The host of this monthly photo challenge loves games, including board games and outdoor games (like disc golf and geocaching). So ever since the challenge started back in 2013, I’ve been expecting the theme of games to come up at some point. Games include sports and athletic activities, board games, computer games, recreational activities and all sorts of competitions, which means it’s quite a broad theme. I hope it encouraged a few more people to join our small group of dedicated participants.
I came up with seven ideas at the start of the month and managed to photograph all but one. I’ve opted to share the five that are most meaningful to me:
1. Game Shelf – The game shelf in our living room includes a pretty wide range of titles. Classics like Yahtzee, cribbage, dominoes and Rummy-O tend to come out at holiday times. Games like Rush Hour and Cranium Cadoo remind me of days gone by, when our boys were in primary school and really enjoyed family game nights. For a few years after that, they were into any game with “Pokemon” in the title. Nowadays, there’s more appeal in strategy games like Settlers of Catan and Phase 10.
2. Online Gaming – K suggested this one. He used some of his savings to purchase a gaming headset (I didn’t even know there was such at thing) and uses it every time he meets up with his friends online. For a few months now it seems their game of choice is a first person shooter game where they play against other teams. He routinely calls out warnings and offers encouragement to his friends. I think he looks a bit like an air traffic controller and can only hope that the folks on duty in the tower are as focused as K is when he’s online.
3. Gamification of Fitness – I injured my knee in October and continue to diligently work at rehab under the guidance of my favourite physiotherapist. I’ve never had to work so hard for so long to recover from an injury. Maybe that’s a consequence of middle age? I prefer to think it’s because I haven’t had a ligament injury like this before. Whatever the cause, turning my exercises into a bit of a game helps me stay motivated. Can I go longer today than yesterday? Can I press more weight today than two days ago? How much further can I jump today? I’ve started thinking about some possible ways of creating a visual representation of my progress, incorporating shapes and colours and some sort of graph, but that’s still an idea in progress. To make this photograph, I composed the shot and then used the 12 second shutter delay to hustle over and get going on the ARC trainer I’ve been using as part of my program.
4. Marble Game – This marble board game is nothing like schoolyard marbles. In addition to the board and marbles, it requires two decks of cards, a full page of rules and fierce competition between two teams of two. This game is special to our family for a few reasons: 1) Grandpa GeoK made the board in his shop, 2) Grandma GeoK typed up the rules, painted the house/home spots and shopped for the marbles, and 3) it’s a game that we can all take turns playing (except Mr. GeoK who avoids card games and board games as much as possible). In fact, over Christmas break we had games going on three boards at the same time, since my sister and my brother each brought along their Grandpa-made boards for family game night.
5. Geoaching – We’ve been geocaching since July 2006 and although we no longer go out of our way to play the game, we’ll engage in a round of “find the cache” from time-to-time. Banff and Lake Louise run a Snow Days promotion in January each year. For the past few years they’ve placed new geocaches for one of the outdoor activities. Earlier this month we spent a couple of hours at some scenic spots in and around the Banff townsite taking photographs, searching for the five newest geocaches and making note of the secret words that we could trade for this year’s wooden nickel (in past years, it’s been a non-trackable geocoin). Back at home, I used my camera’s double-exposure capability to superimpose the wooden nickel as a kind of supermoon in this photograph of Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park.
I look forward to seeing what games other people played in January. If you’re interested, head on over to A ‘lil HooHaa to see PJ’s take on the theme. He’s a board game enthusiast, so there should be some good ones. And since he’s the host of the monthly photo challenge, all the other posts for this month will be listed in the link up at the bottom of the page.
PJ will announce the February theme on Sunday over at A ‘lil HooHaa. We always welcome new participants. Won’t you join us?
Added 2016-Feb-01 in response to Sara, here’s a copy of the rules for the marble game:
