Tips for Never Losing Another Game Board Piece
By Ann Springer
My husband and I are both highly competitive by nature so it’s no surprise our children have inherited that same love of friendly rivalry. We’ve decided that regular board game battles are a great outlet at our house. Subsequently we have a large assortment of games which require a smart storage system.
First, we try to place games with lots of small pieces, like Clue or Monopoly, on high shelves. I figure if the game requires adult supervision to play then I think it should require adult supervision to reach the game. Other games such as Boggle and Jenga are kept at a lower level so the kids can easily play a game when they’re looking for an alternative to watching TV.
We also keep a ziplock bag filled with notepads, pens and extra dice in close contact. It seems like it’s always a scramble to locate enough pens and paper for everyone when we’re trying to get game night rolling. Who wants to write down their answers for Scattergories with a broken orange crayon from under the couch? It really doesn’t give you the competitive edge you’re striving for. That’s for sure.
We also keep a basket on a top shelf to temporary give random pieces that get misplaced a home. These are the fun little gems your feet magnetically locate in your home when you get up in the middle of the night with a sick child. When we open up a board game and notice we’ve got a missing piece we always check the mystery basket first to see if that thimble from Monopoly or those extra little pink and blue stick figures from Life are waiting to be retrieved.
Granted, it’s better to not lose the pieces in the first place. So, we try to use as many Ziplock re-sealable baggies to keep our game pieces gathered. No matter how careful you are a game piece will be dropped and roll under the couch, or a child will drop one game while trying to get another down. When these mix-ups happen you’ll find yourself on all fours trying to determine which marble-like pieces go with Mancala and which belong with the Chinese Checkers. It’s bound to happen, so do what you can to minimize the potential mess.
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