Yay Cam! I’ll go check that out in a moment. And, goodness, I want to do a words on wednesday post too!

U-Dad– I never, ever, ever would have guessed that about you! You seem so… sane. So…British. Still, there’s something about word games that brings out the unexpected.

Dear John, I’m so glad to hear this. My thought is that if we just keep at it, we’ll eventually find some common ground — even if we have to wait until the little guys become adults, and the adults become mature adults.

Marie, More proof that you are a poet!

Scrabble was nearly the end of supermum and me. It was grim enough that she used to always win (superior technique) and used to sulk. But when I started winning, we had nigh-on knocked over scrabble boards, tantrums, arguments that would go on all night…

Of course, we’ve both grown up a bit these days. And we hardly ever play Scrabble.

But I think I do see how this game could be used and will save it for the right occasion.

Ben, This sounds like so much fun. Especially now that I’ve recovered from my surly 48 hours.

Rhiann, I did not mention the overturning of game boards, the crinkling of cards, the accusations of impropriety, the running upstairs shouting because I thought it would be bad to so out myself here on the blog. I’m glad to hear mine is not the only house where this kind of thing takes place.

Charlotte, I see that the answer is to play scrabble with fellow bloggers. I once spent a considerable amount of time playing online scrabble with a friend at a place called the pixie pit. And although you can send insulting messages to your opponent, you can’t actually talk to them, which means that the whole thing goes pretty smoothly.

Yogamum, My mom always kicks my butt at games too. And she is gleeful, which I think is very undignified for a parent, except I am the exact same way, which might be why no one will ever play with me. The thing is, though, that when I was a child gleeful winners only made me want to win more badly. It didn’t make me give up. The young these days: soft, soft, soft.

Debby — It’s my own version of OCD behavior — I hate losing and I want the person I beat to care. Now is that really so bad? Oh. You’re right, it’s sort of uncool. Thank goodness you’re still my friend, even though I have this major weakness. I’ll play scrabble with you sometime. Maybe even phonetic scrabble.

Yes, we expect judges to do the right thing, but imagine how hard that must be sometimes. I once had a job where I was designing software for a court management system. As part of my research, I shadowed a judge one day and was able to sit at her bench during some hearings. There were many quotes taped up at the bench, (put there, she said, by her fellow county judge) reminding the reader to have patience, to not be surprised by man’s capacity for stupidity and ignorance, etc. I think I would have to have reminders like that too in order to be fair and sometimes not to burst out laughing at how ridiculous some people are. Expecting young, competitive boys to be judicious during a game and not play favorites with their brothers must be harder than not laughing at the meth-mouthed ex-con with open warrants who earnestly thought he’d hide out from the sheriff at the town’s only tavern (town pop 10,000) by getting involved in a drunken brawl — with the sheriff’s brother. No, I could never be a judge, I’m afraid.

Since I cannot spell, my wife and I had to start playing “phonetic Scrabble,” in which the only rule is that you have to explain what you’ve laid down, and the goal is to make each other laugh. So “oimdun” is a word because it spells, “Oh, I’m done.” It took my wife a little while to get on board because she is a first born child who likes order and rules (and she likes to win). She’d do well in France where they have an academy to keep everyone in line. But she has a good sense of humor and likes to laugh, so phonetic scrabble has more or less replaced the regular kind at the Casa Daniel.

Our “family games night experiment” was a disaster: screaming, crying, accusations, slammed doors. Getting four extremely competitive people to try and “have fun” when three of them are going to lose is a BAD idea.

My daughter loves Apples to Apples Jr. I can stand that one for short periods of time.

I love Scrabble but the only person who will play with me is my mom, and she always wins!