Maybe this is how we learned

One should never underestimate the learning obtained from childhood games. When growing up in past times, the games kids played were much different then those of today.

In my youth, playing games was more fun when played with friends and it made your competitive senses kick into high gear. In our own way, the kids of the fifties learned much about life from time spent playing a good board game or card game with our fellow cohorts. We unknowingly learned bits and pieces of surviving life’s little tests that lay before us. Of course, our parents and families were the major influences, but if we are honest with ourselves we learned some things from those games. We learned that through a series of simple rolls of the dice we could find ourselves striving for the ultimate goal: to own BOARDWALK or PARK PLACE. At the beginning we all started out even.

And it was up to us to improve our financial standing. One of the older kids always got to be the banker and proudly doled out the money and carefully arranged the banks money with a lot of fanfare. We all then had the hard decision of picking out our token, as it would represent us in our quest for financial security. With that first fall of the dice our game of high finance would begin. We each took turns working our way around the board buying as many properties as we could each time around, the idea being that we would collect cash when another player landed there. If you were lucky enough to get all the properties of the same color then you could buy houses or hotels, which meant the cost for landing there was more. That’s how you made your money.

We received $200 every time we passed GO. We learned to buy carefully and that there would be times that we would have to give up some of our hard earned money to someone else. We quickly learned that JAIL was not the place where we wanted to be. If we found ourselves there we could only hope that we had the GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card. If not, it cost us a lot of cash to get out. Life, like this game, goes on for hours and hours. If you’re blessed, the game is a joy even with the little set backs, but if you play unwisely it can seem endless. If you managed to capture the prize of BOARDWALK AND PARK PLACE, it was time well spent.

As for what we learned from the other games – we learned a steady hand from Pic-Up-Sticks, good hand and eye coordination from Tiddly Winks or Marbles and Jacks. Our investigative senses were heightened with trying to solve a murder in a ghostly mansion. Unfortunately, the culprit always seemed to be Col. Mustard in the Library with the candlestick.

We learned to spell outrageous words and at times were forced to prove ourselves by having to use the dictionary by playing Scrabble. Young minds can certainly be creative sometimes with the English language. We liked the game of Bingo because it gave an okay reason to holler indoors without getting into trouble. The card game of Authors helped us learn who wrote what, which helped in English Literature classes plus we decided these were some strange lookin’ people.

Missouri’s native son Samuel Clemens known as Mark Twain looked like he had just come out of a hurricane. William Shakespeare looked like the characters he wrote about, dark and mysterious. Robert Louis Stevenson looked rather sinister and Sir Walter Scott looked, well, he just looked weird. Little did I know that in my grow-up years I would have the unbelievable joy of actually getting to see with my own eyes where William, Robert, and Walter’s inspiration came from when I spent ten days in Scotland. The medieval castles, surrounded by moats, with the towering trees of the Blairgowie Forest in Dunkeld were what it took for Shakespeare. The town Park of Charlotte Square with a small lake in the middle is what Stevenson looked at everyday from his second story bedroom window in his parents’ row house. Thus the timeless story of ‘Treasure Island’ was born. The crowning joy was to get to visit the massive home known as ‘Abbottsford’ down the side of a hill, protected from outsiders by a stonewall. Inside boasted wall upon wall of his massive gun and sword collection.

In the main hall sat a marble bust of Mr. Scott that had been placed there by his son on the day his father had died. It has never been moved. I got to touch the desk where he sat and penned his words to paper. He had not started out to be an author; he was just trying to care for his family and make enough to pay his bills. I touched the desk only after the two delightful ladies that were showing us around invited me to.

I found out later that they were Sir Walter Scott’s granddaughters. They lived there then and had opened up this marvelous home for the public to enjoy. I bought a couple of books of his writings. They graciously signed them for me and I knew I had the perfect Christmas present for my sister who loved English Lit and actually understood Shakespeare.

Another popular card game was Old Maid. The cards were so dog-eared because we played this a lot. I never could seem to get the hang of this one. I always ended up the Old Maid who was pictured with a long beaky nose with glasses perched on the tip. Her hair was mousie in color and drawn up in a knot. The description wouldn’t be complete without informing you of the few wayward whiskers sticking out her chin.

She was a piece of work. Maybe if I’d contained my facial expressions or didn’t say, "oh no" I would have been a better player. Those are the reasons I never wanted to gamble. I couldn’t keep a straight face. I was secretly afraid that I might end up looking like her and I’d be broke to boot.

I didn’t end up on the Boardwalk or Park Place. Nobody that I know did. But I am blessed with my own version of those places. I didn’t end up an old maid. I learned to have a steady hand, along with good hand and eye co-ordination that from time to time used when  I competed in handgun competitions and even won a trophy. When I look back at the time spent, getting to, and having what I have the time has flown by because I’ve had fun and have overcome the bumps in the road. Bring on tomorrow. I’m ready for it. Hope you are too.