Scrabble

Growing up, Scrabble was a family favorite in my home. I learned a lot from my older siblings and other people who would play Scrabble with me. I remember a few games vividly. I remember learning things about people, like who was willing to cheat and who would never and how much I wanted to understand why.

So in the last few days, my oldest has become really hooked on Scrabble. We have been playing together over and over again. I can do laundry and put away dishes and cook between turns. We can laugh and be silly and try to use words in a sentence to figure out if they are real words. She is nine. She's a great little player. Better than a lot of people who played with me just because I asked when they didn't really didn't care to play.

I won't name names, but there are a few kinds of players who come to mind.

--The 'I won't bend any rules and we have to play with an official dictionary' player. (That's usually me, but I don't play that way with my daughter.)
--The 'I'll teach you some tricks I learned along the way,' player. (That's how I play with my daughter and it is humbling when she wants to play that way back to me...I have to let her help me. Not easy at first, but she is really good.)
--The 'I'm not someone you should turn your back on because I'm probably going to steal letters from the bag or hide them under my leg and slip them in to the bag later or onto the board when you are not looking,' types. (You don't know who they are until you play--but once you know who they are be wary of them in all avenues of life.)
--The 'I'm just passing time and don't believe this game is so hard but holy, crap, now I hate you for making me play this game that makes me feel stupid' players. (Again, hard to know who will be this player in advance, but once you know...do not go there with that person a second time. You will lose that friend.)
--The 'I'm going to wipe you off the floor when I am done with you' player. (Well, they are out there. I don't meet them too often, but they are out there and they aren't very nice people. I would just let them win and let them gloat and move on. That's me.)
--My favorite are the ones who can be described as, 'I am pretty sure we are an even match and I think this is going to be fun' players. I hope that's the kind of player I am raising in my daughter. So far, so good.

If I don't post again soon, it is probably because I am playing more Scrabble.