Bored with winter blues? Try board games

With our just passing winter’s midpoint of Groundhog Day – the lack of shadow sighting by Punxsutawney Phil of Pennsylvania and General Beauregard Lee of Georgia notwithstanding – even with more some chilly days and frosty nights to come, don’t be bored by the season, not with board games.

Getting your game on with tabletop pastimes proves a winner at any time of year, especially through gatherings at some local libraries and for quality time with family and friends, at home or on the road.

Games still sizzling in sales

Geri Gaynor, owner of The Toy Isle store in Pawleys Island, said sales in classic board games continues “a resurgence,” especially with Scrabble, and other staples such as Life and Monopoly. Local and vacationing customers seek games for “the whole family” to enjoy, “from age 4 years old to grandparents.”

Granted, Monopoly takes a longer time commitment, Gaynor said, so that’s where shorter duration games have “become important.”

Looking back at 11 years in business, Gaynor said Tenzi, played with dice, has led her games sales the past few years, with its infinite ways to play.

“Everybody takes 10 dice,” she said, “and you just start rolling them., until somebody gets 10 of something,” then that person wins that round and chooses the direction for the next round.

Gaynor also said Spot It! – a card game in many variations – stays popular with all ages, with the object to identify one thing from your card to an opponent’s, which poses challenges because no two cards have the same components, and no two cards have more than one thing in common.

Even laminated playing cards have a place in this market, “for the pool or beach,” Gaynor said, happy to see the popularity of classics continue through such titles as Jinga, Parcheesi, and Sorry!

Meet at the library, to play games

Last summer, the Horry County Memorial Library’s Bucksport branch, south of Conway, started a “Board Games” program, 4-5 p.m. on the third Thursday monthly.

Angela Hemingway Walker, the branch manager, said the idea arose from a project with Manuel Bega, a children’s assistant, to bring more youth through the doors. Bega said Monopoly has stayed a favorite.

Walker said Scrabble also scores with youth, and with her youngest son, age 8, “Saturdays are our game day” at home.

Bega also said word games captivate him and that connecting with chess might be a goal this winter with youth at the library.

“We have to learn that,” he said, appreciating the “skill sets” for lifetime thinking that develop through playing such games.

The county library’s Carolina Forest branch has “Teen Game Nights” at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, with tabletop games in the mix. Pam Cazzola, the children’s librarian assistant there, welcomes more youth to check out this weekly outing, and she’s a willing player, too.

“Playing board games after school helps teens decompress without using technology,” Cazzola said. “The teens use technology all day long at school. Board games help teens have face-to-face conversations without the distractions of their cell phone.”

She recalled a Scattergories game last month that reached about an hour, with “no cell phones in sight.”

“It was just good old-fashioned fun,” Cazzola said. “There were no cell phones going off or texting.”

She also voiced another hope that “exposing teens to board games will spark an interest in them playing at home with their family.”

‘Family Game Nights’ across county

Donald Dennis, Georgetown County Library’s teen technology librarian, is based at the Waccamaw Neck branch in Litchfield Beach, where a wall contains stacks of games. Heather Pelham, the county’s public services librarian, called him “the ultimate board game guru.”

“We are in a renaissance of board game activity,” said Dennis, who joined the library system in 2008, after working from 1995 to 2001 in the hobby game industry, and 2007-08 in the video game industry.

“It was a slow thing coming,” he said, “but it has gained more and more momentum.”

All four Georgetown County Library branches boast “Family Game Nights,” and Dennis delights in seeing youngsters “rush over after school” to engage in games, “the magic of the gathering” daily, at Wacccamaw Library.

Dennis, who also takes part in a weekly podcast, onboardgames.net, said that board games are not a pastime that individuals cease at a certain age, but they’re building blocks and memories that become “part of people’s lives.”

Dennis named Catan, made in Germany, as “one of the biggest hobby games that helped kick off the board game revolution in 1995.” Also, use of decks of cards provide an interchangeable link with many board games.

Dennis sees cooperation as the biggest innovation with, and benefit from, board games, because of the abundance of options families and friends have to work together, “to try to achieve a goal.” Learning how to win or lose gracefully provides another positive, he said, with developing directions for life skills and thinking ability.

When after-school game times were begun at the county library’s main branch in Georgetown, Dennis said, he liked seeing youth “treat one another and their space with more respect, ... and they take a little more responsibility for themselves.”

Sampling games he recommends by age group, Dennis suggested Dancing Eggs for ages 6 and younger, Truso for ages 7-11, and Nexus Ops for ages 12 and older. He also cannot endorse chess enough, especially with No Stress Chess, “the best way to teach and learn chess.”

The Waccamaw Library has booked a “games and geekery convention,” in Dennis’ words, for 8 a.m.-10 p.m. March 11-12 and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. March 13, geared to older teens and adults, but also with some activities for younger individuals.

He said the title plays on the the type of venue as host: “ShushCon.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 12:05 AM with the headline "Bored with winter blues? Try board games."