Personal History - It's a Good Thing That Winning Isn't Everything...

What were your favorite childhood games?

Marbles

I was never an accomplished game player, but I loved to play. I just couldn't win all that often.


As a young kid, marbles came into vogue. I knew it had rules, and my brothers could play really well, especially my oldest brother . I more kept the bag of marbles, and between games, pulled them out to
a) run my fingers through them - they were so smooth to the touch, and
b) let them roll around in the light and stare at the changes.

Marbles were a major sensory experience for me that felt very satisfying, even if I didn't play very well.

Board Games

Ditto with board games - I loved them, but seldom won them. Monopoly had a lot of counting involved, but I loved imagining the alternate world happening in my mind, and the stories that the cards told me. Same for Game of Life, and Chutes and Ladders. I'd play them for hours, never caring if I won or lost. If I won, I didn't celebrate hard, in order not to hurt the other person's feelings. If I lost, then that was my natural state when it came to games, so I was used to it.


Parcheesi took me to another world, with all the twisting and turning of the game pieces. Othello had mesmerizing patterns that erupted across the board, that eventually filled my eyeballs with black and white. 

Chess and checkers - not as interesting. And again, I hardly ever won, so I only played those at times of utter, abject boredom. I had a teacher in elementary school who promised us $50 if we could beat him at chess. Might as well have promised me the deed to the Taj Mahal. It wasn't going to happen.

Duck Duck Goose

Active games were fun whenever I was part of a group, at home, school, or church. The suspense of Duck, Duck, Goose got my adrenalin going. Sitting in a circle, waiting to spring as each person got pronounced a duck, and suddenly I was the goose. But then I had to stand up and run, and by the time those two things happened, the other person was usually safely back in my seat.

Red Light Green Light

This one was the stuff of nightmares, especially if you ended up being the one calling out 'Red Light!' and "Green Light!'. I loved being in the crowd, chasing the lone caller. Don't remember ever winning this one, though. Ever.

Dodge ball

Oh my gosh but how I loved this game as a kid! Standing in a big circle of people with bouncy balls who were out for blood, and they throw the ball at you until you get hit, at which point you either throw the ball yourself, a casualty with a jealous ax to grind, or you just watched.


But winning was kind of important to the other kids, so I ended up a spectator a lot of the time. Least likely to be chosen, and since I was tall and nonathletic, often out first. I used to sit on the sidelines and imagine I was the last one standing, and no one could touch me. Dodge ball really brought out my Walter Mitty tendencies. Same for kickball.

Broomstick Lawn Hockey

My brothers and I would make up games sometimes - pretty risky ones - out of whatever we could find. Like Broomstick Lawn Hockey. It consisted of a bouncy-ball on the front yard, a plastic broom for each kid, and a rule that no one could swing their hockey stick above their waist.

A rule which was, not too later on, broken. Many, many times, as the game heated up.

And, of course, one of my brothers hit me in the face, with the hard plastic edge of their broom.

And then the bleeding began.

I'd never bled before like this - I could feel it streaming down my face. I ran up the front stairs of my house (we had a lot of stairs), and I could see my hands covered with blood. She opened the door, and dragged me inside, alarmed. Had blood in one eye by then. Pretty sure I would die of my injuries (I was maybe nine - ?).

Turned out I had a small cut, just above one eye, the scar of which is still slightly visible today if you know where it is. I had no idea how the head likes to bleed until that moment.

Any Game in School or Church

If you got a game instead of a lesson at school or church, you were the luckiest kid alive, and it didn't matter how stupid the game was - we were excited to play it.

Hangman was a favorite at church - drawing the gallows on the chalkboard, and then guessing the word (usually drawn somewhere from the scriptures, to assuage the guilt of the teacher) before we drew the entire person hanging from the gallows.

I actually did win several games of hangman. :-)