Gaming Spirit
“Games lubricate the body and the mind.”
–Benjamin Franklin, American statesman and inventor, 1706 – 1790
I’m looking forward to a good, healthy dose of Scrabble when I go home next week. I’ve found that many Italians are not big game players. Luckily I was able to trick Luca into opening his mind to the world of games during our trip to Aosta, where there was no TV. He’s a big fan of the double deck card game “Scala 47”. In this game you basically have to get cards that add up to 47 and you win. Not all that challenging (though for the mathematically disinclined it can occasionally be rather frustrating. Couldn’t they at least have picked an EVEN number?!)
Anyways, I’m sure you can appreciate the fact that during this TV-less week, even Scala 47 got old pretty quick. So I made a mancala game out of stapled together plastic cups and random pebbles and bean pods found around the farm. Mancala: now there’s an exciting game! We used to make them in Girl Scouts with egg cartons and buttons. Hotness, folks, hotness. If you’ve never played, I reccomend you make yourself a mancala game and find a partner lickitysplit.
If you have played mancala, try out one of the alternatives: there are hundreds!
By the end of our trip, Luca was addicted to Mancala, and now it’s he who’s asking me to play. In the meantime, we’ve aumented our game collection to include UNO (which we two refer to as “colors”), Jenga and one stupid puzzle of a cat trying to eat fish (yet to be completed).
As for my homemade mancala game, I gave it to a group of kids who were staying at the same TV-less B&B with us and were bored out of their minds. (I even threw in the pebbles I collected and their sophisticated container: a plastic Tums bottle. They thought it was cool that the rocks smelled fruity.)
I don’t think I’ve ever played mancala – no matter how many times you offered it up.. LOL. Apparently I am missing out. We’ve been trying out a lot of new games lately.. A good one you could try to find when you go to NY for Christmas is a game called “Loot” – it’s a card game where you’re a pirate and you have to plunder ships for booty. Exciting! But, nothing can replace a good game of Scrabble or Upwords!! 😀
Loot–is is a game that you have to specifically buy at a store or can you play it with a regular deck of cards? Sounds interesting!
You need a special deck of cards for it — but it’s small and is only like $10.. Here’s a link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Loot-Plundering-Pirate-Card-Game/dp/B0009XBY30/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1198007316&sr=8-1
You might be able to find it in Barnes and Noble or Borders in NY. Most game stores would have it too, but I don’t remember if they’ve got any up there (apparently game nerdiness runs rampant in NC.. ). Shiver me timbers!
I only wish I could be in LeRoy for the marathon Scrabble games. There has got to be a way that we can set up an online version so that over the course of time ie an afternoon we can play each other at a distance. Maybe if I am on my unlimited cellphone minutes you can set a place at the table and tell me what my letters are. Not! It’s a thought though.
Have a great trip home Shira and I’m sure we’ll talk when you are home
Love
Joan