Homo Ludens, but be quick about it.
Mar. 29th, 2007 03:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ltmurnauGames companies speed up old favourites
Last Updated: Thursday, March 29, 2007 | 4:23 PM ET
The Associated Press
Toy makers are developing short-form versions of traditional games to match the faster pace and shortened attention spans of modern life.
Hasbro Inc., the largest U.S. game company, will introduce three fast versions of classic board games this year: Monopoly Express, Scrabble Express and Sorry Express.
It's also got a streamlined version of The Game of Life that uses a Visa card rather than cash and a "LifePod" that electronically keeps track of points to help keep the game moving.
"A lot of people like playing games, but they want resolution," said Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of Toy Wishes magazine. "And that's why you see some of these quicker games coming out."
About 20 minutes seems to be the new target for a game.
There have always been fast games, but the changes to existing classics is a new response.
The Game of Life: Twists & Turns Edition lets players determine ahead of time how long they want to play.
Monopoly is getting an optional "speed die," rolled in addition to the regular two dice. Certain rolls will move the player to the next available property, moving the game along.
Hasbro's amended games use concepts and pieces from the classic versions, although the play is entirely different.
In Monopoly Express, players roll dice labelled with properties and the "Go to Jail" policeman of the classic game. Players get points for building blocks of properties — but lose a turn and their points if they roll three policemen.
A classic Monopoly game can drag on for hours if players end up with comparable positions. But Monopoly Express moves quickly, and players pick a finish line — an amount of money — ahead of time, giving them control over the length of play.
The games are also packaged differently so they can be taken in the car.
The faster games are aimed at people like Massachusetts mom Michelle Hastings, who admits she has cheated to get through a game with her 5-year-old daughter.
"A lot of times, you don't play games because they take so long," she said.
***
I cut the rest of this article. It's at http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/03/29/faster-games.html.
Seriously, fuck that and Fuck These People. I grant you that Monopoly and Sorry are not very good games, but at least they were a contrived excuse for people to spend some time together. Perhaps it's understandable that these people, certainly parents want to cut even this to a minimum, while maintaining (at least to the Judge Judy) that they'd done the right thing - but 20 MINUTES?
OK, I admit I come from a childhood and adolescence where my friends and I would sometimes spend most of the day playing one game. We weren't idiots - said games were pretty complex and a lot could happen, but the important detail was that we did not grudge the time. And some of the best times Akito and I have had were from hours spent at the game table.
Things like this drive home to me that I am becoming a cranky old fart. Sorry for the outburst - I'll return to my prune whip now.
Last Updated: Thursday, March 29, 2007 | 4:23 PM ET
The Associated Press
Toy makers are developing short-form versions of traditional games to match the faster pace and shortened attention spans of modern life.
Hasbro Inc., the largest U.S. game company, will introduce three fast versions of classic board games this year: Monopoly Express, Scrabble Express and Sorry Express.
It's also got a streamlined version of The Game of Life that uses a Visa card rather than cash and a "LifePod" that electronically keeps track of points to help keep the game moving.
"A lot of people like playing games, but they want resolution," said Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of Toy Wishes magazine. "And that's why you see some of these quicker games coming out."
About 20 minutes seems to be the new target for a game.
There have always been fast games, but the changes to existing classics is a new response.
The Game of Life: Twists & Turns Edition lets players determine ahead of time how long they want to play.
Monopoly is getting an optional "speed die," rolled in addition to the regular two dice. Certain rolls will move the player to the next available property, moving the game along.
Hasbro's amended games use concepts and pieces from the classic versions, although the play is entirely different.
In Monopoly Express, players roll dice labelled with properties and the "Go to Jail" policeman of the classic game. Players get points for building blocks of properties — but lose a turn and their points if they roll three policemen.
A classic Monopoly game can drag on for hours if players end up with comparable positions. But Monopoly Express moves quickly, and players pick a finish line — an amount of money — ahead of time, giving them control over the length of play.
The games are also packaged differently so they can be taken in the car.
The faster games are aimed at people like Massachusetts mom Michelle Hastings, who admits she has cheated to get through a game with her 5-year-old daughter.
"A lot of times, you don't play games because they take so long," she said.
***
I cut the rest of this article. It's at http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/03/29/faster-games.html.
Seriously, fuck that and Fuck These People. I grant you that Monopoly and Sorry are not very good games, but at least they were a contrived excuse for people to spend some time together. Perhaps it's understandable that these people, certainly parents want to cut even this to a minimum, while maintaining (at least to the Judge Judy) that they'd done the right thing - but 20 MINUTES?
OK, I admit I come from a childhood and adolescence where my friends and I would sometimes spend most of the day playing one game. We weren't idiots - said games were pretty complex and a lot could happen, but the important detail was that we did not grudge the time. And some of the best times Akito and I have had were from hours spent at the game table.
Things like this drive home to me that I am becoming a cranky old fart. Sorry for the outburst - I'll return to my prune whip now.
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-03 03:46 am (UTC)My dad, brother and I played board games a lot growing up, and while we tended to stay away from Monopoly, we definitely played Sorry and Life, amongst many others, and loved them. (We also finished games more often than not.)
Mind you, we also played outside. We went swimming. We went for walks often. We may not have had a lot of money, but I was never denied a requested book. I had a really awesome (single) dad who managed to find all the time in the world for his kids, and that's really turning into an incredible rarity these days, even when kids have two parents.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-03 04:53 pm (UTC)This situation is nor universal though; we seem to do it to ourselves. Anne wrote a week or two ago about how, even in the "bad" part of Kiel, there are kids running around and playing unescorted, something not seen here anymore.
Aki's life in Japan seems to be pretty cloistered and boring. He seems to study and play computer games, and not much else. Well, with two old women in the house, that's the way it probably woudl be. So when he comes here int he summer, I want him to do all kinds of differnt things he doesn't get a chance to in Japan. Board games are a start.