Sunday, January 31, 2016

Sisterly Fun with Clue

        I grew up in a big Italian family with two sisters. Laura, my oldest sister was four years older than myself and my twin, Christina. We were probably about 10 and Laura was 14. Laura actually taught us how to play Clue during a snow storm at our cousins house and it then magically appeared under our Christmas Tree that Christmas. We were SO excited. 

          Being Italian, there were always so many people over at our house and believe it or not, to escape the loudness, the three of us would venture upstairs to Laura's bedroom and play Clue. The memory of the board game laid out in Laura's bedroom leaves a vivid memory in my mind. We would all sit on Laura's king size bed, in the same spots every time we played Clue. Laura, being the oldest would distribute the correct amount of cards each one of use needed. We would role the dice and the person who rolled the highest number would go first. Unfortunately, I feel like I never was the person to go first. But I put on my big girl pants, a pretty smile, got over and enjoyed the game. I remember how much fun it was trying to guess what three specific cards were in the middle in the envelope. I also remember how I could never pronounce ‘Colonel Mustard.’ Laura would always yell at me. However, she would be nice at times and teach me little “tricks” to playing Clue. The smartest one was paying attention- especially when people were guessing. Always pay attention and write down what place, person and weapon they guessed and if it were incorrect, you, as a player, would know not to guess that. This was somewhat hard for me because my ADHD seemed to kick in when paying attention was involved ;) 

   Sports or competing always came natural to Laura and Christina. Every time we played board games I would never win. But there was more behind that. Over time, it came down to enjoyment and sisterly bonding time-not who won or who lost. Our schedules were so busy that a few nights a week were dedicated to playing Clue. It was always such an exciting feeling knowing the end result of the cards in the envelope. I can still hear the three of us “guessing” and laughing and just enjoying our time together. I enjoy games where the end result isn’t about winning. It’s about having fun and making memories.

I hope that one day my children can enjoy the “good” games and bond with their siblings just like I did.  


Bethany Gencarella 

2 comments:

  1. I remember playing clue with my brother and sister, and I have fond memories of bonding with siblings over this game too. We taught my younger sister how to play before she knew how to read. She has a photographic memory and so could keep track of all the different information as she learned it. We all had different tricks, and we learned a lot from each other. I wonder if learning and teaching "tricks" is part of this and other games?

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  2. I remember playing clue with my brother and sister, and I have fond memories of bonding with siblings over this game too. We taught my younger sister how to play before she knew how to read. She has a photographic memory and so could keep track of all the different information as she learned it. We all had different tricks, and we learned a lot from each other. I wonder if learning and teaching "tricks" is part of this and other games?

    ReplyDelete