Informative Essay On Board Games

Board games have many benefits. To one person it just passes time and to another person it helps with strategy skills. According to Alvin Rosenfeld, He states, “Nothing bolsters his (or hers) self-esteem more! So why not pull out an old board game tonight? Playing games is an easy and excellent way to spend unhurried, enjoyable time together. As an added bonus, board games are also rich in learning opportunities” (http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=2060). Although it is posted more towards kids I believe as adults we are still finding learning opportunities through board games. While a kid may be looking for a game learning about the alphabet, a teenager might be learning how to be some one at Risk cause is friend is really
good. The following games will be discussed in this research paper: Mouse Trap, Risk, and Yahtzee. Major film junkies would know this famous French Director.
His name is Albert Lamorisse. Before he was ever a famous French director he had an idea for a board game called, Conquer the World (or in French, “La Conquete du Monde”). He took it to a publishing company and he gave them idea that the game, “proved simple enough for novices to play, yet complex and realistic enough to enthrall even sophisticated war-game players” (http://www.indepthinfo.com/risk/history.shtml). The game became a huge success. Then a couple of year down the road Parker Brothers picked it up and it became a success here in America. This Game is called Risk. What influenced the game to be made were mostly likely the wars that were going on for example the Cold war, Korean War, and Vietnam War. That was just in America. The French were going though war
themselves.
Risk was one of goes games that challenge your mind and make you think do they actually help you out. I know that Risk and other games similar like it. They are games that are wonderful for a wide variety of reasons. The next game would be Mouse Trap.
Mouse Trap is the famous game where your pawn is a mouse and you are building a mouse trap hoping that the opposite player gets caught first under the cage of it. In 1963 Mouse Trap game first published by Ideal for two or more players. It was designed by Hank Kramer of Ideal Toy Company, allowed the players almost no decision-making, in keeping with other games for very young children such as Candy land, or Chutes and Ladders. Hand eye coordination benefits Kids and Adult in this game in many ways, “Apart from that, there are certain specific situations, like playing tennis, juggling balls, solving board puzzles, etc, which require greater degree of coordination. It is not too difficult for a person to improve his hand-eye coordination, providing he is willing to work towards the same.” (http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/hand-eye-coordination-1556.html) . Mouse Trap for me was one of my favorite games and well as my moms. I remember playing this game a lot as a kid. We would always lose the Marble that came with the game as
well. Yahtzee was invented by a Canadian couple in 1954. It was said that, “They invented the game, in order to entertain their friends on their yacht. Whenever anyone was invited aboard, they were taught how to play the "Yacht" game. Their friends enjoyed the game so much that everyone wanted copies of the game for themselves. So in 1956, the couple approached Edwin S. Lowe, a toy maker. They placed an order with him to make up a few samples of the game, so they can distribute it among their friends. Lowe liked the game so much that he offered to buy the rights for it” (http://www.yahtzeeonline.org/yahtzee-history.php). The couple agreed to sell the rights to Edwin. While the couple named the game “Yacht” Edwin changed the name to Yahtzee. Yahtzee didn’t do good right off when it published it’s first commercial in 1956 but through throwing Yahtzee Parties the game became a huge success. It is my belief that game became a huge success due to people who loved to gamble. It was similar to gambling but the family could all join in. Any game with dice is always a game of chance if your going to win a lot in Las Vegas and lose a lot. I think that is the same way with Yahtzee.

All of these three games changed the culture of gaming through three different ways. Risk Help build strategy and thinking that was influenced by the wars going on in that time frame. Mouse Trap was a fun way for kids to build coordination and confidence in kids and adults. Yahtzee was a way people could play with dice and chance if they were going get Yahtzee or just of bunch of sixes to write on their card. All of the games most likely will be family favorites for awhile.

Resources:

1. Arnsen, Erik. History of Risk. July 30, 2010 http://boardgames.about.com/od/risk/a/risk_history.htm

2. Risk History. July 30, 2010. http://www.indepthinfo.com/risk/history.shtml

3. 1960's Board Games. July 30, 2010. http://www.oldboardgames.co.uk/games/1960s.html

4. Yahtzee. July 30, 2010. http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/yahtzee.htm

5. Yahtzee History. July 30, 2010. http://www.yahtzeeonline.org/yahtzee-history.php

6. Rosenfeld Alvin. The Benefits of Board Games. July 30, 2010. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=2060

7. Isabellas. Three Reasons Strategy Games Are Good. July 30, 2010. http://hubpages.com/hub/three-reasons-strategy-games-are-good

8. Google. July 30, 2010. http://www.google.com/#q=History+of+the+mouse+trap+board+game&hl=en&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=HBNTTIPFKYX6sAO1nozOBQ&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CEcQ5wIwCg&fp=fb0bee69b5aae820

9. Hand Eye Coordination. July 30, 2010. http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/hand-eye-coordination-1556.html