The Purpose Of Board Games

I promised that I would write my new philosophy of the purpose of board games tomorrow, but since I am now on my break. I think I will do it now.

Recently, it hit me that the purpose of board games, especially when playing with your family isn't to winning.

The real purpose of the game, especially ones like Pictionary, Malarky or what ever, is the show. You play charades for the show. The reason we dance like a monkey is to put on a little show for our family. If you are the type of person that says, "But I can't dance like a monkey" I have to ask you, why are you wasting my time? I don't care if you feel embarrassed by dancing like a money or think that your monkey dance is lame. It's only lame if you don't put on the show.

Seriously. No one cares if you can't draw worth a darn. Why do we play pictionary every year? So you can tell us you are lame and can't draw. No. We want to see the show. We want to laugh with you. We want to have fun. We want to lose by 5 points to the girls for the 6th year in a row.

It's all about the show. Don't be lame, put on a show.

A few years ago, I went to an anniversary party for Tracie's grandparents. They put on a little skit, they wanted to get a few people to try to start a person pretending to be a lawn mower. The idea being that a few volunteers try until they find one who is a big enough jerk. In any case, I was the first one they asked to volunteer. Of course I am the biggest ham ever, so I ran up and gladly pulled on the imaginary cord.

Afterwards, several people commented about how impressed they were that I just ran right up. It seemed to me at the time that when people are brave enough to put on a skit for 40 people, the least you can do is volunteer happily. Especially when you are only in front of your own family. They will never remember anything embarrassing, but they will remember how much fun they had.

-Gary Milner