Elbows on the Table

This article printed with permission from Playthings.com

By Beth Pfeiffer McNay

Traditional games are enjoying a renaissance in the Video Age

Not long ago, electronic games were poised to change the game industry landscape forever, and in fact they have. But, as usual, it didn't happen quite as forecast. To walk through the aisles of most toy and game stores or to leaf through the pages of a catalog today is to witness the renewed and extraordinary vitality found in hands-on, across-the- table games - the sort that are truly interactive.

Traditional games are not, as some predicted, moldy cardboard relics of some mythical golden age of gameplaying. At last, perhaps prompted by the technological revolution, game makers are remembering that playing a winning game is time well spent and that, in fact, good games-engaging, educational, and whimsical games - are worthy of the choicest currency of our generation: time.

The industry is remembering what traditional games of the past have always demonstrated: that a game is more than a game - it's a valuable asset to a child's development.

Kids Win Studies have shown that that sequencing and conceptualizing that occur in a child's mind during the playing of a well-crafted game inspire two types of learning: the development of mathematical and theoretical thought; and the development of narrative and linguistic thought.

At Gamewright, we've observed the play processes of children long enough to know that play is no less than the cradle of symbolic and creative thought. Learning by doing is as powerful a process as there is - and in a game, kids are challenged to think, observe, recall, and consider, then make that decisive move that puts all of those efforts to the test.

Families Win The vitality that is re-entering American game making is great news for families. Credit should lay at the feet of those game makers who, understanding the Baby Boomer Gestalt, have invested energy in the truly creative, taking kids to a special place within the playtime of a game where they can think and grow and learn.

The shared experience of a game is an ideal environment for kids and families to deepen mutual and self-understanding. Interpersonal skills are enriched and expanded.

How Retailers Can help Every parent wants to choose a winning game. But replying on familiar licensed characters or reading the raves on the game box provide little help in making those choices.

Specialty retailers stand apart from the rest of the retail trade.

They are the industry's front lines, investing their sales resources in products that are on the cutting edge of exceptional quality and good taste.

When a consumer says he wants a "good game," what he is often expressing is a desire for a game that operates on more that one intellectual level, having at once the capacity to challenge, appeal to a wide age span, make use of imaginative graphics, play with words, and make players laugh when they lest expect it.

The richer the game, the more rewarding the play.

Our mission at Gamewright is to offer these things in each of our games, and thereby provide families and children with compelling reasons to return to traditional games time and time again, elbows on the table and face to face.

The best new games have to be the product of people who value the important role of families and friends in shaping children.

Beth Pfeiffer McNay is CEO of Boston-based Gamewright, Inc., maker of an entire line of award winning specialty card, dice and board games.