Games Can Connect Us

I know, I know.. COMICCON.... But real life does distract.

 So in the place of that here is my thoughts in regards to an awesome blog post I was linked. I will post about SDCC2012 soon! I promise.


I was out in the internet world and a friend sent me this blog post from Kate Cox on Kotaku.com. It was an interesting read about ways families connect through the games they play individually and as groups. The experiences she describes can be see in most families across America these days.

It reminded me of sharing games with my sister and brother and how they shared their games with me. At family gatherings my sister has become the person who brings the games we as a family play. This past Easter she brought Saboteur.

She introduced us to it and added the funny accent to imply that we were all French. She then got German accents and English accents thrown back at her. We all were intrigued by the factors of being either the "Miner" or the "Saboteur" as we "dug" our paths to find Gold or not.  It was great to see all of the family participating as well as the guests who had also joined us that evening.

Playing games as a family can bring people together when other things might distract like phones, social sites on devices or single person computer games. It is a way to build bridges when there are fall outs between people.  Doing things as a family that can be fun can help grow memories. Sappy sure, but more true than some of us may admit.

A great resource for finding games is your local game shop.  Mine is GOB or Games of Berkeley.  They have many types of games from RPGs to puzzles to miniatures for War Gaming to Tarot cards to  more card games than I can even begin to share.  They don't have video games as they aren't that kind of store. Their staff loves to share new games they have found and will play them with you in the store as well.

Another new resource I found is TableTop on the Geek and Sundry YouTube channel.  Wil Wheaton invites his friends over to play new games and share the fun with others.  I have discovered new games like Fiasco and rediscovered old ones like Munchkin.  It is a way to see others play and then learn about games before you buy them yourself.

The point is that games can help get us in touch with our families, build memories, share experiences and by and large communicate without the use of a screen. Old fashioned I know, but it is a great way to connect to people in your world even for an afternoon.