When I have offspring they shall not play the banal form of concentration that most of us played when we were knee high to a grasshopper. They shall play Set. This is a matching game that gives your brain a serious workout. A set is determined by grouping three cards according to four different categories and by similarity or difference. Wha-? Read the rules. Play the daily online puzzle.
Games I played as a child:
War: This consisted of finding a stick that was vaguely gun shaped, jumping over and hiding behind logs, covering myself with dirt and hiding under the riverbank, all the while shooting imaginary enemies and fighting a little hand to hand combat. This was played alone.
Black Op: This is just like War except I followed my dog the whole time because we were on some sort of secret mission where my dog knew where to go.
Cold War: On the off chance that a neighbor kid wanted to play with me, we would play Cold War by stockpiling as many walnuts as possible. Gigantic piles of walnuts. Hundreds of walnuts. Then we’d throw them at each other. This game became somewhat adapted in high school when we used bottle rockets as ICBMs.
Thunderdome: This game is played by catching as many crawdads as possible and then making them fight each other. The one that survives the longest gets dropped off the bridge on the golf course.
Pirate: My poor, poor cat.
Monkey: This game was played under the tree by the ravine, most of the roots were exposed and long and tough enough to swing upon. This is the best way to get as dirty as possible in the shortest amount of time.
House: Yes, I played House. STFU.