Dinner Table Games
Families that play together are closer and children are more likely to get intellectual stimulation. In today’s society, many families do not even sit down and eat meals together. Statistics have shown that eating together is one of the best things you can do to keep your family happy and together.
The kitchen is an intimate place. It is the place you can sit and talk with someone. Would you like some lemonade? There is a certain relaxed feel that comes from being at the kitchen dinner table. This makes it a perfect place to let our hair down and just have fun playing games.
Inventions of Television and Radio
The inventions of television and radio brought people out of the kitchen and into the living room. This had the effect of breaking down family communication. What did you say? Johnny, be quiet so I can hear this? It took us from a world of togetherness or solidarity and brought us to a world of one. I’m not saying television and radio are bad, but they must be tempered. Social scientists have proven that watching too much television leads to lower family values, obesity, and violence. We should selectively watch television and play more as a family. That’s why board games are so important.
Board Games and Intellectual Development
It’s surprising how much it can help a child to sit and reason with them. We may talk to them, but a game makes the subject matter fun. Some kids grow up with almost perfect logical reasoning skills from playing games. There is a magazine called Games Magazine that has a lot of logic solving in them. Children and adults that do these puzzles often, and for fun, develop superior logic reasoning skills. This helps prepare them for science and engineering disciplines.
Fun and Board Games
It’s not so much about winning, but about a sense of companionship. We can sit and play cards. It does a couple of things. People are in one place facing each other for a very long time. Try to get people to do this without a game to play. This gets people to talk and communicate.
If you have someone who is a little shy, they will almost certainly start speaking up in a game situation where winning and losing is on the line. This allows you to see other peoples emotions and find out who they are. Potential employers would do well to offer you a chance to play a game with them instead of just asking you question.
The Most Popular Board Games
The most popular board games usually aren’t too difficult, but still incorporate some strategy. For example, bingo is fun, but it isn’t the most popular. Games like Checkers and the newer Cranium are popular because there is some skill involved, but you can still learn to play in only a few minutes. Games like Trivial Pursuit are also hugely popular, but not exactly a fun game for average people to play with brainiacs. This makes sense, but brainy families will often choose Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, and Boggle as favorite games.
Cards
A deck of cards is good for playing lots of games. You can play Go Fish, O Hell, Bridge, War, Poker, Speed, Pickup, and many others. If you don’t have a lot of cash, start out with a deck of cards and really learn how to play them. Depending on what you play, the games can be quick or slow and involve complex thinking skills or just be games of luck; different strokes for different folks. The top game of cards is Bridge because of its complex strategy component. Children love Go Fish and Memory.
My Favorite Board Games
Monopoly is a favorite, but I like to play the fast version where you auction off the properties. Balderdash is a favorite because it’s really fun to make up definitions of words; especially when everyone always picks my definitions. The games I have probably played the most are Chess, Scattergories, and Cranium. Chess is probably my very favorite, but once you can really play well, it’s hard to find someone to really challenge you. Cranium is probably the best party game, besides Charades, that I have played and Scattergories is a close second.
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