“Bury All Your Horses…”

When I was a kid, traveling distances with my family, we use to play all sorts of games to pass time. These days the kids play with video games, watch DVD’s or listen to their iPod, but back in my day we only had each other for entertainment! My Mom and Dad had a number of games they used to use to keep us occupied and make the journey seem shorter! Some of the games we played included: “I spy with my little eye something that begins with…”, “I packed my bag and in it I put…” and “Name that tune…”. Perhaps my favourite was “Bury all your horses…”. This is a game where you find and count all the horses you see on your side of the car. The object is to see who has counted the most horses at the end of the game! One catch! If a cemetery is passed on your side and the other players see it and call out “Bury all your horses!!” you lose the count and have to start all over again. A tricky game, but a lot of fun. Judi and I play variation where you can only lose 10 horses at a time! Speaking of Judi and games, she tells me that when she and her sisters where kids they use to play board games to reduce the monotony of long drives. One game in particular that they use to play was “Clue”. It seems incredible that Judi was able to win (or lose) at will!! I told how great that was until she told me that she use to mark the Clue cards and knew right from the start of the game who the murderer was, what room and with what weapon!! I don’t think her sisters or parents knew until later in life! With all the long distances we drive today, we still use games to pass the time! However, I refuse to play, with Judi, anything involving cards!