The Games People Play

It isn't often Old Trunks turns on her computer and first thing in the morning, before coffee, roars with laughter at a message. This morning was particularly funny and sweet Thomas could hear me when he was upstairs with the door shut.

We have talked often about games. Our discussions have included Emil Mellem and the Wahoo! board he made for the Anderson children. We have talked about card playing and the looser making coffee.

When Rachel and Ryen were here for Christmas of 2006, we played SHUT THE BOX. The game had a bit of history with the household when we put it on the list of things to do with Tom's grand daughter, Jillian.

Sculpy

Stenciling

Picture frames from scraps

Color

Cut out

Stickers

Yahtzee

Crazy eights

Shut the Box

Rubber Stamping

Dry erase board

String beads

Paper chains

As we played SHUT THE BOX with Jillian, Ryen remembered I BLEW IT. It is a dice game his grandmother taught him. Remembering only fragments of the game, we turned to the Internet to help us with the scoring. I talked to Shirley about the game. She too, had taught it to her grandchildren and they learned to add by playing the game. Our young house guest was counting the dots on the dice, although by the time we finished playing, she recognized fives and ones.

By the time Ryen and I had worked out the kinks in a game called SKIPO, which he learned from his grandmother when he was about seven, it went to the dining room table for adult play.

Let's get back to SHUT THE BOX. It shuffled through the group of guests on Sunday before Christmas, each expecting to win the game, after all, it is simple. Roll the dice and cover the numbers. Yet no one has ever won in our house.

The idea was to send the game home with Ryen. It did not happen. When I went to the closet to get the sweeper, it was back on the shelf. I considered emailing him about it.

Then, I got two emails. Two things had happened:

1. They had made their own shut the box. As you can see by the picture, they made a grid on cardboard and used quarters to cover the numbers. This was why I started to laugh. Where did those 'make do' genes come from?

2. The second email was truly master mind like. A computer program had been written to continue working until the game was won. It took only nano seconds to win, even though it took as many as

'SHUT THE BOX!' after 2141 attempts with this combo: 4-4,1-3,6-6,6-6,5-4,2-5,5-6,6-4,3-5,2-2,5-5

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 12779 attempts with this combo: 3-6,6-3,6-6,6-5,1-3,4-3,4-4,5-2,1-1,5-5

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 14354 attempts with this combo: 4-2,3-3,6-5,6-4,6-3,1-1,2-3,6-6,4-3,4-4,1-4

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 40575 attempts with this combo: 2-5,5-5,3-4,6-2,6-5,4-5,6-1,6-1,6-6

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 63103 attempts with this combo: 3-4,6-6,4-6,4-2,5-3,4-3,6-5,6-3,3-2,1-2

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 79483 attempts with this combo: 3-1,1-3,6-4,2-6,6-5,5-4,6-6,2-3,6-1,3-5

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 25172 attempts with this combo: 6-6,5-5,6-2,2-3,6-1,3-6,1-3,5-6,6-2,2-2

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 13353 attempts with this combo: 3-1,1-2,1-6,6-6,1-2,5-6,4-4,6-5,6-4,4-5

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 12803 attempts with this combo: 2-1,1-2,3-5,5-5,3-4,6-3,4-2,5-6,5-5,6-6,1-3

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 2464 attempts with this combo: 6-5,5-6,3-2,4-4,1-6,6-6,3-6,5-5,1-4

It is exciting to listen to the human brain take the same concept and readjust it. Although the concept of the game is centuries old, it plays to small children, Old Trunks with Worn Shoes, and computer programmers.

If you have nothing to do on New Years Day, take a tip from Ryen, and with a few quarters, a gridded paper, and two dice, start the new year playing a game with your family. Google SHUT THE BOX for directions.

May the games begin.

Laugh often, even before coffee.

Happy Anniversary Judy and Arlen

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