Stitching with Elli

There is quite a large group of dolls living at my house now. Occasionally I am startled to find what they are up to…today was one of those days.

I heard a fair amount of bumping and thumpings in the other room. When I called to ask if they needed anything, I heard several voices calling back

“No, it is okay” …. we are Fine!”….. “Don’t worry” (why is it when someone tells you “not to worry”,  you suddenly think maybe you should be worried. Even though you weren’t worried in the slightest before!)

I did hear Ellen start to say ” Don’t you think Emily could…” then she was cut off suddenly. As if someone shushed her…I heard Felicity telling her”No no, we are okay. Emily is busy right now. We got this!”

“Are you sure? Josefina?” I asked. (Josefina was the oldest and her judgement could be trusted the most.)  Josefina confirmed it was okay and they didn’t need me. My curiosity was piqued. However, I was rather busy myself, so didn’t check on them.

The thumpings and bumpings continued for a while…..the door open and shut several times…and then silence. Silence makes me even more curious when there is normally a lot of noise.

I looked out the window and saw this….

What do you supposed they are up to?

Apparently they had gotten a bunch of games out of the closet and were taking them somewhere to play. (I’m slightly sorry I didn’t check on them. It must have been an interesting sight, to see them pulling games out of the high shelves!)

I decided what I had been doing was not nearly as interesting as what they were doing. I went to go see what they were planning.

Ruthie was in the lead pulling a wagon with Sorry and Careers. Lanie helped steady it.

Then came Elizabeth and Nellie with Risk on the big wheelbarrow. Felicity had Battleship in another wheelbarrow. Maryellen had Mancala in her wheelbarrow. Finally Bridget and Rose brought up the rear, with  a basket full of pencils, dice and other things they might need for the games.

“Nellie, why did you stop pushing?” asked Elizabeth

“There is a problem. Uhh,  you might say a bit of a speed bump” explained Nellie.

“What do you mean?” asked Elizabeth

“The cat decided to crawl underneath. I can’t push the wheelbarrow when she is in the way.” explained Nellie.

All the dolls started fussing at the cat because she was in the way. The games were heavy! They wanted to start the line moving!

Elizabeth shooed the cat out of the way and they got moving again. “We are almost there!” called Ruthie over her shoulder.

They told me they were going to the place I had set up their play house the day before. It seemed like a excellent idea to me!

When we arrived at the play house, there was a quite a bit of hussle and bustle.  Getting all the games set up, everyone sitting down, and the rules explained to everyone took quite a bit of time. It was so busy, no one took any pictures till everything was set up.

What better way to spend a day in late summer? Board games can be so much fun.

Josefina and Bridget decided to play Careers with Samantha.

Samantha got to be the banker. She and Josefina were explaining strategies of how to write your success formula to Bridget. Bridget hadn’t played Careers before. Josefina and Samantha took care to explain the rules clearly.

Felicity and Bonnie were deep in thought about their Mancala Game. Felicity had a strategy for winning. She said it would make her win every time.

Bonnie was thinking very hard about her moves to try and prove Felicity wrong.

“You got another hit sunk!!!” Ellen yelled. (She said she wasn’t yelling, it was just a loud exclamation, but it sounded like a yell to me.)

She was playing Battleship with Nellie. I don’t think Ellen was winning because I kept hearing grumbles about “You aren’t even paying attention and you are still winning…No strategy… How can I win against such random attacks??”

Nellie wasn’t taking the game nearly as seriously as Ellen was. She kept chattering away to Susan and Rose who were sitting next to her.

There are two kinds of people that play board games. Those that just do it for fun and don’t care particularly if they win. They enjoy the talk, as much (or maybe more than) playing the game. These people tend to not always pay attention to when their turn is or other things going on with the game.  Then there are those that play board games like their name is Alexander the Great and they must conquer this game in the next 30 minutes!! Friendships go out the window while they sit in front of a game…it is serious business!

( Felicity is reading over my shoulder and told me  if I really want to get detailed about it, there are also those that would like to win but don’t care too much….and then those that want to win but not beat everyone else too badly…..and there are probably other types as well. Ruthie is reading over my other shoulder and just launched into the  “There are those”  song from the movie Happiest millionaire. Now I have that song stuck in my head… 😀 )

I shall leave you to guess which kind  of player Ellen is and which kind Nellie is 😉 Maybe they should not have been playing a two player game by themselves. Ellen was trying to explain to Nellie why strategy was so important. Nellie was not grasping the importance of this information and wasn’t paying full attention. When Ellen is frustrated apparently she takes her hat on and off….she kept putting it back on all cockeyed.

Occasionally from inside the tent Josefina would call out and remind Ellen “It is just a game, you can play again if you loose.”

I think Rose won her game of Sorry and was celebrating.

The final group seemed to be having a discussion about the rules. Elizabeth had the rules out and was looking them over.

Ruthie was asking how many countries she got for her first match.

I think Maryellen is going to win this game. She has a look of determination!

Besides I wonder if the other dolls know Maryellen was reading this booklet the other day….

It looked pretty in depth…with lots of charts about probability etc. Maryellen said someone from MIT wrote it.

There was bound to be some losers. In spite of that, I think everyone enjoyed the day, even Ellen. After she lost a game of battleship, she won a game of Careers. That made her perk up and be more cheerful.

However, I found her reading this the next day…..I don’t think she intends to lose another game of battleship 😉

What is your favorite board game to play? Which kind of board game player are you  competitive? or just for fun? 😉