All my posts this season are “inspired by” a letter of the alphabet!

So the Podcast this week is about games, specifically board games, and I wanted to elaborate a little on what we talked about, and add a few musings of my own.

I’m not going to explain all the games we mentioned, they’re easily lookupable (if that’s a word, which it should be!) However, one of the interesting things was that Monopoly came up time and again. And it’s such a frustrating and annoying game! Which I do admit I loved playing, just in case I could win… which I never did. Is there ever any winner in Monopoly?

I think by nature, we are competitive, survival of the fittest and so on, to a greater or lesser extent. We also have a tendency to addiction, and the combination can lead to, let’s say, unfortunate situations in what would otherwise be a fun afternoon. That’s not to say competitiveness is necessarily a bad thing. It teaches you to win and lose, it teaches you to do the best you can. Hey, I get very competitive with Jenga, and though it may lead to tears, there is laughter too. Mostly.

Anyway, moving on to the podcast. Miguel Ángel, in the Spanish segment, refers to the fact that board games can be divided into three types; those of luck, like bingo, those of luck and strategy, or skill, like card games, and those of pure strategy, like chess. Then of course there are games which require physical dexterity like Twister which are so much fun, but dangerous as you get older… And Operation, for which you need a steady hand…

Miguel Ángel also paints a picture of the Spanish card game par excellence; Mus, which basically has its own separate language. If you are an unwitting bystander, you have no hope of understanding because of the language involved, almost like codes for seasoned players… It’s only a matter of one word when you call a play, no explanation needed. It has various stages, high cards, low cards, total points in a deck, it’s a minefield! And speaking of Spanish card games, there are many different card suit systems, with their own significance around the world, but in the case of Spain, it seems that the suits come from the Middle Ages: Clubs, literal clubs, or Bastos, represent the servants while Golds, or Oros, which Nathalie makes reference to when she talks about playing the Spanish card game, Escoba, represent the tradespeople. The goblet or copas, are the clergy, and the sword, espadas, is the suit of the nobility.

Play is essential to our development, as individuals and as a society, in my opinion, as can be seen in the fact that a lot of the games we mentioned are ancient, or at least have their origins in ancient games. Look at chess, look at Mancala, a game of strategy, luck and marbles. Look at Parchís, a family favourite in Spain. These days, as my guests indicate, though the classics are still popular, there is also a different dynamic in some games. You may work individually or as a team to build civilisations… Sometimes you have to play as a team against the game system itself, to defeat the rules, and this promotes conversation and collaboration. Makes sense, right?

It’s so important to play together. From everything we talked about, it’s also clear that our grandparents were hugely influential in the games we, and by we I mean people of more or less my generation, played as children. Think about it; dominoes, tiddlywinks, learning card games… But even if it’s computer games or online, it’s still playing together, across generations: skill, strategy, luck. Games teach us life skills. They treat us all the same, they do not discriminate. Playing helps us socialise and communicate, obviously. We learn about teamwork, sometimes. We discover how to navigate playing within, or at times without, rules. We learn to lose as well as win. It’s not only important to be a gracious loser, but also a gracious winner. Play can help us learn all those lessons. And learning is always more fun when you don’t realise you’re doing it!

I think if I had to choose, I’d go for backgammon or cribbage. But I’m old-fashioned. Oh, a bit of Cluedo too. Maybe one of these days I’ll go online and dip my hand into online gaming. My fear is that I’ll get addicted and way too competitive…

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G is For…