truly worldly.

despite the late afternoon sun's warm golden glow on the parking structure "c" wall flanking the swimming pool's clear turquoise water, fluttering blue and white triangle turn flags indicate just how strong the chilly breeze skirts about rippling the level liquid beneath. ducked into a patch of shade, the only area around the pool with a handful of tables and chairs, i zip up the front of my jacket as the wind flips open and leafs through the paperback book in front of me. oi, tudo bem? i ask a kid walking towards me. he smiles and nods, caught off-guard by the portuguese. where's your brother? i ask. he's coming, the boy replies.

kids gather around one of the small round brushed-steel tables next to me. you took your hand off! you took your hand off! one boy screams to another across the checkerboard battlefield between them. several weeks ago, what began as a cursory game to pass the time and ward off boredom has become quite fittingly, war at its finest. here by the pool, chess has somehow taken over, and as i look at the focused looks on the faces of the little ten or eleven year olds around me now deep in concentration, i am glad that it has. [originally accounted on 05.25.2005, unpublished]

once upon a time, simple boardgames reigned. there is some strange inherent quality in simple boardgames that seem to draw people together, fuel imaginations, and spark utter hatred, usually leading to overwhelming desires to go back for more - to redeem oneself it seems, or to enact a ruthless revenge. once upon a time, i had obsessions with the games of checkers, chess, backgammon, mancala, monopoly, stratego, risk, mahjong, and dominoes (despite the no-board quality of the last two), and as i hear about kids these days, as well as those my age caught in the worlds of video games, and now, online computer games, i can only speculate about the implications this will have on children's play habits in the future. there would no longer be a need to use my own imagination when blizzard entertainment, nintendo, sega, or sony create them for me. there would no longer be a need to go outside and play with friends when i would be able to do so over my phone line or internet cable. there would no longer be a need to make new friends in my area (who may or may not have similar interests to me) when i can make friends on the other side of the world, who i know already have one interest in common with mine. in a sense i am not becoming a shut-in; instead, i am becoming more worldly (while honing my hand-eye coordination skills, of course).

what a sad, worldly world that would be. i've personally, never stayed with the times, it seems, in terms of video gaming. aside from the atari i received from a cousin and some pixilated repetitive games i could play on an old apple IIc, i've never been attracted to, nor particularily good at video games, but that isn't the point. boardgames were just so much more enjoyable. unlike video games which are confined by all the rules and regulations of a digital world, boardgames are subjective and incredibly educational. somehow, boardgames have the ability to teach notions of chance, hierarchy, war, strategy, money management, geography, mathematics, and culture - and this was all before video games showed up.

even now, i am amazed each time i recall recent bouts with friends over a boardgame. i miss the massive monopoly game which erupted at a staff retreat, leading to the utter domination of one player and clearing out the bank. i miss the side deals and shady trades which make monopoly that much more similar to reality, as well as too many houses and hotels on one property line, it accidentally spills onto neighboring lots. i miss the nighty mahjong wars in the dormitory lounge with family guy playing on the television in the background and nothing on the line except our prides. i miss teaching my little cousins the ancient egyptian game of senet and watching them interpret the bisected wooden rods which serve as dice, and i miss the game of dominoes which developed among friends and lasted into the wee hours of the night, soliciting random, yet friendly and always hilarious, cuss-filled outbursts, acusations, and insults.

finally it is back to international chess that i miss - not so much the immortal solidarity of its pieces in time, nor the game as competition. putting aside the ticking clocks (which i have never used) and tense atmosphere, chess becomes a game to have a conversation over, and despite its inherent warring characteristic, seems as sleek and sophistcated as the burnished pieces themselves. it becomes a thoughtful addition to a table outside a coffeshop as a friend and i watch passerbys, and it becomes a beacon to those who understand its draw, its nostalgia, and its resilience to the ages.

of course i have played outdoor games; i once played dominoes in an open air cafe in paris.
: wilde.