If you're pre-video game age, what kinds of pencil and paper games did you play?

[Bonobo]

Last edited Sun Mar 17, 2013, 12:50 AM - Edit history (1)

Of court we did all sorts of games like the ones where you make boxes and color them in (what's it called?) and also Battleship, but I was trying to remember how we used to play this one game which I thought we used to called "Sea, Air and Land" or something like that.

It's a "pencil flicking" game where your ship moves forward by flicking the pencil and then you would redraw your ship where it wound up. Then you try to shoot at the enemy ship the same way -by flicking your pencil so the line will intersect their ship.

Remember anyone?

We also used to draw amorphous shaped obstacles in the way representing either forests or mountains or whatever...

I would love to hear your own memory of pre-video game "video games" (if you will -they WERE similar to early atari games).

remdi95

[applegrove]

1. Hangman, xs & Os, that is all I can think of on paper.

We played cards mostly.

[csziggy]

4. Same for me and my sisters

Hubby during the 70s and into the 80s played D&D. A friend of his had gotten hold of an early xeroxed version of the rules and introduced their crowd to the game. The same group played bridge regularly, but they loved the complexity of D&D. They also played strategy board games such as Axis & Allies.

In fact the same guys still play the same games together all these years later.

[Tikki]

2. The paper Fortune Teller...

Tikki

[Bonobo]

3. Yeah we spent a lot of time doing that. Sometimes we spread cooties that way too.

[HopeHoops]

5. I forget what we called it, but it was basically a wavy track you drews.

Each player would use a pencil to snap a line from their start point along the track. It had to be a fast snap. At whatever point the line passed out of bounds (meaning the track outline), you put an "X" and that was your next start point. It was difficult.

[Frank Cannon]

6. I just played a really fun one over Thanksgiving with my nephews.

It's called "Racetrack" or sometimes "Vector Racing". The rules are simple, but it incorporates a lot of strategy and really "feels" like car racing. It's a GREAT way to teach the concepts of velocity, momentum and inertia to kids.

Here's where you can download the rules and a grid (or you can just use any graph paper you have laying around):

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/45007/racetrack-rules-and-grid

[IcyPeas]

7. join the dots...

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anyone remember this one?

[ChoralScholar]

8. How about MASH?

[Warren DeMontague]

9. heh heh heh

hey B.

Just googled and found this thread.

Dungeons and Dragons was the ultimate non-computer, paper and pencil, computer game IMHO. Yes, I was a nerd.


I also remember those little football games where the metal field would vibrate to move the players. Not paper and pencil but sure a blast from the past.

[Bonobo]

10. Warren...

I started playing D&D with my 3 kids several months agao after not playing since I was in my teens.

Lots of fun.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

11. Paper football