What's in a game?
A few months ago I was in the toy section of Walmart looking for something fun my family could play together. We already had cards and dominoes and stuff like that, but I was looking for something more along the gameboard genre.
Then I saw it. Sitting there on the shelf, staring right at me. A little flutter tickled my heart and filtered down into my tummy and I got so excited I almost forgot I was a grown-up. It was Life.
When I was a kid, I had ALWAYS wanted to play that game. For some unfathomable reason, my parents never got it for me as a Christmas or birthday gift. A few of my friends had it shoved up in the top of their closet or crammed under their beds or in the farthest reaches of a ten-foot tall bookcase. But, inevitably, whenever I asked if we could play they would say the pieces were missing or it wasn't fun or it was too hard to figure out.
So there I was, at the tender age of 43, face to face with Life, and there was nothing to stop me from buying it. Life was going to be mine at last!
I grabbed it off the shelf and proudly payed for it at the register, marched it out to my car and brought it home. Where it has sat on the chest at the foot of my bed, unopened and virtually ignored.
Until today.
There were four of us in the house this afternoon - my 17 year-old stepson and his girlfriend, my 11 year-old son and myself. I asked Joe if he wanted to play and pretty soon Natthan and Megan were saying they wanted to play, too. We assembled the game board, read the instructions and had a blast! I love this game!!!
At first I thought it was pretty convoluted, there were so many cards and money issues and stuff. But as we played, it really all came together and was very fun. We played twice in a row, even though the first game was interrupted by me having to go pick up the girls and dinner.
Just as I always suspected, I love Life!
Then I saw it. Sitting there on the shelf, staring right at me. A little flutter tickled my heart and filtered down into my tummy and I got so excited I almost forgot I was a grown-up. It was Life.
When I was a kid, I had ALWAYS wanted to play that game. For some unfathomable reason, my parents never got it for me as a Christmas or birthday gift. A few of my friends had it shoved up in the top of their closet or crammed under their beds or in the farthest reaches of a ten-foot tall bookcase. But, inevitably, whenever I asked if we could play they would say the pieces were missing or it wasn't fun or it was too hard to figure out.
So there I was, at the tender age of 43, face to face with Life, and there was nothing to stop me from buying it. Life was going to be mine at last!
I grabbed it off the shelf and proudly payed for it at the register, marched it out to my car and brought it home. Where it has sat on the chest at the foot of my bed, unopened and virtually ignored.
Until today.
There were four of us in the house this afternoon - my 17 year-old stepson and his girlfriend, my 11 year-old son and myself. I asked Joe if he wanted to play and pretty soon Natthan and Megan were saying they wanted to play, too. We assembled the game board, read the instructions and had a blast! I love this game!!!
At first I thought it was pretty convoluted, there were so many cards and money issues and stuff. But as we played, it really all came together and was very fun. We played twice in a row, even though the first game was interrupted by me having to go pick up the girls and dinner.
Just as I always suspected, I love Life!
posted by Cas at 11:20 PM
2 Comments:
i love life too!
I used to play Life! - it was fun when we had it but after a while it kind of got put on the back burner. I think the version you have purchased is probably different than the one I played oh so many years ago - 30+ I think. I know most games go through a transformation as the years roll by, become more up-to-date and befitting for the target audience of today, but Life has some very interesting lessons in it. I'm glad you finally purchased it and could have fun with your family. See you in the postings - E :)
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