Snow Day Games

All afternoon, Julia and Sam played The Game.

They invented The Game a few weeks ago. It started off as, I suspect, a roleplay based on repeated viewings of ‘The Pirates of the Caribbean’ over the holidays. Early in the development of The Game, there was a lot of conversation about who were the pirates and who were the British. They laid out their territories through the apartment and spent hours battling back and forth across the boundaries.

Over time, The Game has evolved to encompass a sophisticated strata of technology and culture. For a few nights, Julia spent a fair amount of time referring to herself as a “Ninja Princess” and debating with Sam (or “TechnoPirate”) about her godlike level of super powers: “You can’t have laser vision, invisibility, and be invulnerable. It’s not fair.”

Recently, I’ve seen a new layer of complexity (which, I suspect, is based on the game I bought Sam for Christmas, Settlers of Catan): Their bedroom has become a mining colony, Julia has control of the front room and half the hallway (also a wheat field and forest) while Sam has jurisdiction over the other half of the hallway, the kitchen, my bedroom, and the bathroom (part of the forest, a marina, and a fortress).

They spent forty minutes bartering over control of the forest, balancing the division of lumber resources so that they both could continue to produce their techno ninja pirate schooners (or whatever the hell it is they’re doing).

My kids are really, really cool. They’ve got everything from Japanese mythology to ‘Hamlet’ bubbling through The Game now. It’s half strategy game, half Choose Your Own Adventure, and half video game.

Can’t wait to see where they take it next…