A game plan

Posted Monday, March 23, 2009, at 3:36 PM

Are you mad for Monopoly? Superb at Scrabble? Would you rather battle enemies on a Risk board than a computer screen?

More and more people are turning to the classics, spending an evening with board games instead of facing the high costs of an evening out. Are you one of them?

Let me know -- I'd like to do a story about those who would rather shuffle their own cards than click REPLAY on the computer screen.

Call me at 684-1200, ext. 215, or email me at mreeves@t-g.com.

Thanks!

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I have a whole closet full of games and puzzles, we play them and watch Dvd's that we have purchased over the years. The price for a family of 4 to go out is outrageous these days.

-- Posted by michaelbell on Mon, Mar 23, 2009, at 5:45 PM

I love games.

We've played "unplugged" games with friends and family and even at tournaments.

(We've wondered if anyone would like to participate in a game club.

It could be something along the lines of Games Central Station in Nashville.

Any membership fee would depend on the cost to use a location and,maybe,provide refreshments.)

We do a lot of board games,tabletop miniature games and role-playing but we've done Rook,hearts,spades,rinky-dink,euchre,Uno,Mille Bornes,Crazy Eights,Bingo,Magic the Gathering,you name it.

(I think somebody ate Tumblebug,Candyland and Operation,though.)

Since even the high-priced military games and European stuff like Settlers of Cataan are cheaper per use than many other forms of entertainment,we like having options that can be good for couples or groups and can include people of different ages and interests.

If you'd like to include military gaming,check with Major Bill Harting in Estill Springs.

He leads the Mid-South Chapter of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society.

For live action role play and re-enactments,check with the 501St Legion (a Star Wars group),the Society for Creative Anachronism (the folks who put on the Renaissance Faire in Triune) and the local Civil War and Western re-enactment groups.

Any passtime can wind up costing time and money but the ones that can be shared,are portable and are fueled by the imagination are the best investment-even in a good economy.

Sometimes,there's not a power outlet or battery handy and the body's "get-up-and-go" got up and went.

In those instances or any other,the old-timey games are a welcome source of recreation.

-- Posted by quantumcat on Mon, Mar 23, 2009, at 8:46 PM

I got my new "Wired" magazine today, and there's a great article about a board game imported from Germany. The article touches on the fact that the Germans are very much taken with board games, much more than we are these days. The Germans have many, many board games to choose from, and they're reviewed in the paper like movies or new CDs. Many of the German favorites take less time to play than, say, Monopoly or Risk.

http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreview...

This article focuses on one particular game, The Settlers of Catan, which has become a worldwide success and is finally starting to be accepted in the U.S. It sounds like a really fun game.

-- Posted by Jicarney on Mon, Mar 23, 2009, at 11:35 PM

Sorry, Quantumcat; I didn't even notice you'd already mentioned Settlers of Catan!

-- Posted by Jicarney on Mon, Mar 23, 2009, at 11:36 PM

No problem.

It was great seeing the Wired article!

We've got several of the Catan spin-offs and expansions.

The classic games are wonderful but there are new games and even new types of games turning up all the time.

Mary,I can't wait to see your article on this.

-- Posted by quantumcat on Tue, Mar 24, 2009, at 3:28 AM

Quantumcat, Michael, if y'all would email me a contact number so I could talk to you, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Mary

mreeves@t-g.com

-- Posted by MotherMayhem on Tue, Mar 24, 2009, at 8:48 AM

The one good thing that hopefully will come out of these trying times is that in order to survive,families cling together and discover each other again.

-- Posted by michaelbell on Tue, Mar 24, 2009, at 7:11 PM

When my husband and I first moved in together, we played scrabble every night - I think for about 3-4 years straight. At one point we were bringing it with us when we'd go back home to visit our moms and try and get them to play, too. It sounds like it was fun, except that in all the times we played, I might've only beaten him once.

-- Posted by cfrich on Wed, Mar 25, 2009, at 4:46 PM

That's one of the hazards of marrying a brilliant person.

But,then,it's rather gratifying to know that someone bright enough to ace a game used his or her wits to fall in love with the spouse they've got.

(Having clever friends and family members is encouraging,too,as it suggests y'all have someething in common.)

My fella sees the board better than I do but I've hunted up more strange words so we show our strengths at different stages of the game.

-- Posted by quantumcat on Thu, Mar 26, 2009, at 3:33 AM

We actually didn't stop playing because I was sick of losing, but because we got our dog and he ate most of the letters when he was a puppy. Yes, he ate pretty much everything he found for the first few months.

-- Posted by cfrich on Thu, Mar 26, 2009, at 9:17 PM

Too funny about the dog and the Scrabble tiles! We lost our Scattergories board to a dachshund with similar appetites.

CF, would you please email me a contact numbne so I can interview you about board games?

Mreeves@t-g.com.

Thank you!

-- Posted by MotherMayhem on Fri, Mar 27, 2009, at 11:10 AM