I prefer to be social
At a time when people try to find the ideal gift, I’m left really hoping that nobody in my inner circle will be tempted by that most ignoble of presents: the board game. In French, they’re known as “jeux de société”, which is really a misnomer. How many family battles have been precipitated by an evening of entertainment that went very, very wrong?
No doubt you’ve been there; a game of Monopoly with the follower of Ayn Rand. A game of Password with the whisperer. A game of Poker with the worst bluffer since George W. Hedge(hog). And on and on. Pick one from the cupboard. Go ahead, take the Risk. If a fistfight doesn’t break out, consider that you have dodged the bullet. Go and sin no more.
We just had a commercial on TV for the home version of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? It all depends, doesn’t it? Perhaps your local curriculum planners lacked preparation and a budget for textbooks. Maybe you were out sick the only day of the year that the teacher was coherent. Maybe you aren’t. Do you really want the rest of your social group to find out that you’ve been faking your grade school diploma for all these years?
I’ll confess; I don’t play well in groups. Hide the cards when I come in because I’m a believer that pasteboards are the handtools of the devil. In fact, let’s just agree that the best way to spend an evening with friends should involve as little friendly competition as possible. That way, we can go home at the end of the night without further trauma.
