My love of word games goes back to childhood when I'd watch, and soon join, my grandparents play Upwords (think Scrabble but with the option to build up) every night either before, or after, dinner. They lived six hours away from us so it was only during visits that I experienced this, but boy is it one of those engraved childhood memories. My grandma kept score and would annotate each game with a happy or sad face, depending on how she did. My grandpa would slyly help us when we were stumped when we were super young, and the dictionary they lugged around in their camper trailer was massive. They never turned us down when we wanted to play, which was probably as young as six (although I'm sure they purposefully started lots of games when they knew we were busy, not that I can blame them). As I entered high school I was a definite contender and actually started winning games, which felt pretty great after losing for years. Unfortunately, after decades of playing together my grandparents are unable to still do so, due to my grandma's worsening dementia (which is sadly ironic, given the fact that word games are supposed to help combat cognitive deterioration).
Over the years I've coerced people into playing Upwords and Scrabble with me, but I haven't been able to play nearly as much as I would like to. I recently downloaded the Scrabble app on my phone to play while feeding the baby and I have to say that it's required significant effort to not become addicted. In the past I've played lots of other word games, but nothing beats the simplicity of Scrabble. The only thing missing from the word game itself are the little wooden tiles that I for some reason adore. So much so that I've spent some time perusing the Internet for various things you can buy... here's a look:
 |
| [source- The Little House in the City via Color Me Katie] |
Favorite word game? Board game?
We love banana-grams. It's very fast paced and everyone gets to play at once.
ReplyDeleteI’m a big Scrabble fan, too. I recently had a 6 year old over and we used scrabble tiles to spell out the names of her family members. It was a new (and awesome) use for the game. Now I just need to get my husband to play….
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness I love those bathroom tiles.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE boardgames - Monopoly usually ended in fist fights between my brother and I (because the banker always cheated) but happy memories playing Scrabble, Trionimos, Trivial Pursuit, Scattergories and my favourite (as an adult), Taboo.
I love boardgames too - unfortunately it is a struggle to find someone to play with.
ReplyDeleteHuge Scrabble lover over here too. One time when I was at a local thrift store, I found a bunch of different, old (vintage?) versions of the game. I even did a blog post on them I was so thrilled! Have you heard of Scrabble for Booklovers? I was gifted it for my wedding, but have yet to find someone to play with me :( One of my favourite coffee mugs is a Scrabble mug.
ReplyDeleteI love board games. I used to buy board games for my nieces and nephews as Christmas presents. I own Scrabble, Monopoly, Connect Four, Operation, and a bunch of Disney Trivia board games.
ReplyDeleteMy husband's family is really into Boggle, which is another word game. I suck at it though. My game of choice is Smart Ass. If you know lots of random things, you'll do well. So much more my speed. Random things are my jam.
ReplyDelete