Games People Play

Board games of mythical lands are alien territory to me, but M & J love them - more than movies, they say - so we occasionally go down that road.

 Besides the above Switzerland, the guys in house have done marathon sessions of Risk,

 adding to Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan, as well as

Apples to Apples

 which even Jack can play (with some help).

Catch Phrase, a fast-paced, battery-powered version of Taboo, trades on verbal wit. 

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The Musee du Jeu (Toy Museum)a boutique exhibition space in La Tour des Peilz, had a fascinating exhibit on the history of games.

Once an innovator, America's commercialized culture turned to fads and celebrity gossip for game content, importing games of strategy from Europe, where smaller toymakers still invent lithographed boards drawing from myths, history, or Euro-style regions. a la Ticket to Ride.

At some point, American game developers chose the social goals of laughing and good times over pensive strategy, drawing upon TV culture, movies, & sports - the stuff of media - for reflective material.

The irony is that despite our casual posture, we remain uncomfortable with ourselves as a national culture; our social gatherings require non-stop laughter; our restaurants bury conversation with noisy music; our dinner parties decline the face-to-face of the table for the social distance of the living room.

Anyway, we're inaugurating Friday evening "raclette/game night," introducing the double-whammy of social eating (tabletop cooking)

with games.