Aw Chutes, I fell off my Ladders

Reminisce with me for a moment back to your childhood days and all the board games that were played back then. These brightly colored challenges were not only instrumental in learning motor and communicational skills at a young age- they were the building blocks of the “life lessons” we all have to learn.

Take, for instance, the game of Chutes and Ladders: The purpose of this game was to reach the top of the board starting at the bottom by advancing based on the number chosen by a spinner. The challenge came in through the form of the Chutes and Ladders that were on the game. If a player landed on a square with a Ladder, they could advance from one to many rows closer to the goal, and if a player landed on a Chute, they had to slide down the rows and squares farther from the goal. If a player never landed on a square with a shoot or a ladder, they could still reach the end of the game.

How is this a life lesson? It demonstrates in small doses, the feelings of the ups and downs we all eventually experience. The spinner is relative to the “Chance” in our lives. It is through chance that we experience good luck, and therefore get to go up in life and that same chance can send us back down again. I can remember playing the game and having a rush every time I got closer to the goal and the disappointment of having to slide down- even if the SLIDING down part was more fun sometimes, it still left me farther behind than I was before.

The social interaction experienced during this simple game is also a part of the lesson. Although you have a better chance of winning with a two player game, it is sometimes much more fun the more competitors you have. And what about those competitors?

Remember the poor losers? They would always cry or throw a tantrum even though it was only chance that led them to losing. They might blame the other players for their loss.

How about the poor winners? The gloaters who ran around saying “I WON, I WON” and making a big deal about how great their win was. Sometimes this behavior is what would set off a poor loser.

The gracious winners/losers are always there- the ones who smile and clap and want to play again- regardless of who won or lost.

The cheaters existed- the ones who would try to make the spinner stop exactly on the number they wanted, or pushed their piece ahead a square or row when no one was watching.

And finally- the purposeful loser- the one who threw their OWN game in order to be well liked by NOT winning when they had every opportunity too. (Parents usually fell into this category).

These are the behaviors of people from age 6 to 96. When you go back to your own childhood gaming experiences- what type of player were you then?

Are you still that type of “game” player now? I bet most of us are- or have versions of that former self still ingrained into us.

Maybe we should all revisit our childhood games and take a closer look at just how well we play with others.