Monday, November 17, 2008

Game On!

I'm a pretty simple person. It doesn't take much to make me happy or entertain me. Give me a good group of people and a good game and I am a happy girl!

And last night I was a very happy girl.

I am a gamer. I love games! It doesn't even matter what kind of game. I love boardgames, card games, and sometimes even those cheesy group games every BYU student has played at some FHE or ward activity.


Yesterday I got to play one of my favorite games: Chinese Checkers.
I play this one quite regularly with Jacob. I think he plays not just to win points for feeding my Chinese Checkers obsession, but because he likes the game as well. Which really is a bonus. But I digress. The moral of the story is, he usually wins. I have been utilizing my time tested strategy against him. It never fails. Well, clearly not never. But Jacob is only the second person to beat it. The first time the strategy failed I lost a couple of games in succession to a kid in my ward and it actually turned kind of ugly. I had to ban myself from playing for awhile. Again, I digress. So, I demanded a rematch last night because I had thought up a new plan. A new strategy that I thought just might throw Jacob for an unexpected loop. It worked! I won. And I was happy. (It should be noted that I have learned to control my poor losing reactions since the infamous ban from the Chinese Checkers, and can actually enjoy playing even if Jacob wins).

I also had the chance to learn a new game. It's called LOSER. And obviously with a name like that it was bound to be a good time. And it really was. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. But this was real, belly aching, laughter folks. I intend on passing this game on over the holidays. It is certain to be worth repeating. I don't think I won one round of the game, but man was it fun! It might have had something to do with the crazy fun people I was playing with too. Good times.

I also thought I'd take a second and make a TOP 10 GAMES list, though it is a very rough draft.

10. Muggins (Just for the Christmas Eve memory it evokes)
9. Speed (A classic and a real good tournament game)
8. UNO- house rules.
7. Balderdash (Remember Dad laughing SO hard at poopclinch (was that the word?))
6. Scum (Some really good stadium terrace memories)
5. Rook (a family classic)
4. Catch Phrase
3. Time's Up (a recent favorite)
2. Clue (I almost never lose)
1. Chinese Checkers

Yeah, making that list I realize all the good memories of friends and family associated with a good game night. So much fun!

5 comments:

MaryAnn said...

I to enjoy a good game although my husband does not - I guess that should have been something I considered prior to marriage. Oh well, too late now. I guess I will just have to get my game fill over Christmas.

Barbara said...

I hear you!!! I love games, too, and I have a number of good memories going all the way back to my childhood at Christmas time, which was about the only time we played games. I remember some really fun times with my parents and siblings, and missionaries, and others who were invited to join us at that time. I also have good memories of games with you guys (the Carters) and with Lilit and Michael and the Heaths. I like your list.

jacob said...

You really had me with that last game. You came at me as a solid group fo marbles, I didn't know what to do!

Did you change the picture at the top of the post, because I'm sure that when I read it in Google Reader, it was a very nice, beautiful chineese checkers board.

Sandy Brunson said...

I did change the picture because the chinese checker board was getting cut off. It was too big and I couldn't make it fit. I did like it better though.

Amanda, Curtis, Ellis, Hugh, Rhys, Graham, Sylvia said...

Sandy, I feel that Clue is "my game" too. We should probably never play it together if we want to remain friends. :)

Curt and I have had competitions over the years. The backgammon one got ugly, but after a long break we still play because we love it so. We also play the card game Guillotine. Check it out. Lots of fun.