Our Games-No Batteries Required

In this age of computerized games and gadgets, comprised of micro chips and mini-circuit boards adorned in ergonomically designed plastic overcoats, I sometimes need to pause and reflect on simpler times.

As I recall, the first electrically operated game I encountered in my youth was the gaudy four legged pinball machine down at Frank Langer's candy store. It flashed multi-colored lights and made both buzzing and ding ding sounds whenever it was fed nickels. A spring loaded plunger was pulled back by the operator and then released sending a small chorme plated ball rolling toward a number of possible point scoring areas on the board.

About the only physical exercise you got while playing, was from nudging and pushing the sides of the wooden case until the machine registered ,"TILT," in bright red flashing letters before shutting down. Today, there are many more sophisticated games that can fit into the palm of your hand and offer you two options: They can entertain you for a reasonable length of time, or they can rob you of big chunks of time that might have been used more creatively.

Before the advent of television, the elegant wood encased radio that graced our living room reigned as the ultimate source of information and entertainment and the words and sounds it delivered helped create the unique images each of us formed in our mind. When television arrived, it left nothing to the imagination. We gained a picture, but may have lost a valuable asset.

Lest I forget, whenever I hear people talking about their new DVD's, the image of a new brand of underwear comes to my mind.

During the summer months, we spent a lot of tine at the local school playground playing One Bounce Stickball. This was the, "bare essentials," game since the only equipment needed was a tennis ball and old broom handle to use as a bat. There were many variations of this game depending on the number of players available, but usually most of the standard rules of baseball applied, the only difference being that the pitched ball had to be bounced once during its delivery to the batter.

Looking back, I think we did all right in that faded fragment of time that was our youth. We, as kids, engaged ourselves in activities that fostered social interaction and in physical sports that kept us lean and required us to learn to give and take. Yeah, we did good...

Story ID:	3679
Written by:	Tom Foley (bio, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Musings, Essays and Such
Location:	Everywhere U.S.A.
Year:	1940
Person:	Me