A Quick Game of Parcheesi

One of my favorite childhood memories is playing board games with my dad. When I was seven or so, he was doing off shore oil rig work and spent eight weeks on, four weeks off. During the off weeks, if I was very good (I don’t remember what all that entailed, but I do remember that it was a BIG deal) I could stay up ALL night with Dad playing any and all board games. We played a lot of Monopoly and Risk, and some old bookshelf games that are collector’s editions now – King Maker, Acquire, President Elect, Facts in Five and The Battle of Midway were a few of them that I can still remember. Those were some of my best times with my dad.

Although Sydney is still a long way off from Monopoly, or even CandyLand, I have found that she is drawn to the board games the way I was. The pieces and the boards look so cool to her. We have started just playing with them. The only rules we follow are “don’t eat the dice” and “if you fold up the board three times, the board gets put away.” She does pretty well, I think. Eventually, we’ll move into taking turns and then moving the pieces meaningfully, but for now, we are just enjoying the idea of board games. The two of us. Together.