I've been streaming via Amazon Prime the film 8th Grade (2018)--have been depressed, amused, annoyed, and entertained by it--and one of its frequent (even dominant) images is that of the smart phone. All the kids have them; all the kids use them--all the time. I just saw one scene last night when our heroine, a shy but clever 8th-grade girl, Kayla, was talking with two alpha female members of her class, out in the hall at school; the entire time, the two alphas stared at their phones, basically ignoring Kayla, who feigned being unfazed.
(I'll write more about this film when I finish it.)
8th Grade got me to thinking about the games from my own boyhood--not just the outdoor biking and baseball and basketball and staying out till the streetlights came on and avoiding fights and looking for girls and finding them and pretending I wasn't interested in them, even though I was, but our indoor games and activities when I had to go inside because there was a blizzard or tornado outside.
We had only a single black-and-white TV set when I was a kid--Dad-controlled--and we were not allowed to turn it on during the day--except on Saturday because, you know, cartoons and Hopalong Cassidy are essential.
So we played card games (Old Maid, Crazy Eights, Authors, for example--that last one would be popular today, eh?) and board games (Scrabble--at which my grandmother Osborn was a WHIZ), checkers, some inept chess, etc. Our Osborn grandparents, who lived close by through most of my boyhood, had some games they kept for us, including, I think, Chinese checkers, and a game with some kind of Indian (India Indian). Pacheesi! I just remembered. (No, I didn't: I Googled.)
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| cards from Authors card game |
That Christmas of 1952 we were out at the base (where I loved to go) for some kind of gift giveaway for the kids, and we got a board game called Finance and Fortune.
When we opened it, we immediately saw that it was a version of Monopoly--cheaper, of course. And simpler (was it?).
eBay has a bunch of them--various prices--nothing too oppressive.
As I sit here now, I don't remember much about the rules--looking at the pic, though, you can see its resemblance to Monopoly.
Trusty Wikipedia says it was released in 1932 (a bit of Depression-era fantasy, eh?) before Monopoly (1935) and, indeed, was that celebrated game's "predecessor." The rules for Finance and Fortune are also in the Wikipedia entry, but after reading a few lines, I got bored and quit. (Where's my iPhone?) So ... if you're interested ... check it out.
This brings me back to 8th Grade. Fairly early in the film Kayla is invited to an alpha girl's birthday party (arranged via the parents--not the alpha). The alpha is wealthy: big house, swimming pool. After they all swim a bit, they gather around the alpha for the opening of presents. She opens a few "in" presents (given by other alphas)--and then it's Kayla's gift, which turns out to be a card game, a game that Kayla, embarrassed by the frosty reaction, says is "really fun" (or words to that effect).
More cold reaction, and Kayla goes in the house, phones her dad, says, basically, "Get me outta here!"
Oh, those boring card and board games!
But, as I said, they were what we had available in 1952, and we played them with eagerness and passion (and, in my case, anger when I was losing). And then I would go read a Western I'd signed out at the library.
So, this was how I spent my leisure time in the days before multiple TV sets, the Internet, smart phones, social media, etc.
And so are we Boomers better off than today's youngsters?
Just different, I guess.
But I'm really glad this digital world was not dominant in my boyhood. I couldn't have resisted it. I never would have read a book ... or hurled checkers pieces across the room in a loser's rage ... or played Finance and Fortune.
And--sad, sad sad--this blog post would not exist!
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