Scientific for the Older Folks

Speaking of tiddlywinks... As I may have mentioned, my father was, on top of everything else, a bit of a packrat. One of his "childish things" he hung onto was this board game, which he had gotten for his tenth Christmas. We played several times when in my turn I was ten and he still thought I could be taught to understand, if not love, football.





The gist of it is that you choose what play you're going to make, and then spin the spinner to see what yardage you achieve. Then you move the little football pin to the appropriate place on the "gridiron" and follow the usual football rules (gaining ten yards to achieve another "first down" etc. -- it's all coming back to me after 40 years) until the other team gets the ball.

If you have all afternoon and a good pair of bifocals, here are the instructions.



I never took to it (or the real thing) to the extent he did. I remember endless weekends oveerhearing as he listened in the other room to the gabbling radio sportscasters wetting themselves over some unbelieveable field goal or whatever. He took me to a college game once. I remember I liked (and understood) the hotdogs.


(For more nostalgia, visit Sepia Saturday.