lessons.

• Honesty. In the game of Blink you must match cards between two stacks. It can challenge honesty if placement of your card is out of sequence due to the fast pace of the game. The goal of any game is not to win through deception but play according to the rules.
• Kindness. There were several moments when we needed to call a time out, to cool down when a player became confused over rules or when impatience and unkind words clouded the spirit of the game. “Don’t be too serious. It’s only a game” was an often used statement. Apologies were in order.

As they returned home I presented them with a set of these new games. The report now is they are waiting for rematches during our visit at Thanksgiving. I’ve been told, “We will beat MiMi.”

My words to them … “Game On!”

What is your family’s favorite game to play together?