February 18 - Making Connections

A board game that can teach valuable lessons about life.

By Magdalena I. García

It wasn’t exactly a spiritual discipline of his own choosing, but it turns out my son M. has started Lent with a no-TV regimen. This means that he needs to think of other ways to entertain himself during his after-school break, or in the evening after finishing homework. Since he can’t park himself in front of the TV, it’s been amazing to watch him rediscover parts of the house and some of his toys.

Today M. insisted that I accompany him to the basement—that dark and humid place where shadows and monsters dwell, waiting for children to scare and chase out—to help him find a table game. We own lots of games, and they are stored in a couple of trunks in the basement. About half of the games are mine, including classics like Parcheesi and Pictionary, and they date back to the 70s and 80s when I was a youth and young adult leader. The other half are M.’s games which he has received as gifts over the last ten years.

After looking over the choices, he picked Tipover, a mind-challenging game where you create a path to the end by having Tipper (your player) knock down crates, without touching the floor or moving diagonally. The game includes a set of cards with diagrams—from Beginner to Expert—to set up the board, and colorful crates of different heights. I bought this game for M. a couple of years ago as a reward for getting good grades. You can try your hand at four sample games at: http://www.thinkfun.com/TIPOVER.ASPX?PageNo=TIPOVER.

Tipover is a game for one, so we decided to take turns solving challenges. It was tough resisting the temptation to tell the other player what to do because, of course, the game always seems very simple when it’s someone else’s turn to move. After we had finished playing, M. started getting ready for bed and, out of the blue, he said: “You know, Mom, that game is just like life: you have to go from crate to crate, making connections until you reach the end.” It’s really nice to have somebody else do the preaching once in a while, so I was delighted that M. had reached that conclusion on his own. Now, if only it was that easy to have him make the connection between daily homework and his future. But I think he is tipping in the right direction.