The Bookless Club: Any game traditions in your family?

Over the years, I’ve learned some cut-throat tactics for Scrabble. Success, I’ve deduced, hinges on a stockpile of incredibly short words.

I need some new friends. Oh, the friends I have are alright. But, frankly, I’m a little disappointed in them.

Sure, they’ll show up to dig out my driveway, deliver hot soup, arrive with home baking, tea and sympathy when I need it. When it comes to board games, however, they vanish. I’m shocked at how few of them want to play games.

Scrabble, Charades, Pictionary — none of these appeal to my so-called friends. I, on the other hand, am a lunatic for games like charades. It’s not so much the outcome of the game, but I just love watching people flail about conveying movie titles like, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being.

To me, this is endlessly entertaining. I’ll happily humiliating myself attempting to communicate a book title like The Rise And Fall Of Nations to my team if only for the merriment and derision that ensue. Over the years, I’ve learned some cut-throat tactics for Scrabble.

Success, I’ve deduced, hinges on a stockpile of incredibly short words like “Aa”, which volcanologists worldwide recognize as the word for rough flows of lava. Another ace up the sleeve is “xu”, a monetary unit of Vietnam. Or “os”, an anatomical term, is another good one.

Have these at the ready and everyone’s lunch money is as good as yours. Failing party games, I’ll settle for a puzzle. Puzzles are like big snifters of brandy — they seem to inspire rumination and disclosures.

Many’s the time, as I click an elusive part of the puzzle into place, I’ve announced, “You know, I served time for murder.” It’s not true, but the hushed moment seems to beg for sweeping declaration. I was recently introduced to crokinole, a game I was surprised to learn is of French-Canadian invention.

In some respects, it’s like curling, except you’re finger-flicking wooden discs across a board of obstacles. It was far harder than it first appeared, and my fingers ached the next day. I’m hoping that at some point over the summer someone insists on launching the party game, Mafia.

It’s a social deduction game that involves bluffing. It pits two groups against each other. One group is the informed minority — the Mafia — the other is the uniformed majority.

So like life you say? Indeed! Except for the moderator, no one knows who is who.

The game involves “killing” someone, saving someone, and investigating the events. The winner is the best liar. Until I actually play this game, much of it remains unclear to me.

In the meantime, I keep a small tin of lettered dice close at hand. At least once a day, I dump those dice on a table and form as many connected words as I can. I’m often frustrated by how few vowels are available on those dice, but I’m often gratified when I manage to form words by whatever’s come up.

The medical community tells me that games like this offer a robust mental workout. There is plenty of evidence that it will also offset cognitive impairment and memory loss. The rewards are even greater if you get together with friends to play these games.

This is all good news, but honestly, I’m happy to play for matchsticks and nickels. Bragging rights rule! Jane Macdougall is a freelance writer and former National Post columnist who lives in Vancouver.

She writes The Bookless Club every Saturday online and in The Vancouver Sun. For more of what Jane’s up to, check out her website, janemacdougall.com This week’s question for readers: Question: Any game traditions in your family?

Send your answers by email text, not an attachment, in 100 words or less, along with your full name to Jane at thebooklessclub@gmail.com . We will print some next week in this space. Previous question for readers: Question: Parking, multiplexes, neighbours ... is it about to get ugly?

• Yes, it will get ugly. Residents assume that just because they own a property, they automatically “own” the parking spot in front of it.

They don’t. Streets are owned by all taxpayers. If someone wants to “own” a specific parking spot, let them buy it and become responsible for maintenance such as storm water run-off, leaf clearing, snow removal, fixing potholes, and policing it.

Property lines don’t extend into the street. Rick Jelfs • I’m sure it’s about to get ugly.

We have a three-unit multiplex next door due to be completed by the end of summer. We already have many homes on our street with basement suites that require parking space for tenants, so the situation is already difficult. I guess we’re all supposed to sell our cars and take transit.

Heidi Wiesner • The lack of available street parking in Vancouver residential areas will definitely cause problems unless the new multiplexes have on-site spaces. It is worth noting that a homeowner does not have the legal right to dictate who parks on the public street in front of their home.

Public roads are City of Vancouver property and anyone can park there as long as they follow local bylaws. Unfortunately, it will get ugly among neighbours vying for the same limited parking spaces. Paula Alvaro •

I could have written that column. Are you a neighbour I haven’t met? The construction vehicles have damaged many fenders and mirrors plus garage doors as vehicles try to turn around in our crescent.

The easements in our yards have been dug up, sidewalks demolished, gardens shaded out. My car was written off after a hit-and-run while parked, my neighbour’s wallet was stolen when she ran back into her house while parked on the street. The city has replanted the circle four times.

Costs to the city, ICBC and taxpayers, both financial and emotional, are phenomenal. Adrienne Clark • I live near Oakridge Park. Since 2020, there has been construction of the new mall as well as 14 highrises.

Construction will not be finished until about 2030. The City of Vancouver did a very poor job on street parking within one kilometre of this new mega-centre. Up to 3,000 workers come to this site everyday.

The city should have posted signage on every street and lane in this neighbourhood so workers who commute by cars do not park on our streets. Many of the workers park anywhere. Yes, many get tickets, but many tickets are paid by the developer and or other sub-contractors.

It’s the cost of doing business. Nathan Davidowicz • Parking, multiplexes, neighbours, is it about to get ugly? Well, I’d say it has already become ugly.

We have multi-vehicle neighbours now, too. They are choosing to park on our street rather than cram them all in their large driveways. There are more and more rentals in our residential area that used to be single-family homes.

It’s happening everywhere with the demand for more housing. We are all losing our pleasant neighbourhoods. Janis Randall • All of the houses in my neighbourhood have a two-car garage and space for two vehicles on their driveway.

About half of the houses don’t have secondary suites. Most neighbours have either transformed their garage area into a gym, or the garage is used for storage. A lot of owners have widened their driveway, which takes away a spot to park on the street, or the driveway would be blocked.

Between that and the cul-de-sacs, the fire hydrants, the stop signs, not parking too close to a driveway, corner or mailbox, parking has been really squeezed. When we moved in 35 years ago, there were not many cars parked on the street and I used to be able to rollerblade or bike ride. The kids used to be able to play on the street.

Now there’s a constant stream of delivery trucks or cars speeding to drop kids off at a home-based daycare. This is without any up-zoning or redevelopment. We used to have a nearby bus route, but that was cancelled long ago, so the area is car dependent.

Name withheld • My husband and I had just separated. Miserable, I bought myself a car and a condo unit in a converted, old building.

My narrow parking stall was by the neighbour’s fence. When I saw scratches and dents on my car, another neighbour told me he had seen the unruly child next door throwing stones at it. His grandmother angrily denied it.

One late night, I left my car on the street. The next morning, I found my side mirrors smashed. The police message on the windshield told me all cars on my side of the street had been vandalized.

Madeleine Lefebvre • A city’s global reputation isn’t just based on our big civic structures, but also on the beauty of its residential neighbourhoods. That’s the genuine expression of the local populace.

What are we doing by making our city into a rabbit warren of hideous boxes that really only serve a developer’s purpose? Name withheld • It’s not just parking.

These new mini-mutliplexes mean that mom and dad’s garage and basement just became even more essential. Where are you going to put seasonal stuff or athletic equipment? We’re destroying Vancouver.

I can hardly wait to vote in the next election. Name withheld