Moment of Ben: Old Games and Toys Part Two:

By Benjamin Paley

In the first installment of Moment of Ben, I wrote about some games and toys you may have played with when you were younger. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and could not put all of my thoughts in the article. Lucky for you, I am writing a second article on the same topic: old games and toys.

Recess:

You are sitting in your fourth grade classroom; the clock could not move any slower, and the number of anxious pencil taps on the desk is increasing every second. Then the teacher closed her book, stood in front of the class and said, “Time for recess.” Almost instantaneously, the pencil tapping stopped, and everyone stood up and headed for the door to go outside. Does this story sound familiar? I would be surprised if it did not. Everyone loved something about recess: the smell of the grass, the sound of children frolicking in the playground, the taste of freedom. Whatever it was, this ten to fifteen time period everyday was your chance to let out all of your stress.

Dodge ball:

There was an episode of Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide where Ned is made the dodge ball team captain, and has to help the team defeat Lumer (the school bully) and his gang. I just recently saw this episode and thought that it would be nice to add a dodge ball section to this article. Dodge ball is a relatively simple sport that is a lot of fun to play. One of my favorite dodge ball memories was at summer camp. The campers were on one team, and the counselors were on the other. We were playing dodge ball to recreate a battle scene from history that we were learning about in text class. Dodge ball is a great game to play during recess.

Assassin:

I have a lot of memories playing this fun game. The point of the game is to catch who the assassin is; but there are a few twists. The twists are what make this game so much fun. When I was a volunteer lifeguard at a summer camp, this was a game we would play with the campers if it was raining outside, or too cold outside to go in the water. Let me tell you, the campers really enjoyed playing this game as much as we (the staff) enjoyed watching them play the game. Assassin is also a fun game to play during recess.

Now it is your turn. If you have had a memorable experience playing with a game or toy, please comment on this article. Include the name of the game or toy, and write about why you enjoyed playing with it.