Growing up we had a frequent Sunday night family game with card games & board games. I don’t recall exactly when it started but may bother & sisters were included. We would play in the dining-room, which we rarely used for dining. The table was large enough & was usually clear of stuff. Card games were simple enough Hearts, Crazy 8s. I was told by my Dad not to try too hard to win to my siblings had a chance.
We graduated to Rummoli. I checked it out online & the fold out board is familiar but the rules for the various elements boggle the mind. I recall Cribbage mainly because keeping score was a pain. Gin Rummy was another but that too was a point counting challenge. I usually let someone else keep score for both.
Although we had Monopoly & Scrabble, the board games I recall best are Stock Ticker & Careers. Both were dice games with playing pieces. In Stock Ticker one bought & sold shares as they went up & down with rolls of the dice. The game had its own paper play money. It could go on forever, I think. Or maybe it was over when all the play money was gone or someone had gone bankrupt. The one with the most money was the winner.
Careers was a sort of Monopoly variation. Rolling dice. Moving your piece around the game board & landing on good or bad squares. There was also a form to fill in of what you wanted: fame, money etc. The winner was the one who first fulfilled what they filled in on their form. I was fond of going for all love or all fame as $ wasn’t as lasting 🙂
With the lockdown I hope more families are trying to this old school games. I have tried the computer/video versions of some of them but I like the simplicity of the hard copy 🙂 Card games are too fast even if the computer keeps score. The electronic sound of dice rolling or cards shuffling isn’t as satisfying. Besides you can’t ask the desktop to get you a sandwich while it’s up 🙂
(games photos sourced via yahoo images)
Eggs Rule
there were more eggs
than the eye could see
they stretched from one door to the next
from one telephone pole to the next
balanced on electric wires
dangling from the tips of tree branches
<>
eggs of all colors and sizes
robin’s blue so simple and pure
lumpen grey brown emu
shells that couldn’t be cracked
shells that cracked at a slight breeze
eggs in mailboxes on street corners
rolling around with nothing to do
aimless without purpose
loitering without intent
<>
eggs looking to be scrambled
to be fried by the right pair of eyes
the temptation to let them all hatch
had to be resisted
too many feathers
the gritty remains of shells under foot
was irritating enough without
moulting and feathers in the equation
feathers that held microbes mites diseases
eggs were harmless
as long as they remain intact
it was hard to avoid them
<>
eggs on the subway
leaning over your shoulder
hinting they wanted to sit down
trying to nestle in your pockets
for warm incubation
eggs on tv telling
newsmen what to say
controlling the weather
refusing you a loan at the bank
spinning dizzy
at any hint of being interested
in anything you say against them
<>
eggs rule the world now
we might as well accept that
put down that spatula
don’t go near that whisk
eggs are in control
so surrender
this is their world now
it always was
we have been forced out of denial
the truth can finally be told
<>
eggs invited the light bulb
made the first Atantic crossing
landed on the moon
all history books are to be revised
to reveal the awful inadequacy of humans
in the face of facts
that showed our greedy eagerness
to hog all the fame acclaim glory
that belongs soley to the egg
the egg that wrote the ninth symphony
the gg that found the first the rose
the egg that invented the book of love
and now wants
to tear out all the pages
wants to break our hearts
to serve them sunny side up

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Nice memories and needed embracings. Hope you’re having a big loving week!
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