A Whole New BOARD GAME No controllers, no plugs! Old-school diversions take another turn

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When Cathy Anderson sat down to plan a game night for Bangor’s 2006 New Year’s Eve festivities, she didn’t know what to expect. Her store, The Briar Patch, is small, and she was worried that there wouldn’t be enough room. That afternoon, she and employee Louise Jolliffe set up a handful of board games and waited. But they didn’t have to wait long.

“From 6:30 to 11:30 the place was packed,” Jolliffe recalled. “It was so busy, and it was all ages. It was just great to see this interest in board games. They wanted to sit down and play them and buy them. There definitely is this new wave coming in.”

In recent years, board games have enjoyed a renaissance of sorts, in spite of – or perhaps because of – the surge in electronic game options for Sony’s PlayStation III, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii.

“This is the best time there’s ever been,” said Patricia Estabrook, who along with her husband, Ray, owns All About Games in Belfast. “There are more good nonelectronic games than there ever have been in the history of games, and I think that’s due, in part, to the money made from electronic games.”

Whatever the reason, there’s no denying the appeal of sitting down with family and friends for a lively round of Cranium, Apples to Apples or Luck of the Draw – today’s answers to Trivial Pursuit, Scattergories and Pictionary. They’re wild fun, especially on a wintry night when all you want to do is hibernate. And they provide something that even the most cerebral of video games doesn’t: interaction.

“Electronic games are so isolating,” Estabrook said. “Nonelectronic games require you to play with other people. They teach you to win graciously and lose gracefully.”

In addition to All about Games, the Estabrooks started The Game Loft, a community center that has become a popular after-school hangout. And though the focus is all fun and games, there’s a serious element, as well.

“A lot of kids say, ‘I don’t like to lose,’ Estabrook said. “I say, ‘You haven’t played enough games. If you play more games, you’d lose so many times it wouldn’t matter anymore.'”

For younger children, most popular games have an educational component. Estabrook recommends Sleeping Queens, which was designed by an 8-year-old, for memory and math lessons. It is especially popular with girls. Quiddler is a Scrabble-style game that uses cards instead of tiles, and it appeals to children and adults. So, too, does the 10 Days series, which is a strategy game centered on travel.

The benefits extend to adults, too. In a study conducted at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, published in 2002 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that mental exercises – including board games – could stave off Alzheimer’s. In other words, Risk can reduce risk.

“A number of these games are very intense and really keep your mind very sharp,” Estabrook said.

She recommends strategy games such as Settlers of Catan, the Norman conquest-themed Britannia, and Carcassonne. Set in Medieval France, Carcassonne is a favorite of Kirk Davis, who owns Games Unlimited in Bangor with his business partner Rachel Robichaud. The game employs some of the same strategies as Risk, without the war aspect.

“This is more of and early settlement land-gaining game, rather than ‘OK, we’re gonna take over Europe,'” Davis said. “The really good games, like Carcassonne, are easy to learn but hard to master.”

Though Games Unlimited has a steady clientele of role-playing gamers, and it recently added Japanese anime video games to its lineup, board games remain a staple. Davis attributes the lasting popularity of board games to their inherent social element.

“While you interact with people online, you’re not really getting the full interaction with another person.”

At The Briar Patch in Bangor, Jolliffe sees many frustrated parents who say, “We need a game to play.” For them, it’s about far more than moving pieces around a board. Jolliffe, who has a 6-year-old daughter, understands the opportunities that game-playing provides.

“I just love the sitting at the table, looking at each other,” Jolliffe said, smiling, talking. “It gives you the opportunity to talk about other things.”

And unlike video games, board games and card games don’t end once you reach the highest level.

“A good game grows with you,” Estabrook said. “Like rereading a good novel, as you get older and more sophisticated in your gaming, you’ll see the game in a different light.”

Resources:

All About Games: 78 Main St., Belfast, 338-9984, www.allaboutgamesmaine.com

Briar Patch, 27 central St., Bangor, 941-0255

Games Unlimited,499 Hammond St., Bangor 941-1944

Carcassonne

$24.95, 2-5 players, age 8 and up

Lay tiles to claim land in this strategy game set in Medieval France.

Luck of the Draw

$19.99, 4-8 players, age 10 and up

Think Pictionary for people with no artistic ability. Creativity, not drawing skill, is key.

Settlers of Catan

$39.95, 3-4 players, age 12 and up

Trade with your opponents for resources to build your culture in this strategy game.

Ten Days in the U.S.A.

$19.99, 2-4 players ages, 10 and up

A great family game. Arrange tiles to chart your route across the country.

Apples to Apples

$24.99-$29.99, 4-10 players, ages 9 and up

Match nouns, adjectives – and wits – in this hilarious party game.

Blokus

$25, 2-4 players ages 5 and up

Players try to be the first to place all blocks on the board in this beautiful “abstract” game.

Brittania

$39.95, 3-5 players, ages 12 and up

This complex strategy game leads players through early English history

Corsari

$11.95, 2-4 players, ages 8 and up

Trade cards to recruit the best crew for your pirate ship. Arrrrrr!

Last Word

$19.99, 2-8 players, ages 8 and up

Race opponents to shout the last word before the buzzer in this wild party game.

Quiddler

$12, 1-8 players, ages 10 and up

Like Scrabble with cards instead of tiles.

Road to the White House

$29.95, 2-4 players, ages 12 and up

Try to get your candidate elected and follow a political campaign from start to finish.

Sleeping Queens

$9.95, 2-5 players, ages 8 and up

Use strategy and math to rouse the queens from their slumber in this card game.

Thing-a-ma-Bots

$5.99, 2-6 players, ages 6 and up

Give a robot a name – just try to remember it! – in this fast-paced card game.