Anything But Monopoly!

The pandemic is surely activating our creativity. The jokes on Facebook are fantastic. Laughing in the face of adversity.  People are thinking of ingenious ways to spend time. I understand that a staple from my childhood is making a comeback. Board games and cards! I’m mostly alone here, so my only option is solitaire.

Cards were big in my youth. I can remember my dad and I playing 500 Rummy for hours on end.  And of course there was always Old Maids, Crazy Eights, and War.  As a teen, my friends and I often played Pinochle while lying on blankets at the Northern Lehigh Swimming Pool.  I come from a Poker family. Penny Ante Poker was a regular and popular event in our home. I was too young for most of it, plus I had no money, but my parents, relatives, and family friends would play for hours on a weekend night.  I can remember it being loud and raucous. Ballantine beer was the beverage of choice. That’s where the loud and raucous came in!  Good times!

My dad taught me to play chess, a wonderful game that I wish I was better at. Checkers, Parcheesi, Scrabble, and Sorry were games we played often.  Then there was Monopoly. Oh, how I dislike that game. I can honestly say, that in the 67 years I have been on this planet, that I have never finished a game of Monopoly. Not one. Not ever. Why?  Because it is so slow and it takes soooo long!  Maybe my dislike of Monopoly is the reason I am not a big, gung ho capitalist today!

When I start to write these posts, I generally have an idea where I am going. But sometimes it brings back memories that were buried for decades. This is one of them. Dominoes! Not the pizza, the game.  What a fun game that I don’t think many people play anymore. I played Dominoes with my godmother and her mom in the little village of Emerald.  We would go there on a Sunday and play for hours. I remember how good the place smelled as my godmother’s mom was always baking something. What a nice memory. Unfortunately, I can’t remember my godmother’s mom’s name!

I hope you are all well and that your creative juices are flowing.  Maybe this blog post gave you some ideas of some games you can play during our stay at home mandate. My only caution:  if you are going to play Poker, I’d skip the Ballantine!

Anyone else have any game memories? Feel free to add your comments.