DO YOU REMEMBER

“You sunk my battleship!”I clearly remember as a child that every Sunday evening, when my parents would pull out the games for family game night. Both my brother and I looked forward to the couple of hours we would spend as a family playing games, as we were a busy group during the week- but every Sunday we stopped what we were doing to come together.

As I look back on these fond memories, I realize exactly what my parents were trying to do. Even though they started us on games, which led to my love of gaming, they were also keeping the family strong. This is something that my husband and I also want to do with our son. Spending nights playing family games with Tyler has made us realize something about family game night: it has totally entered the electronic age. Now, instead of heading for a closet full of board games, we head to our cabinet filled with video games (which, by the way has helped with my storage problems as now I can actually put towels and stuff in my closet).

Obviously, there is a huge difference in the way we played board games. I can remember pulling out Monopoly and fighting over who got to be the race car. I can remember waving my cold hard monopoly money in my brother’s face, or getting excited when someone would land on Broadway which I owned. I even remember getting mad when my brother or dad would do the same, but when it was over we all had a good laugh about it. This game itself has totally changed in the last twenty years. You can still pull out the board game, but now it gives you a credit card instead of cash. I miss the feeling of having the cash in hand. You can even download Monopoly onto your phone and play it anywhere.

We however, have gone in a completely different direction over the last decade or so. Now instead of pulling out the board game we turn on the Wii or the Xbox 360, and play anything from Wii Sports to RRR TV Party. When I pick up Tyler from school, sometimes I end up talking with parents about the different games that they as a family are playing, or which ones I can recommend. Lately I’ve been talking none stop with them about Scene It, as this has become our family game of choice lately. Tyler gets so excited when he knows a movie, and he likes to help us push the buttons and he loves watching his daddy’s bald avatar dance with the Tyler avatar at the end. Tyler has even managed to bring his grandparents into the new age of family night with RRR TV Party and Super Mario Galaxy.

All of this has made me realize just how important family nights are and just how much they have changed, with the technological advances making gaming more exciting and much more interactive. Instead of rolling a dice, or using your hands to move a game piece, all you need is a controller. What interests me the most is the fact that technology has brought family gaming so far since I was a kid. It makes me ask: What will family game night be like for my son, when he has his own family?