Lindsay McMahon
"The English Adventurer"

Did you play a lot of games as a kid?

Are there some games that you may have heard of in the US but never actually played?

Are there some games that are unique to your culture at home?

Today we are talking about games, and we will teach you some common games kids play so you can connect with others.

Even if you have never played these games, it’s a great topic of conversation and makes for great connections as it’s based on nostalgia.

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Some Background On Playing Games

You might not think about it readily, but games are a big part of the culture.

Games are something that we have all played at some point in time.

Often times they represent good memories, and so we tend to like to talk about them.

We have done a couple of episodes in the past that talked about games, and these are good to listen to for some background.

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Games make for a great way to connect with others in unique and wonderful ways.

You can connect with kids because it gives you a fun activity to do together.

You can connect with other adults by talking about games that you enjoyed as a kid.

People love to talk about things that are nostalgic to them, and games are a great topic in this area.

So we see that games are a great conversation starter and way to connect, and we’ll get into some of the specific things to know and see about them moving forward.

Common Favorite Kids Games

There are some games that were very popular amongst kids when they are young.

These can be fun to talk about and even to learn about if you weren’t familiar with them when you were younger.

Take a look at these and figure out if you played any of these, or even if they sound fun to try out.

  • Rock paper scissors: You put your hands into the formation of a rock, paper, or scissors and then say shoot after you pick which one. Then depending on which one you picked and the other person picked, you can declare a winner for the round or a redo if you picked the same. Rock crushes scissors, paper covers rock, and scissors cut paper—so that declares the winner in that round. It’s a fun and easy enough game to play just using your hands and you can play against another person from anywhere.
  • Concentration: This is a fun game of true concentration, and it’s played with 54 cards, with no repeats or hesitations. You have to come up with names of X such as in categories, like you may have an example like select and come up with names of TV shows on your turn.
  • Cats in the cradle: This is more of a string game that you need some string to play. You use string and a book to try out different motions. You would wrap the string around your fingers and then move it about to try to come up with different configurations. It was so much fun to try, and it made for some laughs.
  • Thumb war: It’s as simple as standing before somebody and putting out your thumb towards each other. Then you would say “1 2 3 4 I declare thumb war starting now!” You both go back and forth with each other, thumbs intertwined, and you are trying to knock the other person’s thumb down. It may sound silly, but it’s a lot of fun and so easy to play.
  • Mercy: This may have been more of a game played between siblings. Why would people play this? What does mercy mean? It basically means I give up, please I beg you to stop. You would hold hands and try to bend the other person at the wrist—and whoever says mercy first loses. It’s a terrible game when you think of it, but it was fun as a kid!

Conversation Starters About Games

Games tend to be something that many people like to talk about.

They represent a joyous topic, or something that is entertaining and fun.

There are some great conversation starters that you can use to focus on games, and they can really help to get things going.

People tend to like to talk about what makes them happy or brings about good memories.

These questions can help you to get a conversation going, and may lead to great connections.

  • Did you ever play ____________ as a kid? It’s simple enough because people can answer one way or the other. If they did then they will likely want to reminisce about this game and the fond memories that they have of playing it. If they didn’t then they may be interested in hearing about it and learning more.
  • What was your favorite game when you were a kid? This causes people to think back and dig deep to consider what they enjoyed playing when they were younger. Typically people love to talk about their childhood, and games represent a wonderful part of that. You may learn about new games or be able to relate and have a conversation about a game that you both played when you were younger.
  • I grew up playing this game called ____________. Did you play that in the states? This is an instant way to a connection. It allows you to talk about something that you may have played when you were young, which may be unique to your culture. Either way it ensures that both of you think back to this time of your life and talk through games that were great memories and important to you.

Games can be so great for connection, and there are ways to educate yourself on some of the more popular ones.

Try to watch videos of these games, look for them in pop culture, or find out what games people are talking about.

Games represent a great way to connect through nostalgia, and that’s always a wonderful thing because it makes for a great conversation starter.

So as you can see, games aren’t just fun to play but they can be great to talk about as well.

Takeaway

Games are a great part of the culture, and a fun thing to focus on in conversation.

You may enjoy talking about games just as much as playing them, as this can bring back some great memories.

Try these conversation topics, as they will help you to connect in a fun and unique way.

Listen for times when people talk about games they played as children, as this helps others to relive some great memories.

Share the games you played, because there may be some that are unique to your culture and fun to talk about with others.

If you have any questions, please leave them below in the comments section.

We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

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