Today, I visited my stepmother, and it got me thinking…. about gaming for good.
The backstory is that a few weeks ago (shortly before our trip to Berkeley), my stepmother had a small stroke. She’s going to have a full recovery, but is still in the hospital, hopefully being released next week. Today was the first chance I got to visit her. I’m pleased to see that she’s doing well: she’s talking — a bit slower than normal and its harder to find the words — and she’s moving — again, a bit slower than normal. We went with her to speech and cognitive therapy, and that’s where this post began to form in my head.
The exercises they had her doing were very similar to a lot of games. She was attempting to match shapes and fill spaces. She was completing sentences and writing words. I talked to the therapist a bit, and she agreed that a number of games could be very good for this. To my mind, games such as the ones in the Blokus family would be great, as might card games such as Coloretto or Set, as well as classics such as Scrabble or Clue. I’m trying to think of accessible games–especially those that might be found at a Target or Barnes and Noble.
So I did some searching on Boardgame Geek and came up with other ideas, such as Rapid Recall, Apples to Apples, Qwirkle, Rummikube, or even classics like Boggle or Stratego.
This is why I love the boardgaming world. We’re not just the gigantic hex-grid games of old, or the dumb roll-and-move games. Boardgaming can provide games that will help people and challenge their brains. I welcome your suggestions in this thread of other games.
Music: tick… tick… Boom! (2001 Off-Broadway Cast): No More
