Childhood Games

Remember the days in the past? About....i don't know, 10 to 15 years back?
When board and card games were much more popular than the video games of the times.
Kids played more Monopoly than Mortal Kombat and played with more figures and dolls than fiddling with controllers.

With this wave of nostalgia, I'll be remembering all the great games that i played before the digital age changed us all.

And with that a grand total of 10 games from way back when have made their way from memories to this list.(No paticular order)

1.Tag (or aka 'catching' to Singaporeans)

2.Monopoly (Board Game)

3.Hide and Seek

4.Rock-Paper-Scissors

5.Text Adventures (More verbal than text in those days)

6.Game of Life (Board Game)

7.Chess (No Really)

8.Yu-Gi-Oh(Trading Card Game)

9.Pokemon (Red/Blue)

10.Super Mario Bros.


Explaination

1.Tag
If you've never played this in your life, I'd blame something or someone. I'm just not sure who or what.
Tag is simple, you start with someone taking the role of "IT".   "It" must tag (any physical contact) another player. The space in which this is played is decided beforehand and the game can be played anywhere anytime.

What draws us back to Tag is the fact that tag is soooooo simple that a simple addition to the rules makes the game twice as much fun.
Tag has gained unwritten recognition internationally by kids all over the world.
Tag is easily modified to make a whole different game giving it variety as well.

2.Monopoly

Only one way to describe it...Finance and Business toned down for Kids.
The objective of Monopoly is simple, you buy properties, upgrade them and earn big to win big!
Everyone should know the basic form of Monopoly and if you don't, look it up!

What draws us back to Monopoly is that feeling you have when holding on to that pile of notes (Monopoly money). That rush of power inside. The thrill you get when your friend pays you a lump sum when he/she moves their player piece onto your property.

3.Hide and Seek

Hide and seek is an oldie but still a goodie. Same as Tag, we have one person playing as "It"
but this time its different, "It" counts to a certain number (eyes closed) while all the other players rush off to hide.
The big difference between this and Tag is that once you've hidden and "It" begins to search, you cannot change your hiding spot.
The game is fun but unless the area is big and full of good hiding spots it's hard to play at all.

I never played this much in my childhood because Singaporean HDB flats aren't exactly the perfect place for this.
But looking back, the fun part was watching "It"  search for you from your hiding spot, content and giggling inside.

4.Rock-Paper-Scissors

The almighty decision maker. Even now we still use it to settle arguments or to see who goes first.
like most kids games, rules = simple. Rock beats Scissors, Scissors beats Paper and Paper beats Rock.

We still play this for any number of reasons but its always there for you to settle anything.
No set-up required just two people, hands and gestures!

5.Text Aventures


Well I think most of you haven't really played this.
I did, back in Primary school. Like a cheap video game but because we were in charge, the games got fun. Ridiculous but still, fun.
There are no preset rules only one person has to decide the game's flow. No story is required.

We won't go back to this game. Unless we get bored to death, but even then we'd now just go surf the net or stare at Facebook or something.

6.The Game of Life

Another board game on par ,in terms of popularity, as Monopoly.
Instead of rolling dice and running circles through the same playing board, The Game of Life is a one way trip through , duh, Life(according to the American lifestyle at least).
You get a job, a salary, get married and have kids.

Not many people have played this anymore.The game's selling point was to have a fun laugh as you play through the crazy events placed in the game and see how your "Life" goes.

7.Chess

8 Pawns, 2 Rooks, 2 Knights, 2 Bishops , a Queen and the King.
This is the size of your and your enemy's army.
Each piece moves differently and this game is an intellectual game.(Actually it's a zero-sum game[look it up])
By moving your pieces, you have to create a situation where the opponent's King cannot move without being captured. The situation is known to many as CHECKMATE.

Though not really fitting for a childhood game, Chess is still a fun game played by all ages.

8.Yu-Gi-Oh

A Japanese made Trading Card Game(TCG) made for a cartoon(anime) series by the same name.
The name translates to "King of Games".
The players each take up a number of life points (LP) and summon monster cards to deplete their opponent's LP.

The game was math intensive, requiring pen and paper or a calculator. But the game brings me back again and again with it's beautifully illustrated card designs and watching your friends cry out when you play your cards right is satisfying.

9.Pokemon

You could say that this was my first RPG video game. Catching Pokemon and sening them out to battle. Back then the story was irrelevant but would be called horrible now.The series is still going on strong with more and more pokemon being added to the series.

The wide variety of pokemon just draws you back to ,truly as they say "Catch them all" and to pit them against your friend's pokemon in a battle was fun.

10.Super Mario Bros.

Classic until the end of time, Mario keeps coming back for more.
Sure to send anyone back on a nostalgia trip, this game was truly the first for many.

Just the nostalgia factor makes you wanna play it again but before, there was no story, no overly complicated leveling system ,no strength points ,no intelligence points. Just a simple platformer.