Hobbies And Interests
Checkers
Checkers pits two players against one another in a competition to see which player can eliminate her opponent's pieces first. Both players begin with 12 pieces, which are placed on the dark squares of the checkerboard. An opponent's checkers are removed by "jumping" over them, which can only be done if the space behind the opponent's piece is vacant. In most cases, players can only move one piece per turn, and each piece can only be moved forward one diagonal square. The only time a player may move a piece multiple times is if a jump sets up another jump. Once a player's piece reaches the other side of the board, that piece is "kinged," meaning it can jump forward or backward.
The Game of Life
The Game of Life takes players through the stages of adulthood, from a first job or college course all the way to retirement. Players must use a spinner to determine how many spaces they can move on each turn, with each game square instructing the player on what to do. Some are positive, resulting in cash earnings, while others are negative and can cost the player a sizable portion of his bankroll. Players may change jobs during the game, and getting married and having children are also part of the experience. Once each player has reached the end of the board, the one who has amassed the most money is the winner.
Operation
This game requires a steady hand and good hand-eye coordination. Each player acts as the "doctor," and must remove selected bones from the patient using tweezers. The bones are in narrow holes on the game board, which is triggered to make a buzzer sound if the participant touches any part of the mechanism with the tweezers. Each bone is worth a pre-set dollar amount, with the player earning the most money becoming the winner.
Scrabble
A favorite of wordsmiths everywhere, Scrabble invites players to earn points by using lettered tiles to spell words. Each player begins with seven tiles, which feature a random assortment of letters. Two of the game's 100 tiles are blank, and can be used as any letter in the alphabet. Point values are assigned to each letter based on scarcity, with vowels each worth one point and scarcely used letters like Q, Z and X worth the most. Words may only be spelled horizontally or vertically. Once a player spells a word, she must reach into the tile bag and replace the letters she used, until her tray once again has seven letters. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.