Colonel Mustard. 

In the ballroom. 

With the knife. 

That was my guess to win the game of “Clue” my wife and I played Wednesday night.  

I was wrong. 

It was in the study. 

For those who remember Clue, it’s a board game in which you try to figure out where a murder took place, who did it, and what weapon they used to commit their crime. 

Yes, I play older board games from decades ago and as of late, have become obsessed with collecting them. A downstairs closet is stacked high with the likes of “Battleship,” “Aggravation,” “Sorry,” “Operation,” “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “Go to the Head of the Class.”  

Even “Twister,” “Probe,” “Risk,” “Password,” “Connect 4” and “Hands Down” are there. 

They are the games of a lifetime.

If you’ve heard of these, it’s likely you’re from a generation that didn’t grow up with a cell phone stuck to your hand, you didn’t spend your days scrolling social media and you were banned from watching TV if the sun was out and ordered outside to play with friends.

You had to create your own fun, and such games were part of it. 

Come Christmas, my parents loaded their seven kids up with games, I’m sure to keep us busy and out of their hair for the next year. It worked until we got bored, lost too many pieces or broke them, whichever came first. 

There were some great ones.

One favorite game was “Battling Tops.” It called for four players who wrapped a string around a plastic top, set it in a launch area, and pulled. The four tops would then spin out into an arena and bump into each other until three were toppled. The one that remained standing was the winner. 

Simple and silly. I was pretty good at it.

Another game I treasured from childhood was “Snap Bowling.” This involved 10 small plastic pins, a bowling lane about a foot long, a little man whose hand you pulled back and snapped into place, setting a little metal ball in front of it and pushing a button to send the ball on its way. It even had a nifty reset to set the pins up again.

Strikes were harder to come by than you might think, and I never managed a 300, despite spending endless hours trying. Much to my delight, I found a perfectly good Snap Bowling at a thrift store in Grangeville for $8, and I have resumed my quest for 12 straight strikes. So far, my best is six. With practice, I'll reach perfection.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep challenging my wife to a game of Clue. Every night. At least, until I win, which could be some time, as she's better than me at solving problems.

Still, I think I've got it. Let's see.

Professor Plum. 

In the kitchen. 

With the rope. 

• • •

Bill Buley is managing editor of The Press. He can be reached at [email protected].