Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Playing Games Without Electronic Devices

My grand kids are deprived.  At least that's what their friends think...and sometimes they think so too.  Why?  Because they don't have handheld video games.  They don't have the latest IPad.  We had a Wii.  It broke so we don't have a Wii.  My older kids felt sorry for the grand kids so they gave us some other gaming system.  I don't even know what kind it is.  I haven't bought any games for it.  I think they have a couple of car racing games but that's it.  It's mostly used as a DVD player.  When the other grand kids come over they bring their own games for it. 

Boy has a really old computer that was a hand-me-down from my sister about 4 years ago.  Girl had a new one that was given to us.  Her older cousins did something to it and it no longer works.  Thanks boys.  Boy came in this afternoon asking about the game Hearts.  His computer has it and he can't figure out how to play it.  Sure, pull up a seat to my computer and I'll show you on my computer.  After playing one hand I realized that he wasn't going to figure out how to play the game watching the computer.  Go get a deck of cards.  Call in your sister and let's go to the dining room table.

I sat them down and taught them how to play.  I like four people rather than three and since there wasn't a fourth I played two hands.  We played three rounds with the cards all facing up on the table.  Then we played a couple of hands while holding our cards in our hands.  Then we played the last game with me not giving them any hints or help at all.  They had a great time.  And, they learned another game to play that doesn't need electricity or batteries. 
I told them how my brothers and sisters and I used to spend hours on rainy days playing cards.  Sometimes we'd play cards after dinner when we didn't want to watch TV.  If we were in trouble and grounded to our rooms playing cards was a fun way to pass the time. 

When was the last time you played a game of cards?  It's much easier to play FreeCell on the computer but I remember playing it as a teenager with a deck of cards all sprawled out on the floor.  Get your kids into card games and board games.  If you need to, take a break from your busy life and play with them.  Of course boy will want to play Hearts on his computer and that's ok.  He at least knows how to play it using a real deck of cards.

5 comments:

  1. Depriving your grandchildren in such a way will make them better people. I have very fond memories of camping trips playing Hearts. One of the few times I remember my father smiling. Never could realize how he could stock away all the right cards to skunk us, but he did many times.

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  2. Hi,

    A few months ago you mentioned you were going to plant horseradish in a pot. I'm writing to say - check under it. Mine rooted out of the bottom of a 5 gallon pot and now babies are popping up where I used to have it. The roots that got out were very tiny yet still grew on thier own. Now I have it raised up on some blocks.

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    1. Thanks for the heads-up. Mine is in a pot on the front porch and it is sitting in a saucer so the roots can't go straight down. I guess I lucked out here! I will make note of this just in case I move it or remove it from the saucer.

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  3. My family played all kinds of card games and I swear they cheated all the time. Years later I figured out I probably was just horrible at playing the game and just wanted to have fun.
    I learned how to play spades in the Army on the front slope of an M1A1.
    Sort of like email being old fashioned for the young generation, cards are antiques for many people under 30.

    Random, but if you need another computer for your girl I can drop one your way. I have a stack of them, literally, doing nothing.

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