# Remember the board games for kids back in the 50's? No batteries required.



## Ruth n Jersey (Feb 8, 2016)

I am going to visit my young Grand kids soon. I wanted to bring them a game or two. I loved Chutes and Ladders and Chinese checkers,pick up sticks and good old Tiddledy Winks.  I did see a few of them in the store. I couldn't get over how cheaply they are made. Even the pictures are horrible. My board was twice the size with nice heavy playing pieces. The Chinese checkers was made of all metal back then. My Grandma played Lotto with me. The numbers were embossed on little wooden rounds and the squares you used to cover the numbers on the cards were metal. I did see, that for double the cost, you could get the nostalgia version of a few. I'm not sure I want to go that route, they most likely will not be interested. To many video and battery operated games available. Such a shame.


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## SifuPhil (Feb 8, 2016)

Chutes and Ladders - one of my faves! 

And yes, board games are made so cheaply these days. I imagine there's a healthy market for the vintage ones.


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## jujube (Feb 8, 2016)

I bought my granddaughter a set of "pick-up stix" once.  I was so disappointed....they are now made of plastic instead of wood like they were in my day.  It was almost impossible to play with them.  And don't even start me on the plastic jacks.   Remember what happened when your dad stepped with bare feet on one of the jacks you didn't pick up?


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## fureverywhere (Feb 8, 2016)

If a child is old enough not to try to eat them, marbles is a fun game to teach them. I loved Candy Land.


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## BlunderWoman (Feb 8, 2016)

I loved Wahoo


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## Pappy (Feb 8, 2016)

Here's a few suggestions:


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## SifuPhil (Feb 8, 2016)

Monopoly is still the King of board games.



My middle brother Dave was a win-at-all-costs type. He, my wife and I were playing a game once, and I knew his sickness was getting worse when, after I landed on Park Place, he jumped up, knocked the board over, cursed and stormed out of the room.

Never DID find the thimble ...


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## Ina (Feb 8, 2016)

I used to play a board game called Risk with my boys, and it could go on for days.


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## SifuPhil (Feb 8, 2016)

Ah, Risk - another excellent game. Thanks, Ina!


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## Cookie (Feb 8, 2016)

Risk and Monopoly tournaments with kids and adults..... great entertainment.


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## fureverywhere (Feb 8, 2016)

It depends on the age and intellect of the kids. My sons and I loved Battleship...takes some strategy there.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Feb 8, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Monopoly is still the King of board games.
> 
> View attachment 26671
> 
> ...



I agree, Monopoly is tops. I didn't have a thimble, only wooden player pieces. I use to try and grab up all the railroads. I think the Grand kids are are a bit young for it and the children's edition looks like junk.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Feb 8, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> If a child is old enough not to try to eat them, marbles is a fun game to teach them. I loved Candy Land.


I really don't know how to play marbles. I remember the boys in grammar school making a circle in the sand and using a shooter. Whenever I tried, the marble would sort of just plop in front of my shooter and not go anywhere. Some of the boys even made them out of clay. That was in the early 50's.


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## SifuPhil (Feb 8, 2016)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> I agree, Monopoly is tops. I didn't have a thimble, only wooden player pieces. I use to try and grab up all the railroads. I think the Grand kids are are a bit young for it and the children's edition looks like junk.



They have so many "Special Editions" out now it's ridiculous.


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## jujube (Feb 8, 2016)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> I really don't know how to play marbles. I remember the boys in grammar school making a circle in the sand and using a shooter. Whenever I tried, the marble would sort of just plop in front of my shooter and not go anywhere. Some of the boys even made them out of clay. That was in the early 50's.



I have a large coffee can full of vintage marbles, some that were my grandfather's back in the early 1900's.  I'm trying to figure out something creative to do with them.  Remember "fried marble" jewelry back in the 60's?  Maybe I can start a new fad....


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## jujube (Feb 8, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> They have so many "Special Editions" out now it's ridiculous.



The only Monopoly set I still have is a Turkish set.  It really comes in handy when playing, because I'm the only one here who speaks Turkish.  I can draw the Dogrudan Hopse card and I don't HAVE to go to jail.  Somebody draws the 100 Lirasi Toplamak card and I conveniently translate it as "pay Jujube 100 Lira and then go directly to jail".   

Oh, I'm evil....I am the devil incarnate.


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## vickyNightowl (Feb 8, 2016)

I loved boad games,some were checkers,scrable,yatzee! boggle! Nice memories.


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## Bluecheese50 (Feb 9, 2016)

vickyNightowl said:


> I loved boad games,some were checkers,scrable,yatzee! boggle! Nice memories.



I tolerated Snakes and Ladders, but disliked all other board games, probably because my parents thought they were good for me!


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## fureverywhere (Feb 9, 2016)

Remember "fried marble" jewelry back in the 60's?  Maybe I can start a new fad.... 

That's a new one for me, but I just did an image search. Those were beautiful!





Another game with marbles that was fun was Kerplunk. Oh and Operation, Jenga is simple for everyone. 
A question...Who remembers Mouse Trap? If you played it...how on earth did you set it up? At least three of my kids had Mousetrap at one time or another and I don't think anyone ever could follow the directions.


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## Bluecheese50 (Feb 9, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> Remember "fried marble" jewelry back in the 60's?  Maybe I can start a new fad....
> 
> That's a new one for me, but I just did an image search. Those were beautiful!
> 
> ...



I think my kids had 'mousetrap' but I don't really remember it, my husband played games with them.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Feb 9, 2016)

jujube said:


> I have a large coffee can full of vintage marbles, some that were my grandfather's back in the early 1900's.  I'm trying to figure out something creative to do with them.  Remember "fried marble" jewelry back in the 60's?  Maybe I can start a new fad....


         Yes,Jujube, I remember fried marbles. I never could get the glue to hold them on the little cap so I could put them on a chain. I think I fried more marbles than my Mother did pork chops back when that was popular.


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## Arachne (Feb 9, 2016)

Use love playing these two






I still have the above games from my youth, but I also played 





 But my mother threw it away


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## jujube (Feb 9, 2016)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> Yes,Jujube, I remember fried marbles. I never could get the glue to hold them on the little cap so I could put them on a chain. I think I fried more marbles than my Mother did pork chops back when that was popular.



They have settings that are like "cages" that you can slip the marble into.  I think I might get a couple of settings and see how some of the prettier marbles look in that.


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## fureverywhere (Feb 9, 2016)

My oldest played Dungeons and Dragons also Magic. They used to have tournaments at the book stores. Swarms of teens with cases of cards...very popular game. Then came Pokémon for the younger ones.


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## Babsinbloom65 (Feb 9, 2016)

I played the board games and card games with my girls and they play them with their children. We also put together puzzles when my girls were young. I would start out with easy ones and then increase the number of pieces as their confidence grew. We would find all the framing pieces of the puzzle first and put that together and then leave the puzzle set out on a table where anyone could put together a piece or two anytime they felt like it. My girls did that with their children too and all the grandkids loved playing games and putting puzzles together when they were young. Now they also love Wii games and XBox (no violence ones) and when I saw how much fun the Wii was and how many different games you can play on it...I bought my husband and I one for a Christmas present one year. We now play pool, horseshoes, bowling, darts, golf and much more on the Wii. And it is great for playing Jeopardy, and other games shows too. We also have a chest like coffee table that opens and holds our dominoes, Yatzee, Scrabble, and many other board games which we still enjoy playing too. When we get together as a family we all like to play the outdoor games of horseshoes, volleyball, bean bag toss, etc. Games of all kinds are still a big part of our lives and I'm really happy about that.


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## RadishRose (Feb 9, 2016)

Trouble!


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## SifuPhil (Feb 9, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> My oldest played Dungeons and Dragons also Magic. They used to have tournaments at the book stores. Swarms of teens with cases of cards...very popular game. Then came Pokémon for the younger ones.



Oh, D&D!

We used to have 3-day sessions, fueled by Pepsi and Cheetos LOL! Our DM was a particularly warped individual, so the games were always entertaining. It sort of died out when I got to college - too many real-world distractions.


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## vickyNightowl (Feb 9, 2016)

The true gamers are still playing D.D.

My son gets together with friends and pull all nighters.


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## fureverywhere (Feb 9, 2016)

My boy is a dad now, but I know...yeah he still has the cards there


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## SifuPhil (Feb 9, 2016)

They even had books with adventures for sole players - I did a lot of those.


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## Butterfly (Feb 10, 2016)

jujube said:


> I bought my granddaughter a set of "pick-up stix" once.  I was so disappointed....they are now made of plastic instead of wood like they were in my day.  It was almost impossible to play with them.  And don't even start me on the plastic jacks.   Remember what happened when your dad stepped with bare feet on one of the jacks you didn't pick up?



I used to love to play jacks -- my sis and I used to sit out on the porch on a summer's evening and play jacks forever.  We used a golf ball because it bounced better.  And yes, I do remember people stepping on forgotten jacks!!


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## Butterfly (Feb 10, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Monopoly is still the King of board games.
> 
> View attachment 26671
> 
> ...



I remember many a rainy day spent playing Monopoly -- and some games that went on for days and days (woe betide anyone who disturbed the board).


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## SifuPhil (Feb 10, 2016)

I wonder what different brain functions are involved in playing board games versus surfing the Internet for entertainment? I would have to think they're quite different ...


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## Butterfly (Feb 10, 2016)

Babsinbloom65 said:


> I played the board games and card games with my girls and they play them with their children. We also put together puzzles when my girls were young. I would start out with easy ones and then increase the number of pieces as their confidence grew. We would find all the framing pieces of the puzzle first and put that together and then leave the puzzle set out on a table where anyone could put together a piece or two anytime they felt like it. My girls did that with their children too and all the grandkids loved playing games and putting puzzles together when they were young. Now they also love Wii games and XBox (no violence ones) and when I saw how much fun the Wii was and how many different games you can play on it...I bought my husband and I one for a Christmas present one year. We now play pool, horseshoes, bowling, darts, golf and much more on the Wii. And it is great for playing Jeopardy, and other games shows too. We also have a chest like coffee table that opens and holds our dominoes, Yatzee, Scrabble, and many other board games which we still enjoy playing too. When we get together as a family we all like to play the outdoor games of horseshoes, volleyball, bean bag toss, etc. Games of all kinds are still a big part of our lives and I'm really happy about that.



When my niece was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, the center where we went had tables in the waiting area set up with big jigsaw puzzles where those waiting for patients could work on them.  It was a very nice touch, and the puzzles were always busy.  I'm lousy at jigsaw puzzles but I did enjoy trying, and the groups gathered around the tables were always very sociable.  A good way to pass the time waiting for someone.


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## Manatee (Mar 30, 2016)

When we lived in Boca Raton there was a shop that sold odd edition games.  We had a Spanish language edition of Monopoly.

I still have a British edition, all the streets are from London.  The traditional US edition has them from Atlantic City.


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## Falcon (Mar 30, 2016)

A neighbor lady loved games.  She'd come over and we'd play Clue for hours.


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## NancyNGA (Mar 30, 2016)

Anyone else have this one?   I didn't even know what a career was back then (maybe, I still don't.), but it was a good game.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 3, 2020)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> I am going to visit my young Grand kids soon. I wanted to bring them a game or two. I loved Chutes and Ladders and Chinese checkers,pick up sticks and good old Tiddledy Winks.  I did see a few of them in the store. I couldn't get over how cheaply they are made. Even the pictures are horrible. My board was twice the size with nice heavy playing pieces. The Chinese checkers was made of all metal back then. My Grandma played Lotto with me. The numbers were embossed on little wooden rounds and the squares you used to cover the numbers on the cards were metal. I did see, that for double the cost, you could get the nostalgia version of a few. I'm not sure I want to go that route, they most likely will not be interested. To many video and battery operated games available. Such a shame.


Boy, do I remember!

Monopoly, Life (one of my very favourites), Clue, Masterpiece, and so many more. By the way I still have all 4 of the original games I mentioned, and we still play them regularly.


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## jujube (Jun 3, 2020)

Manatee said:


> When we lived in Boca Raton there was a shop that sold odd edition games.  We had a Spanish language edition of Monopoly.
> 
> I still have a British edition, all the streets are from London.  The traditional US edition has them from Atlantic City.


I have a Turkish edition with Istanbul streets.


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