Ticket to Awesome

Last night I played a game of Ticket to Ride. Now, I don't particularly LIKE that game, especially when compared to the other games I play regularly, but last night was different. Our daughter Ashley ("our" as in my wife and I. Not me and Todd. This isn't that kind of blog. Not that I have anything against two men living together and adopting a child. But with me and Todd it would never work. Michigan and OSU...there'd be a fight.)

Anyway.

Last night, being Wednesday Family Game Night, I suggested a rousing game of Skip-Bo, a pretty common game for us. It's easy, helps with basic math, and is ultimately less fun than UNO which for some reason I still can't find anywhere in the house. What sort of Nuclear Family doesn't have at least ONE copy of UNO in the house?! We have a copy of friggin Chicken Cha Cha Cha--and no UNO.

But last night Ashley went against traditional wisdom and picked a different game. She said, "I want to play a grown up game." I reassured her that grown ups do in fact play Skip-Bo. But those are usually lonely people who are retired and living in Glendale Estates. She was determined, though.

Now, before I continue, I should explain that I have a lot of boardgames. That's all relative, I guess as I know people who have a collection of over 300 games -- I don't have that many. But I do have a lot. Here, see for yourself. And our basement is really one big playroom with all of Ashley's stuff, our old TV, tables, art desks, etc. And it's where we play boardgames. I have my old kitchen table that I had back in college that we use for games and more often than not I have something set up on that table that we're either playing over the course of a few days or a game that I am learning how to play solo before forcing it on others. Right now that game is War of the Ring, a huge, epic, grand scale strategy wargame with hundreds of little plastic minis, a huge board of middle-earth, counters, dice...it's a gamer's game and not for the faint of heart. (It does look damn cool though. I'll have to show Todd this one.)

She asked to play. I'd never thrust a game like that in front of even the most advanced of 7 year olds, so we went with the ultra popular Ticket to Ride. This was the first "adult" game we have ever played with her. I guess you could count Blokus but that's still different. Ashley was able to play by the full rules (now that she can read, at least somewhat, it makes it easier) ..and she won the game. She won. She beat me and Mary in her first game of TTR. Now, I dunno what that says about Ashley...or me and Mary or hell even what it says about Ticket to Ride!

But it officially marked a new era of spending time with our daughter -- a time that doesn't involve TVs, Xbox's, or Nintendo's. And it was truly awesome.

Next week I'll bring out Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage and run her over with my crazed elephants!