I was a child that had the grand sum of three television channels in my formative years.

And when I say three channels, I don't mean they came into my household in all their reverent high-definition quality. I'm talking three channels on a small black-and-white set, with a signal that left much of the broadcast to imagination.

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So, unlike today's plethora of hundred-channel cable options, we tired of the tube pretty quickly. And if it was raining tabbies and schnauzers outside, or if the snow had drifted up against the front door, our options for entertainment quickly dwindled.

There were always books to read. But it's a stretch to keep young boys' attention with such for hours at a time, so we often turned to our treasure trove of board games.

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Like most kids of the mid-60s to mid-70s era, we graduated up from the Candyland, Chutes and Ladders fare to more challenging pursuits.

We played Scrabble from time to time, and it was good to get your imagination (and vocabulary) flowing.

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Monopoly was always a great game, if you had a few hours to burn.

Monopoly got exciting when all the properties were bought up and all the horse trading waned. We always wanted to gather property on a corner or a nice, long stretch to assure anyone entering the "gauntlet" had to pay - and pay handsomely.

As long as everyone played fair (and the banker was honest), the game could go on for hours. Once it got down to two competitors, the plot thickened. You were always one false move, er, roll away from losing your empire.

That was the cool part about the game. When things looked bleak, chances are someone would land on St. James Place, and with a hotel, you could bust them for half their stack of cash, or better yet, acquire a couple of houses from the debtor. Sorry, man - dem's da breaks!

Even as we got older, we'd sleep over at friends' homes, playing until the wee hours in the epic battle for property and real estate mogul mastery.

Today, Monopoly comes in many forms. Not only are there a massive amount of local editions, other versions run the gamut from "Family Guy" to Bass fishing to Elvis to Hard Rock Cafe.

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Nowadays, when the family gets together (which is very rare), we tend to play games like Rummikub and Sequence. Both have their merits and require a good amount of concentration, which means you either play them during the day, or you play them in the early evening to assure a good night's sleep.

Inevitably, after a couple of hours when you reach the point you realize you have hundreds of channels to check out, the boards can tend to lose their appeal.

But hey, there's always something on TV - how often do you get a chance to have some quality time with your quality peeps?

When he's not "taking a ride on the Reading," Jerry Hitchcock is a copy editor for The Press. He can be reached at 664-876, Ext. 2017, or via email at jhitchcock@cdapress.com.