Alan B. Crawford

This week our entire world has been turned upside down. People have panicked, hoarding bottled water and toilet paper, emptying store shelves out, and losing their common sense. With the restrictions being mandated, restaurants have closed, except for takeout, and so on.

Plainly put, this is not the end of the world. We need to remember the human spirit is strong and has survived many scary events. We cannot do anything to change what has happened, but we can modify our behaviors and make the most of what we have been given.

Before electricity, modern transportation, and social media, we had something very valuable…our families. People spent time dining together, sharing personal time in pursuits which were stimulating and provided enjoyment. They didn’t need video games, movies, podcasts, smart phones and the like. As a group they would gather around a table and play board games.

Board games can be traced back centuries. Mankind has always found a means to have creative competition, pitting one another against the group to win a predetermined prize. They didn’t need batteries to power up the excitement.

They rolled the dice, turned a card, or took a spin on a wheel to see how they would advance in the game. Some games, like dominos, used numbers to create a scenario where people had to strategically play a piece with a plan in place to use up all their dominos.

The same goes for Scrabble where words and their spelling are used to create a matrix where points are awarded based on individual letter values. Shrewd players were also well read people who could use our language to increase the points awarded and win the game.

The first known games date back to around 7000 BC and, guess what? They used a form of dice! Yup! Dice! We still employ dice in a number of board games as well as in modern casinos! If that prehistoric ancestor who thought these up had a patent, he would have been extremely wealthy as the royalties flowed in.

Board games appear to have come into being with the ancient Egyptians. One of the earliest was named Senet. It was a board laid out with 30 squares. Ten squares laid out across three lines. Each player had seven pieces to move about. The gist of the game was based on their faith and the gods they worshipped. How were the pieces moved? You got it! By a roll of the dice!

The Royal Game of Ur is the longest known game and is very similar to backgammon. It was also known as the game of twenty squares. The rules were discovered on a stone tablet. And, you know it, dice were used to move the pieces.

The current version of Monopoly is based on a game called Landlord, patented in 1904, by Elizabeth Magie. And, you know dice are used to advance a player’s piece. A favorite of mine growing up was Parcheesi. We spent hours at this, laughing, taunting one another, but most of all simply having fun.

Card games also have always been a staple. For me, my favorite has always been pinochle. This game was brought to America by German immigrants around the end of the 19th Century. If you’ve never played it, it’s a game where skill is needed to anticipate how many points you will gather in a single hand based on you, and your partner’s cards. Normally it’s played with four people, two on a team. There is a three person auction version as well.

During the time we have been granted to stay home, I hope many take advantage of this time to solidify and improve family relations. Games can provide hours of enjoyable time the entire family can sit around and have fun. Depending on the game, not only will social skills improve, but also cognitive skills.

So, shut off the smart phones, turn off the television, and unplug your computer. Choose a game and have everyone gather around the table without an interruption and have some fun.

For those of you who lost electricity and could no longer play solitaire on your computer, remember there was always the time honored method, used for centuries before digital versions were introduced. Make sure you have a deck or two of playing cards handy. Many games can be played as a group besides just solitaire. It’s time to have some fun while we have this downtime available.