Kevin Week 14 - The Game of Life: Childhood Edition
For as long as I can remember, my family’s idea of family time was tabletop games. Not TV, or going out, but board games. There’ve been countless weekend nights spent playing The Game of Life, or inviting family friends and cousins over for rounds of Uno, or just casual rounds of Jenga while catching up with each other. Regardless of what game we played, the memories that came along with them are what made each week memorable.
Now if I had to rank my favorite game, foosball is a hundred percent on the top of my list. I first discovered foosball while at a friend’s house, where they had this huge, 4-player table. Immediately, I was hooked, and so my dad agreed to buy a smaller, miniature set. From then on, I would practice and play for hours on end, trying every possible trickshot from every angle possible, destroying my sister in endless rounds of foosball after school. Once, I tried challenging my mom, not knowing she was a former champion of a foosball club back in her high school days (crazy, right?), and got blown out 10 goals to none. Needless to say, after a couple more despairing rematch attempts, my interest quickly dwindled and I went back to destroying my sister.
Another game I particularly enjoyed growing up was The Game of Life. Something about the casualness and simplicity of the game made it appealing and fun for me to play with my older cousins. I spent tons of weekends over at their houses bringing over my set to play with them, sometimes even playing online rounds when I couldn’t come over. It became routine to play at least one round a week, and I think that for me, the appeal was how simplistic the game was. You could plan out your life so easily: just roll a die and spin the wheel and go to school, graduate, get a job, get married, have kids, and win. If only life were that simple…
Nowadays, the tower of worn-out game boxes nestles itself under my desk, collecting dust and memories of simpler times.
Hi Kevin! Your blog was so fun to read because similar to you, me and my family also love spending time together playing board games. When you were describing the fun you had playing a variety of games with family and friends, I could relate to what you were talking about. Like you, me and my family have bonded over games of Sequence, Scrabble, and card games too, like Go Fish. When you were describing the table top foosball set you played with at your house, it reminded me of a table top ping pong set my family bought. I could relate to how you would spend a lot of time practicing foosball, because I too would practice playing ping pong to beat my younger sister in the game. I think board games are a great way to connect with family and friends, because it allows us to directly engage with each other. Though I have not yet played The Game of Life with my family yet, I will definitely try it out! Overall, your blog was very fun to read!
ReplyDeleteHey Kevin, I loved reading your blog because, like many my relationship with board games was very similar. Every two days, my family and I would pop out one of 15 games we had in the closet. Now, I was more of a Monopoly man myself. Park Place and Boardwalk were not just goals in the game, but at some point they almost became my goals for real life. This was of course until I found out they are not real places that I can just buy. Then there were the Catan nights. Honestly, I think Catan is underrated. It was pretty fast paced and shorter unlike Monopoly, but it still was so much fun. That closet is still full of all those games, and I hope that one day I can go back and play those games.
ReplyDeleteHey Kevin! Just like you, my family and I also love to play board game together on friday nights. Having this family time with each other not only brings us closer together, but it also makes our connections with each other much stronger. I remember during quarantine, my family and I would always play a board game after dinner and remembering memories just like these just want to make me live these moments again. Foosball is a extremely fun game to play, especially if the other team has someone who has played for a while. I got a foosball table during quarantine and almost every friday my family and I would always play on the table to grow our family connection stronger.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Kevin,
ReplyDeleteIt was entertaining to read about your connection with board games, that sounds like such a special way to grow up. There’s something really nostalgic about the idea of a stack of old game boxes, each one holding its own little universe of memories. I love how foosball became your personal arena of glory, and how you demolished your sister at it combined with the plot twist of your mother being a former foosball champion was all too funny. It’s interesting how games can feel so simple on the surface, but carry so much depth when you connect them to the people and moments around them. Even as we grow out of those routines, the comfort of knowing those memories are very close is kind of comforting.