I'm a Game A-holic!

I LOVE - LOVE - LOVE playing GAMES!!!

 


When I was a young child we played lots of games - I played games with my siblings and with my parents.  Some of the old favorite games I remember playing either with family or friends were Hide & Seek, Ennie-I-Over, Jack’s, Marbles, Freeze Tag, Hopscotch, Jump Rope and many many more.  I remember one time in 5th grade, playing Alan Sherman with the tether ball.  I wanted to beat him so bad, but he was bigger and much stronger and it seems like he just hit it once and that ball and rope flew so fast to encircle the pole, I didn’t have a chance.  We had kind of a black-top as part of our playground area at school.   We would chalk circle lines and then proceed to play marbles.  Of course, the boys were always better than the girls at that game.  But the girls of course won out with Jack’s and Hopscotch.  We played softball on the big field behind the school.  

I remember as a young child, my parents had 1 or 2 couple friends come over, either Ralph and DeOra Blackham, or Cliff and Uarda Blackham (sometimes both couples).  They would get the card table out and mom would put candy treats on the corner edges of the table.  We would all hound mom and dad to have some.  We usually got told we could watch one round of the game, have a couple pieces of candy, but then we must go to bed.  They would play either Rook, or Canasta, or Pinochle.  Rook was the favorite one though.  I will also say that my Dad was one of the best card players I’ve ever known.  It was always amazing how he could take a poor hand that was dealt to him and get a terrible widow, and still play in such a way that he would win the round the majority of the time.  He would always laugh and just say it was luck, but we new different.

Ralph & DeOra Blackham, ? my parents LaMont and Olive Blackham, Uarda & Cliff Blackham
(They were at a Norbest Turkey Meeting when this picture was taken)

Monopoly was a favorite board game growing up even though it seemed like it took forever to win it sometimes.  We also liked Sorry, and my Mom would always play Chinese Checkers with me.  I was always trying to find someone to play games with me.  My Mother liked to play games too, so through the years we have played lots of games together.  Of course, it’s always exciting when you finally learn how to play a game well enough that you can beat your older siblings or parents.  (**Be sure to read the special memory I have playing cards with my mother just a few months ago** at the bottom of the page).

Games after I got married.  As we moved a couple of different places, we got friends that liked to play games also. Our children were still very young and along the same ages, so they had friends to play with while we played too!  I remember playing a lot of card games with Ron and Roxanne Larsen (a class mate of Gary’s), also Judy and Gary Clawson and Danny and Jeanette John.  Later when we moved to Thatcher, we played with Gary and Edith Austin and Rex and Naomi Rasmussen.  We had fun playing Rook and different card games with all of them.

Remembering those fun times we all had playing all those new games especially at Christmas time, I made sure Santa brought anywhere from 5 to 10 new games to carry on that tradition while my own children were growing up. We laughed so hard and had so much fun.   My children’s friends always knew they could come to the Mack house and find people playing games.  It was great to have those friends come and have fun with them and get to know them and their personalities.  If anyone was going to have a party, a lot of times they would come to our home to borrow some fun games.  If my siblings wanted to get games for their families, they sometimes would come to me and ask me what the newest and greatest games were to have fun with their kids!

This game is HedBanz – these pictures were taken in 1993.
We just all got new HedBanz games a couple of years ago so the Grandchildren could have fun with it.

Kelsey, Karen, Kristin, Kim & Mitchell

 

Tess Nelson (friend), Kelsey, Levi, Mitchell (baby), neighbor Chad Smith

LOL - see all those games on the counter behind Jared

I still have that game tradition today with my Grandchildren.  I love playing games with them.  I get to talk to them and ask questions and ask how they are doing. We laugh and cry together as we play.  We learn how to play on a team, how to not get mad if you don’t always win and how to be good losers.  We learn how to be excited for the other person that wins and what a good job they did.  I learn their personalities and what is important to them and many more things.

 

**A special memory I have playing cards with my Mother just a few months ago**.  I was home for a visit and we decided to play some Rook – she is 91 years old.  We were having a great time I thought, or should I say I was having a great time winning.  All of a sudden I got an idea and I decided I wanted her to win and to win big – she had not had very good hands or good luck and seemed a little down.

What a game that was. I've never cheated so much and so hard in my life to not win a game. (I might add - I don't cheat to win a game either).   I just kept getting the right cards constantly.  I had to really work hard at losing.  I would play points on different hands that she would get so she could set me back and get more points for herself.   I really played it up big.  I would grumble about the bad cards I had and how I couldn’t do anything and how she was really beating me.   It makes me cry happy tears now to think about and remember how excited she was to be winning!!!  I don’t think I will ever forget her bright eyes and happy face.  She really was happy that she had won and so was I.

My 9 children all love each other so much and are very close to each other.  I am very close to my own brothers and sisters also.  I know that it is because we were together a lot and we played lots of games together.  When I go home, I still get to play games with my brothers and sisters and mother. Spending time with family is the best time ever! 

PS:  Can anyone guess what my usual gifts are to my families at Christmas time??? Yes, that's right, new games!

 

Favorite Family Games

Card Games Board Games Group Games Sports Games
*Rook- UT/Nevada/AZ rules *Acquire Capture the Flag Football
*Canasta Battleship Dodge Ball Basketball
*Pinochle Balderdash Duck, Duck, Goose Tennis
Hearts Boggle Ennie-I-Over Track
Bum and Scum Candy Land Green Light, Red Light Volleyball
And It Came to Pass *Catch Phrase *Hide and Seek Kick Ball
*Awe Heck  Checkers/Chess Horse shoes Badminton
Crazy Eights Chinese checkers Kick the can Bean Toss
Donkey Chutes & Ladders *Mafia Softball
Flinch Clue Red Rover/Rushing Bulldogs Baseball
Garbage Concentration Scavenger Hunt Bowling
Gin Rummy Connect Four Simon Says  
Go Fish Cranium    
*I Doubt It Dominos - Chicken Foot    
Mills Borne Game of Life    
Nerts Gesstures    
Old Maid *HedBanz    
*Phases (use Rook Cards) Mad Gab School Games
Phase 10 **Monopoly Freeze Tag  
Pit Mr. Potato Head Hopscotch  
Solitare Oodles *Jack's  
Spades *Pictionary Marbles  
Spoons Scattergories Pick-up Sticks  
Uno Scrabble Softball  
War *Settlers of Zarahemla Tether Ball  
  Sorry Boys Chase the Girls and vice-versa
  Taboo Jump Rope with songs  
Dice Games Trivial Pursuit Front steps of the school (old "Dungeon" if caught)
*Old Mexico (21) Trouble Also games under "Groups" above  
*Liars Dice      
Yahtzee      
  Car - Traveling    
  ABC game looking at billboards  
  License plate game - selecting specific states  
  *Counting to 10 using the traffic signs along the highway
  Comgee Com - What do you come by?  
  (giving the first letter of something you can see inside or outside the car)
*Favorites      
       
       

 

 

Jump Rope Sayings

Mable, Mable, set the table
Don’t forget the RED HOT PEPPER!!!  (Jump fast)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Fudge, Fudge, tell the judge,
Mammas got a new born baby,
Wrap it up in tissue paper,
Sent it down the elevator,
Be on Time.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Grace, Grace dressed in lace.
Went upstairs to powder her face.
How many boxes did it take?
1, 2, 3, ………
---------------------------------------------------------------
Mother, Mother, I am ill
Call for the doctor over the hill.
In came the Doctor,
In came the Nurse,
In came the lady with the alligator purse.

Measles, said the doctor.
Mumps, said the nurse.
Nothing, said the lady with the alligator purse.

Out goes the doctor, out goes the nurse,
Out goes the lady with the alligator purse.
---------------------------------------------------------------
One banana,
2 banana,
3 banana 4,
5 banana,
6 banana,
7 bananas more.
(don’t know the ending does anyone else?)
---------------------------------------------------------------
One, Two, buckle my shoes
Three, Four – shut the door
Five, Six – Pick-up sticks
Seven, Eight – Lay them straight
Nine, Ten – A big fat hen
 

   Cinderella dressed in yellow,
   Went downstairs to kiss a fellow.
   Made a mistake and kissed a snake.
   How many doctors did it take
   1, 2, 3,  . . . . .
---------------------------------------------------------------
   How do you spell Mississippi?
   M  (cross arms over chest)
    I    (point to your eye)
   S   Crooked letter (cross legs and jump)
   S   Crooked letter (cross legs and jump)
    I    (point to eye)
   S   Crooked letter (cross legs and jump)
   S   Crooked letter (cross legs and jump)
    I    (point to eye)
   P  Hunch back
   P  Hunch back
    I   (point to eye)
---------------------------------------------------------------
   Yellow, Yellow who’s my Fellow
   (go through boy’s names)
---------------------------------------------------------------
   (Girl Name) and (Boy Name) sitting in a tree
   K – I – S – S – I – N – G
   How many kisses did she get?
   1, 2, 3 . . . . .
---------------------------------------------------------------
   Down by the river,
   Down by the sea,
   Johnny broke a bottle and blamed it on me.
    I told ma, ma told pa…
   Johnny got a lickin’ so ha ha ha!
   How many lickin’s did Johnny get?
   1, 2, 3 . . . . .
---------------------------------------------------------------
Pepper – Jumping Fast
Double Dutch – Using 2 jump ropes alternating at   the same time.

Rules for several favorite dice and card games - Click Here

Awe Heck
I Doubt It
Nerts
Scum and Bum
Old Mexico (Dice)
Liar's Dice (Dice)

 

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Comments 6

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Tom Cormier (website) on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 12:30

Karen this is one of the most endearing stories I have read to date on this site. You brought back so many memories I can't even begin to tell you. With 9 siblings I can relate to playing games ans this inspires me to write a story about them. You are a living example of how the simple activity of playing games regularly with your children can foster bonds that live on forever and then transcend the generations. I never thought of games in this way until now. They are such a wonderful thing. These days I am not a game player for reasons I will explain in my upcoming story. But, I should be because my family is and they LOVE IT!!

Karen this is one of the most endearing stories I have read to date on this site. You brought back so many memories I can't even begin to tell you. With 9 siblings I can relate to playing games ans this inspires me to write a story about them. You are a living example of how the simple activity of playing games regularly with your children can foster bonds that live on forever and then transcend the generations. I never thought of games in this way until now. They are such a wonderful thing. These days I am not a game player for reasons I will explain in my upcoming story. But, I should be because my family is and they LOVE IT!!
Karen Mack (website) on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 16:01

Tom, thank you so much for your kinds words. Playing games with my family and children and grandchildren are still very important to me and I'm talking about playing the good old board games and card games and physical activities. Even though I do love electronics and all the things we can do with them, I do get scared when I see so many people and children that seem to let them rule their lives now. Their eyes and fingers are glued to cell phones and IPods and computers etc. As adults, we have to make sure that we still spend quality time together with our friends and families and that our relationships don’t dwindle to nothing because of the new technology.

Tom, thank you so much for your kinds words. Playing games with my family and children and grandchildren are still very important to me and I'm talking about playing the good old board games and card games and physical activities. Even though I do love electronics and all the things we can do with them, I do get scared when I see so many people and children that seem to let them rule their lives now. Their eyes and fingers are glued to cell phones and IPods and computers etc. As adults, we have to make sure that we still spend quality time together with our friends and families and that our relationships don’t dwindle to nothing because of the new technology.
Karen Mack on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 16:02

Tom, I forgot to tell you I'm looking forward to reading your stories about games and your family growing up.

Tom, I forgot to tell you I'm looking forward to reading your stories about games and your family growing up.
Golden V. Adams Jr. (website) on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 16:56

WOW, Karen! I didn't even know there were so many great games! Now with my mother living with us, we often play Pinochle or what my mother calls "Jim Runny". I must agree with your comments about the electronic games and their lack of social involvement. Social media just doesn't play the same communicative role that non-electronic games do in a group in REAL TIME! Tom's comment on how games foster bonds that transcends the generations is profound. Thank you for sharing that insight!:-)

WOW, Karen! I didn't even know there were so many great games! Now with my mother living with us, we often play Pinochle or what my mother calls "Jim Runny". I must agree with your comments about the electronic games and their lack of social involvement. Social media just doesn't play the same communicative role that non-electronic games do in a group in REAL TIME! Tom's comment on how games foster bonds that transcends the generations is profound. Thank you for sharing that insight!:-)
Karen Mack (website) on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 22:34

Thanks Golden - We have played a lot of games through the years as a family. There are still actually many more games that come to my mind periodically that I haven't listed. I will have to say that Rook is the most game played. It's funny - because we have family in Utah, Nevada and Arizona, each group learned slightly different rules to play from their spouse's families too. So the first question when we play is, “are we playing Utah rules, Nevada rules or Arizona rules”?

Thanks Golden - We have played a lot of games through the years as a family. There are still actually many more games that come to my mind periodically that I haven't listed. I will have to say that Rook is the most game played. It's funny - because we have family in Utah, Nevada and Arizona, each group learned slightly different rules to play from their spouse's families too. So the first question when we play is, “are we playing Utah rules, Nevada rules or Arizona rules”?
Kathy Larsen (website) on Wednesday, 20 November 2013 18:06

Karen- I don't know why I didn't see this post until now. I love games, too! Like Tom, I have 9 siblings and we always played board games every Sunday evening and on holiday get- togethers. These were the biggest bonding times for me to family! Excellent job! Thanks for reminding me how much these memories mean to me.

Karen- I don't know why I didn't see this post until now. I love games, too! Like Tom, I have 9 siblings and we always played board games every Sunday evening and on holiday get- togethers. These were the biggest bonding times for me to family! Excellent job! Thanks for reminding me how much these memories mean to me.