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Vintage Children's Games

Children have always played games, whether created by them or purchased at the store. With video games taking over so much of the time children used to use to play other kinds of games, many parents have begun looking into their own pasts to rediscover vintage games. Many of these games are gaining new popularity as families use them as a way to connect with each other.

Checkers
- This two-player board game has been around since about 1000 A.D., but was originally called draughts. The board traditionally has 64 squares that alternate in black and white. Each player starts with 12 pieces, either black or white, and places them on all the black squares in the first three rows of her side of the board. Pieces are moved by sliding them diagonally to an adjacent black square. If the move is blocked by the opposing player's piece, the piece cannot be moved. However, if there is an empty black square just beyond the blocking piece, in a straight line from the piece being moved, a player may jump the opponent's piece and remove it from the board. Pieces can only move forward, unless one reaches the last row on the opposite side of the board. That piece is then crowned and made a king, after which it can move backward or forward.
Dominoes
- The game of dominoes traces its history back to 1120 A.D. in China. It eventually made its way to the New World and has been popular ever since. The game is played with a set of wooden tiles--originally ivory--that have sets of dots on them. Each half, left and right, has a number, and the number must be matched to the domino which is placed on the table to start, or to one that has been played since then. Doubles, where both halves have the same number, are played in the middle as well as at either end. If no match can be made, players draw from the "bone pile" to find a domino to play. The winner is the player who is able to use all of his dominoes first.
Monopoly
- Although the Parker Brothers Company was credited with inventing the game of Monopoly in the 1930's, there is some evidence that the game may have been created 20 years earlier. No matter when it was created, the fact remains that Monopoly is one of the most popular board games ever created, with more than 275 million games sold by 2010. Not only is it readily available in its original form, with Park Place and Boardwalk leading the board for value, but it has also be recreated with many different themes such as "Star Wars," "Scooby-Doo," fishing and many more. Players roll the dice to round the board, collecting properties or paying expenses as they go. This game, in board or electronic format, continues to entertain people around the world.

Board Games