Goodwood

Goodwood

Saturday 7 April 2012

G… is for… Games

Which games did you play as a child? Monopoly perhaps.

Or maybe Mousetrap, was your favourite board game?

The funny thing about board games is I never got bored as a child. I loved playing games, except… when I lost! I was a sore loser. But, in a very competitive family it made it inevitable that at some stage I might lose.

My mum had an uncanny knack of adding to, amending or changing the rules as the game was in progress and bless her, she still does this, to this day. It does not matter if it is Canasta or Mah-Jong. A couple of weeks ago, after an enormous scrumptious Sunday lunch, we played Monopoly with her grandchildren. They all know her wiles and did not let her escape; the competitive streak runs through all of our family – to be the best and to be a winner.

And the funny thing was…I re-read the rules that afternoon and still learned rules I didn’t know!

When was the last time you lost your competitive edge? Or played a game you lost?

18 comments:

  1. I often Scrabble with my Learning Support Students and occasionally they do happen to beat me!

    CarolynBrown-Books

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    1. Carolyn, I haven’t played Scrabble in years, not sure my nieces are up for this now that we have interactive games – lol – but did have a friend suggest we could play via iPad over the Internet – I just may have to investigate this option!

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  2. Used to love Mousetrap - even filled the pool with water!

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    1. That’s so funny & I love it, I’m certain you weren’t alone lol

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  3. The only games I play now are online scrabble and wordfeud and yes I like to win. Even when playing online patience I still want to win. We used to play snakes and ladders, tiddlywinks and lido they all came in the one box with loads more games we never played. I think we got a new one each Christmas as all the parts were lost by then.

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    1. Anne - I’ve not heard of wordfued so I shall look it up – also love Freecell & Soduko when I want to unwind… odd habit I know

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  4. Some of my favorite games as a child were Monopoly, Sorry and Scrabble. My favorite game now is a game called Taboo, and yes, I play to win!

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    1. Lovely to meet you via the AtoZ - Not familiar with ‘Taboo’ either but I shall look it up soon as I’ve realised writing this post I do play games just not on an Xbox or internet based system

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  5. Marbles as a child was my favorite, but Scrabble is my all time favorite. But I also play mind games. Haaaaa

    Teresa

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  6. Teresa - Oh god we used to have loads of Marbles & I’ve still got some as part of the Solitaire board, (somewhere) and I wondered if anyone would admit to mind games… fascinating stuff

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  7. Oh I remember the days when we used to play Monopoly, but long stretching games used to put us off. (we needed quick results)
    And yes .... I too was a bad looser :-)

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    1. Oh god some days our family games could last up to a week… (I’m not kidding) well until the bank ran out of funds, but now I’ve learned to place a time limit at the start of any game! 2 hours maximum!!!

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  8. I rarely play organized board games. Never liked the competative streak it brought out in my companions. Your mother sounds wonderful. I wish I'd acted that way.

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    1. Hi Francene - you've reminded me - Worst game I ever bought was Trivial Pursuits… family rows ensued, claims of cheating, being too clever, genning up on topics, gave the damn game away eventually.

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  9. We played Scrabble and Monopoly. I'm not particularly competitive. My eldest daughter always changed the rules to suit her game!

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    1. Now that I’ve read the replies I’m surpirsed how many games I did play and still do – love Mah-jong to this day!

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  10. I have a competitive streak too! But I have a 15 year old that is just the opposite. She feels very badly if I lose and she wins! (I don't mind playing games with her!) lol

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  11. Have recently discovered that my nephew plays without fully understanding – ‘Snap’ became problematic – he knew the cards matched, he would grab the cards but fail to shout out, “Snap” and of course his younger sister understood fully & would claim the cards. Tears at abedtime…

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