To usher in the New Year part of our celebration was to play my favourite game – affectionately known in the family as The Word Game. Those with pencils and papers placed words in a metal bowl to get the game going. Others were cleaning the dinner off of the table or doing dishes until the game was ready to begin, at which point, sides were drawn up. I tried to get people to come to my side of the table, calling it the winning side, but odds seemed to be against me when I saw the heavy intellectual weight of those on the other side of the table.
I love this game because it can be played by the old and the young, and by as many people as wish to gather around the table. I also like the game because the rules are few and because all of the players quickly gain skill. Hebe made me laugh so hard. Instead of using words to describe the idea she had pulled out of a hat, she pantomimed. Suddenly she was doing a Hawaiian dance, her arms swinging from side to side at shoulder height, giving us the idea that she was doing a Hula, perhaps on a tropical island and the smile on her face was so big that I knew the word was “coconut” from Coconut Cutie, the LOL doll that she dressed up as on Halloween night. The next word she pulled out was equally easy. I had put in the word “zipper” and her hands were showing how she does her parka up.
We had another new player: Lulu, from the family in the house across the street. Whenever someone guessed a word that she had put in the bin, she jumped up and down, her arms flailing in the air, and shouting “I put in that word. That word is mine,” as though the act of having one’s word chosen was part of the joy of the game – which it was for her.
Eric is the master of putting in words that are hard to explain to a team. He had entered hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian. I didn’t have the advantage of knowing what the word meant, as I do now: of or pertaining to extremely long words. I tried to take the word apart and get my team to just say parts of the word. At the end of the minute I still had the “pedalian” part of the word to go so I got a big fat zero for points on word. Chancing upon a word like that is only part of the fun of the game. It’s biggest charm to me is watching people as they try to figure out the quickest way to get others to say a word.
I learned something new about myself yesterday. I will say any word to get a point. So odd since the points mean nothing at the end of the game, at least if one goes with Doral Johnson’s definition of who wins while playing a game. if you had fun playing the game, you are a winner.
Other hard words, just so that people will know when they play this game again: puerile, prolapse and phantasmagorical.
Arta
I love this game because it can be played by the old and the young, and by as many people as wish to gather around the table. I also like the game because the rules are few and because all of the players quickly gain skill. Hebe made me laugh so hard. Instead of using words to describe the idea she had pulled out of a hat, she pantomimed. Suddenly she was doing a Hawaiian dance, her arms swinging from side to side at shoulder height, giving us the idea that she was doing a Hula, perhaps on a tropical island and the smile on her face was so big that I knew the word was “coconut” from Coconut Cutie, the LOL doll that she dressed up as on Halloween night. The next word she pulled out was equally easy. I had put in the word “zipper” and her hands were showing how she does her parka up.
We had another new player: Lulu, from the family in the house across the street. Whenever someone guessed a word that she had put in the bin, she jumped up and down, her arms flailing in the air, and shouting “I put in that word. That word is mine,” as though the act of having one’s word chosen was part of the joy of the game – which it was for her.
Eric is the master of putting in words that are hard to explain to a team. He had entered hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian. I didn’t have the advantage of knowing what the word meant, as I do now: of or pertaining to extremely long words. I tried to take the word apart and get my team to just say parts of the word. At the end of the minute I still had the “pedalian” part of the word to go so I got a big fat zero for points on word. Chancing upon a word like that is only part of the fun of the game. It’s biggest charm to me is watching people as they try to figure out the quickest way to get others to say a word.
I learned something new about myself yesterday. I will say any word to get a point. So odd since the points mean nothing at the end of the game, at least if one goes with Doral Johnson’s definition of who wins while playing a game. if you had fun playing the game, you are a winner.
Other hard words, just so that people will know when they play this game again: puerile, prolapse and phantasmagorical.
Arta
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