Wednesday 20 July 2011

Checkers Anyone?

I recently acquired this vintage Chinese Checkers game board from my mother. She received it as a Christmas gift in the late 1940s and she recalls playing with the neighbor's son.






I remember my grandfather teaching me how to play the game and we spent a lot of evenings honing our skills. I also remember how I loved the largeness of it and the tinny sound the marbles made when you moved them around the board.


The board is metal with painted on colors. It's dented up quite badly in a few spots, but there's no rust and the colors are still bright.


I also remember my older brother and I chasing each other around and whacking each other with it. Hence the dents, I suppose. We also used it as an instrument in our pretend marching band because it makes a really loud bang when you slap it. It was also good for spinning across the floor at high speeds. It seems to have been good for a lot of things, especially stimulating the imagination.


When my sons were younger, we enjoyed a lot of evenings playing rousing games of Lord of the Rings Risk, Pokemon Monolopy or Battleship. Then they discovered xBox, Nintendo and Facebook. 


Maybe the next time the power goes out, I can interest them in learning a new (old) game. 


Checkers, anyone?







5 comments:

  1. I haven't played Chinese checkers in ages! I'm not sure I would remember how to play!

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  2. What fun! I love board games and have fond memories for playing cards with my grandpa when I was younger :)

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  3. I had a great relationship with my across-the-street neighbor and sometimes when I was over there visiting (bothering) her, I would play Chinese Checkers with her husband. I think the board looked just like yours!

    Thanks for taking me back in time!

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  4. I absolutely love the checker board. We played Chinese checkers a lot when I was growing up. This board is much fancier than what we had.
    Laura

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  5. Thanks for checking out my blog - love your stuff!

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