Board

by sir jorge a orduna

Created on: March 05, 2008

Board games have a way of being shrugged off by many people in today's modern world. However, board games are superior and more fun than the average video game for many reasons. Board games bring families together, teach vocabulary, critical thinking, and a variety of other helpful interactions. Board games can also be enjoyed without the confines of electricity, energy, or any other modern technology, making them funner than a video game, especially in places that may not be suited for video games. Overall board games are a lot more fun in the long run than the average video game on the market.

Many families today are scattered about the house, and do not spend a lot of time together. Many can point the finger at television, computers, or video games as the main culprit. However, if you were to turn off those three technological advancements of entertainment, and propped open a board game, the family could interact and communicate on a level that just can not be done while interacting with artificial intelligence. For this reason, a board game can be enjoyed by more than just experienced users, and the learning curve is a lot less than the average video game you might pick up and play, even if you believe it is easy. The average family doesn't spend much time together, and board games can offer a fun, safe, and relatively inexpensive way to bring the family together, if at least for a few hours of fun.

Board games are highly educational in many ways. Take for instance my favorite game, Scrabble. Scrabble is a game where you and up to three other players form words out of letters that are distributed from a bag, and placed on a board. You score points by length of word, letter used, and location of the word. This game can help younger children, as well as adults maintain and grow their vocabulary in many different ways. Beyond the simple three letter words that some might think are great to use in Scrabble, the game offers a challenge as players start to bring together words that are outside of the average conversation. In between turns, the potential for conversation also grows by leaps and bounds, and players can have a fun time learning vocabulary while in a competitive game. Many might be quick to say that Scrabble is a poor example for vocabulary building, but before you completely take that point of view, consider a foreign language student. Someone that is learning English as a second language could benefit greatly from games of Scrabble, thereby learning more and more English vocabulary with each turn. Scrabble has recently been getting huge praise within the Spanish speaking community at large, seeing as though Scrabble in Espanol was recently made available through Barnes & Noble book stores. Overall, its games like Scrabble that create a fun, easily accessible learning environment for children as well as adults.

If those two points do not garner your attention, then consider the time it takes to learn a simple video game. Take for instance Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. A million dollar video game franchise, which to many is an easily accessible game to pick up and play. To learn how to play it however, a player must master a set of maneuvers within the skateboarding world, and then learn how to time them correctly so the player does not fall down. This could take a lot more time and patience than one is willing to admit. After one has made it through the beginner steps of learning the basic set up of this game, a player may grow tired of the repetitive nature of the game and then move on. Take another game for example; Katamari Damacy. Katamari is a great game for beginners, however the act of rolling a big ball of trash, people, cows, cars, etc can get boring after a few levels of monotony. Although this game is revered as creative, and generated a lot of buzz, it is still not as fun as spending time with your family playing a game together. Video games can be social, but more likely than not they require a lot of concentration, and does not leave room for a lot of good times. Video games tend to generate a lot more seriousness than people are willing to admit.

Overall, board games can generate a lot of comradery that video games can not offer. The social aspects of most board games, outweigh the singular tone that video games offer. Video games, at times can be educational, however, they fail to show long term learning, after its intended purpose has been completed. (Who wants to play Sesame Street on Playstation into adulthood?) Board games present a far more broad scope of involvement, and are more fun than video games, and have proven the test of time.

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