By Lee Scott
When we were children, we used to play games on actual boards. Monopoly, Scrabble and Checkers were three of the top sellers. I remember a particularly long game of Monopoly when I was little and my mother needed us out of her hair. My older brother, younger sister and I played it all day. What a great way for my mother to keep us occupied. It took years for me to play the game again because I had overdosed on buying houses and going to jail.
But now games are different. Our electronic world has turned into a large game board. Games are played on television sets, computers and phones. There are a multitude of electronic games you can download on your phone and can play anywhere. Several months ago, my son told me about a game he was playing called Trivia Crack. I was not tempted until I was out with my friend Noel and she was playing the game with a friend of hers from out of town. It sounded interesting, so I downloaded the app. Now, I have five games going at a time which is my personal limit. When I told my daughter about it she exclaimed. “Mom, you are officially a gamer.”
My previous naïve perception of a gamer had been some long haired college student sitting with his friends playing games for hours. That description has changed. We gamers come in all forms now. My six-year-old grandson is a gamer. He has incredible manual dexterity. It reminds me of his uncle playing video games at the same age. My game is a bit more cerebral. It is like playing Jeopardy. There are different categories. Geography (one of my favorites) Entertainment, Sports (my worst category), History, Arts, and Science. You spin the dial (pressing a button) and questions appear. Fortunately, you are provided with four multiple choice answers, so you have a chance of getting it correct. The game can be played at any age because the range of questions is so broad.
Now I can justify being a gamer because the recent medical literature supports seniors keeping their brains sharp. It is true that I know nothing about Myrus Ciley, but I did recently answer a question correctly about Copernicus. Well, enough of this writing, my phone just buzzed. Time to game!
