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25 Nissan 5761 - April 18, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family
Bored? Try a Board Game

by R' Zvi Zobin

Board games such as chess and GO, go back many hundreds of years. In the 1960s, board games reached a high level of popularity, with classics such as Monopoly becoming best sellers. Nowadays, computers have taken over as the major pastime, yet board games still have much to offer which cannot easily be replicated by computer games.

Some board games, such as checkers (draughts), chess and GO, are games which depend on thoughtful tactics for their success. Others are based on `chance,' using dice or spinners. Some challenge the memory and others test knowledge.

Whatever the type, all board games are characterized by the fact that they all have a pre-set layout and clearly defined rules. This itself helps a child learn to dscipline himself, learn how to interpret rules, be fair and follow instructions.

Most board games are competitive and involve several players. Thus, a child learns to work interactively with others and accept failure with a good spirit.

Intellectual games, such as chess and GO, develop the ability to see the consequences of an action, to plan ahead and, thereby, to develop the imagination and use it as an intellectual resource.

The social interactivity of several players hunched around a board, each seeing the board from his own point of view yet needing to also relate to it from the point of view of the other players, is something which cannot be replicated by a computer.

 

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