Valerie Putman: Playing Life
Many of you are spending the day with your families today. Even if Christmas isn’t a holiday that you celebrate, you might have the day off. Since most stores are closed, you might decide it’s a good day to just hang out and play some games with the people you love. For some of you today is a very important holiday that brings your family together from far distances. You might use games as an excuse to gather around the table after the holiday meal has been cleared away.
This is the game of Life. (Not that boring boardgame that, in the newest edition, actually discourages kids from going to college and no longer has a really cool spinner.) And in my game of Life, I’m making a house rule. Today isn’t actually Christmas. Nope, today is just an ordinary day that my husband has off from work and we’re going to retile the kitchen floor today. I’m imposing this house rule because our families are in New Jersey and Alabama and with my husband in retail (EB Games…he is, first and foremost, a videogamer), there’s just no way that he could get the time off for us to travel. But my family is coming here New Year’s Eve weekend and we are traveling to see Tyler’s family the next weekend. So bring on the house rules! Not only is this weekend *not* Christmas, but Christmas is going to happen twice this year—the first two weekends in January.
I’m not usually the one to make up house rules for games, but I am happy to use them if they make the experience a better one. I particularly like using house rules with very young kids or non-gamers to make the introduction to a new game gentler. As they become familiar with the game, I can offer the real rules as an “advanced� option. Then everyone’s happy. There are no hurt feelings among the non-gamers in the family for being made to feel “stupid� by your “difficult� game. And today, in my game of Life, I don’t feel blue all day that we’re not with our families.
So Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones! Wish me a Merry Christmas next week, if you don’t mind. House rule.
I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman
Posted by Valerie Putman on Dec 25, 2005 at 03:00 AM in Columnists, Valerie Putman / 709
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Merry Week Before Christmases, Valerie! Try to get some gaming in after you get the floor done! Posted by Larry Levy on Dec 25, 2005 at 06:58 AM | #
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Happy tiling, Valerie! I hope you get some gaming done after you’re done. We had little Christmas (my family) last weekend and little Christmas (husband’s family) yesterday. On New Year’s Day, we’re having Christmas with just us and the kids. So Merry Many Christmases to you too! Posted by Melissa Rogerson on Dec 25, 2005 at 05:45 PM | #
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What a day. The subfloor ended up needing a lot of prep work, including a layer of primer to seal it. Kitty cat decided it would be fun to run through the wet paint and she was *not* happy as we chased her down to clean her paws. I’m starting to think Life the boardgame might actually have been more fun! Posted by Valerie Putman on Dec 25, 2005 at 09:06 PM | #
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