All the games I haven't won because I didn't play them.

The burn of defeat, the roar of the burning gas of success...or neither if I don't have the guts to play. Lately, we've been playing more board games. We unearthed the game cupboard and straightened it up. This time of year I start wanting to play more because it gets dark earlier, its colder out and its not t.v. However, I am always confronted by something when I start playing games. I have to stare myself right in the eye and play to the fullest, or, not bother. I wrestle with this all or nothing paradox and board games are a great place to weed it out of my kids. Alas, my kids are already having a hard time walking that fizzy line between winning and losing and enjoying themselves either way. Newer, more convenient adaptations are being cooked up on a fairly reliable basis. One of the few games we can get through start to finish without tears or sighs is Candy Land (unless one of us has the great misfortune of landing on licorice). We have a sight word bingo that has been transformed into charade bingo with repeat success.

What adaptations to board games have you made in your family?

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