Monday, May 20, 2013

Flinch at Grandma M's House - Tradition

Every Sunday evening when I was growing up, my family would load up in the car and drive the twenty minutes to visit my grandma M. She was my fathers mother. Her garbage day was Monday morning so we would go to take out her garbage 


My grandmother had one set of cupboards in her spare room that had games in it. She also had a little drawer in the kitchen where she kept some small toys for the littler children. I will post about that later perhaps. 

With limited choices, the fall back game we would choose to play while visiting was "Flinch." This was because with seven siblings, we could all play as up to 8 players can play the game. She had a few other games but most had only up to four players. 
 
As I grew up, I forgot about "Flinch" until a few years ago. I was going through family movies and slides when my step mother reminded my father about a box of 8mm films and slides she had packed away after they moved. He had forgotten that after my grandmother died, he got all the films and slides. 

When I went through the box, I smiled when I found the "Flinch" game in the bottom of the "treasure" box.   
 
I immediately told my sister about it as I knew she would smile at the memory as well.  She asked that she get the game. She has never cared much about "things" so for her to want the game let me know it meant something to her. I asked my dad if she could have the game. He said it would be ok for her to have it. 


Many years ago I went to an antique store and looked around. I saw an old game of flinch. I paid about $10 for the game. Obviously, the memory of the game meant something to me as well. I never played it with my children as I played more children friendly games.

Since my sister got grandma M's game, she has played it with her children. I kept my eyes open for a game since that time and have found two games at second hand stores. You can add decks and players so it really doesn't matter what the back looks like. 


Today, Princess five closed her eyes and pointed and guess what game she came up with to play with her sisters? Yep, Flinch. 

Princess three was home for the weekend to present some award scholarships at the local high school Senior assembly as an ambassador for the college. It was nice to have four princesses home this weekend. Next weekend, I am hoping to have all five home since we didn't celebrate Mothers Day, it will be nice to have them all together. 

It was interesting to see how the cards have changed over the years. The original deck I found has numbers on both sides with a line in the middle. I took a picture of the original card and the name card for the game. 

The funnier thing was that the game instructions for the two newer decks I had, has the pictures from the older deck with the numbers on both sides. 

The redesigned cards are different on both sides. They have designs in the center and then pictures on the back of one and blue on the back of the other.

The back of the old decks look just like plain card decks from back then and some today. 

It is a bit of a slower paced game but similar to another game we play called "Nertz." We played "Nertz" this past week and I took pictures to be able to post about it but my internet has been so slow that I wasn't able to upload them last week. 

I am hoping that I can get it figured out soon. Anyway, If you are looking for a fun, slow paced games for kids age 8 and up, "Flinch" would be a great one.

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