JG-TC.com > Opinion > COLUMN: For some of us, yesterday's 'Annie Over' beats today's 'Guitar Hero' any day

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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 9:29 PM CST
COLUMN: For some of us, yesterday's 'Annie Over' beats today's 'Guitar Hero' any day

By PENNY WEAVER, Night news editor
pweaver@jg-tc.com

One of the bad things about being single is that there’s no one to play games with.

Well, outside the dating scene, that is.

Okay, okay, I’m talking about board games, actually...you know, like Monopoly, Life, checkers, chess — that kind of thing. Perhaps the fact that I enjoy such recreation explains why I am single.

Never mind.

Any-hoo, I noticed a chess set in the store while I was shopping the other day, and I briefly lamented the fact that I have no one to challenge in the game. Then I wondered if I should just buy a set and play both sides, you know, to refresh my memory and brush up on the rules.

But another potential problem immediately cropped up. If I played against myself, and I won, I would also lose. I don’t know if I can take that kind of guaranteed defeat.

I think I’ll play my nephew Cooper’s version of the game instead. Now, it’s been a long time since I played chess, but he has some rules I am pretty sure are not in the books.

This particular nephew, who will be 6 in April, is smart as a whip — well, they all are, but he also goes 100 mph — so maybe he’s got something over on me. As Cooper explains it, the first chess player to get a piece to the other side gets a bingo.

The one with the most bingos, of course, wins. Coop beat me pretty quickly.

Well, obviously I am out of practice at board games. When I was a kid, we played our own simplified version of Monopoly, plus Life, checkers, Connect Four, Chutes and Ladders, CandyLand and more.

I’m proud to say that my nieces and nephews have most of the abovementioned games, but I’ll tell you, they have got some cool new ones too.

They like something that I think is called “Buckaroo,” where players try to remove a piece from a plastic miner’s mule without making him buck. The mule is loaded with gold pans, saddle bags, a bedroll, etc. They love to make that mule kick, and then they all just laugh and laugh.

“EleFun” is another favorite. Its plastic elephant has a long flexible “trunk” reaching up toward the ceiling. When you turn it on, the trunk spews little cloth-like “butterflies,” and the kids try to catch them using butterfly nets.

I’ve noticed that many more games require batteries these days. I wish more kids would play good old-fashioned games too. There’s just something about it.

I know, when kids think games these days, it’s PlayStation or something else hooked into the TV. “Guitar Hero” is popular among kids of all ages — adults too, that is — and that’s all well and good.

But what about flashlight tag or “Marco Polo”? Give me a simple little ball and a few rounds of “Annie Over” any day instead of a fake guitar and a bunch of wires hooked up to some electronic contraption.

Oh sure, you don’t know what “Annie Over” is. Well. My sisters and I used to play that over our neighbor’s garage. You throw the ball over the roof and yell “Annie Over!” as you do it, and the kids on the other side try to catch it. That’s how we played, anyway.

We also used to play “I Spy” — no, not the one related to the popular riddle books connected to the TV series, although that does look like fun.

Our “I Spy” was just what it sounds like: We’d all sit in a room and everyone would close their eyes except the person whose turn it was, and that person would say “I spy ...” and describe something in the room. Then everyone else could open their eyes and start guessing what it was. “You’re getting warmer!” someone would say when a player got close to guessing the object in question, or “You’re getting cold!” if they were far off.

That was one of our favorites.

I’m sure video games are fun. I know I used to like Atari when I was a kid — my cousins had it; we didn’t have that kind of stuff at our house.

Oh sure, I’m dating myself by mentioning Atari — but not as much as when I admit to enjoying “Annie Over.” I bet the kids — I mean, young people, in their 20s — that I work with don’t even know what “Annie Over” is.

(sigh)

Well, PlayStation and all are fun, I’m sure; in fact, I bet I could spend hours at the game controls, my eyes bugging out.

But it’s the interaction with other people that is the most fun about games. When some friends or family and I have a game night, it’s board games or cards like “Apples to Apples” or “Uno” that are on our favorites list.

My mom and I play the card game “Skip-Bo” almost every Sunday after church, and it is so much fun — even though she beats me most of the time.

I’m going to try to keep my nieces and nephews away from the Wii and all that jazz for a while. I’m going to teach them “Annie Over” and “I Spy” and stuff like that. Life gets complicated enough fast enough as it is. I like simple things.

Sure, it’ll be hard to maintain my status as the favorite aunt (cough) by encouraging such frivolity, but I’ll risk it.

There’s nothing better than sitting with family and/or friends and laughing and talking and carrying on over a game. It’s inexpensive, it’s wholesome (no violence, no cursing, no PG-13 kind of content), and it’s a lot of fun.

Besides, you can make up your own rules to some of the good old-fashioned games if you want.

So what if there are no bingos in chess? Maybe next time Cooper gets a pawn close to my king, I’ll tell him, “You’re getting warmer!”, shine my flashlight in his face and throw a ball over the board.

That’ll get his attention.

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pj1983 wrote on Feb 21, 2008 6:13 AM:

" good article. the qualifying factor in whether or not "young people" recognize your "annie over" could be with where they were raised. I'm 25 and was raised in the country. where our version of annie over (andy over) was nearly a daily occurrence. along with Red Light, green light and simon says. i also remember playing Sorry, Uno, Skip-Bo, Hand and Foot and Canasta with the family. "

katertater02 wrote on Feb 21, 2008 11:25 AM:

" We played Red Light, Green Light, and kickball and all those games, but the best was Cops and Robbers. There were about 15 kids in my neighborhood, so there was always someone to play with. Great column, Penny. And I play Skip-Bo ALL the time..so if you ever want a challenge, let me know ; ) "

Billie Brant wrote on Feb 21, 2008 2:56 PM:

" How about kick the can? It was best played after dark. We could hide better after the sun went down. Way back then, a kid could play in the neighborhood after dark and mom and dad didn't have to wonder if we were being watched by not so friendly eyes. In the winter before we had a TV set, we used to put puzzles together on a card table set up just for that purpose. The whole family participated. We played board games also. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Penny and posters. "

Rotty wrote on Feb 21, 2008 5:52 PM:

" Heck, bet alot of us can remember when we were thrilled to death to have our first am radio - alot of these electronic techie nowadays kids would just have a fit if they were reduced to such items. LOL
Thanks, Penny, for taking the wife & I for a trip down memory lane. We remember playing alot of the games mentioned, & have proceded to teach them to our children, & they just really enjoy them all as well.
Great column, Penny! "

GrapeMama wrote on Feb 22, 2008 9:09 AM:

" What about spoons? That's one of our family's favorites...although it does not always fall in the "non-violent" category. Someone usually at least gets scratched! :) "

father bob wrote on Feb 22, 2008 12:29 PM:

" spin the bottle was always fun! "

whitedove wrote on Feb 24, 2008 4:24 PM:

" Oh what wonderful memories you brought back. If only life could be the way it was back then. My brothers would play marbles and would grumble when they lost a 'cats eye' or a "shooter" or one of their favorite marbles. Us girls would play board games or cards or tea parties. What happened to those???
Just to be able to let the kids play outside after dark without worrying about who was going to grab them or harm them. "

miltmart wrote on Feb 25, 2008 1:35 PM:

" Kick the can! We lived in a neighborhood with a bunch of kids and almost every summer evening was spent playing kick the can until it was way too dark to see. We had a blast. And jacks! I loved to play jacks and was pretty good at it too (or at least that's how I remember it :-) ) "