Recreation in Times of Desperation

The world is ending. The electricity has gone out. Batteries are scarce. And you are bored out of your ever loving mind.

There is no internet. No consoles. Batteries are too rare and needed too much for flashlights to use in a handheld system. No CD players. No MP3s. No Nooks, Kindles, or Whathaveyous. TV? No. OMG, the world is…wait. Right.

Seriously though: what the hell are you going to do?

From Golden Gems

The answer is simple. I’m not kidding. Think about the games your parents and grandparents have told you about. They all sound more or less the same:

In my day, we didn’t have all this fancy interwebbly stuff. Oh no! if you wanted to have fun you had to go out of doors and play with a ball or swim in a creek or run around pretending to be one of them savage injuns.

You can entertain yourself in the same ways they did. I know, it’s seriously low tech, but those games have their benefits.

First of all, they don’t take any electricity or resources you simply do not have anymore. Have you heard the saying ‘there’s no use crying over spilt milk’? Well, it applies. Assess the situation, mourn a little (there’s no rule against mourning), and move on.

Most of the games that were played Back In The Day seriously improve skills needed for survival. Chess is a game about war that teaches the players to look ahead and strategize. Ping-pong increases hand-to-eye coordination. Dodge ball teaches players to dodge and attack. It also teaches them that being hit with one of those f’ing red rubber balls hurts like hell (i.e - avoid being caught).

From Cocktail Culture

Read a book. I have a Nook and I love it. But when the time comes that I have no more ability to charge it and download new books, I will happily go back to the paper version. Some books help their readers learn important skills. Others provide pure escapism. Many teach the reader something about life and what it means to be alive while providing an escape. Obviously some don’t, but if you’ve got the time to kill, you can find out first hand.

Tell stories. For thousands of years, people kept and passed on history orally. Fairy tales and campfire horror stories teach children about the monsters they may meet in the future and how to deal with them. Much of this is on a metaphoric level, but you never know when the world may be overrun by evil gingerbread men bent on complete and utter destruction of anything or anyone they meet. Your progeny will want to know about them.

All the more physical sports like football, soccer, rugby, Gaelic football, hurling, and ice hockey are excellent for learning how to think while running your ass off with people chasing you. They also help develop problem solving skills that directly relate to getting out of tough spots.

What low tech games and activities will occupy your time when the power fails? Tell us in the comments while you still can.

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