NaBloPoMo - 11

National blog post month originated with November posts.  Check out the links to many other blogs participating in daily posts here.   If you are interested in writing to a prompt each day check out The Daily Post.  

Daily Prompt: The Perfect Game

You’re set to play poker (or Scrabble or something else . . .) with a group of four. Write a story set during this game. Or, describe the ideal match: the players, the relationships — and the hidden rivalries.

This prompt brings me back to my childhood.  I have very distinct memories of playing games at the kitchen table and witnessing the card games that were played there as well.   The pictures of both of these memories are very vivid.  If I close my eyes I can almost transport myself back in time.

Scrabble was the game of choice in my home as I grew up.  There were other games too, an occasional game of Monopoly, Life or Sorry was thrown into the mix, but most often it was the Scrabble board that was pulled out from under the couch and set up on the kitchen table.  Typically it was Mum, Dad and me who would play on a Sunday.  The game would go on all afternoon.  We would take breaks and walk away to catch something on TV or to prepare part of the Sunday meal, but the game would continue.  My mother was a scrabble champion.  She was an incredible speller and had a vast vocabulary. She was a crossword aficionado.  Some of the words she would come up with floored me and Dad.  We might challenge her but when we went to the dictionary her word was always there...in black and white.   I remember feeling frustrated at times as I struggled to come up with a 'good' word from my jumble of letters.  In those times Mum would come and stand behind me and help.  It was all for fun, more of a learning experience than a competition.    This could not be said, however of the rousing Wist games that would take place at that same table between my parents and my Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Alby!  Those were competitive evenings fraught with wild accusations when subtle clues were given amongst the partners, like "Oh It's so warm in hear I think I'll have to take off my diamond."  I can hear their voices and their banter as if it were yesterday.  Warm summer evenings with the windows open and the cocktails flowing.  I would always be close to the kitchen table in order to witness the antics of my family.  There was a competitive spirit in the game of Wist but in the end, they would all be laughing and joking no matter the results of the game.  

I have not thought of games from my childhood in some time.  Revisiting these memories inspires me to clean off the coffee table and pull out the old Scrabble game out from under and challenge my children to a game.  Perhaps I will!