Wii Remember Childhood Moments...

For those of you who don't know, I grew up in a big family: four sisters, one brother, and me. Six kids in all. 

I have many happy memories from my childhood: bunkbeds and jumproping, pizza nights and afternoon movies on Sunday, soccer games and bikerides. 

We were an imaginative bunch. Because we didn't have a TV until I was about 8 and because our income was stretched (six kids, remember...), we were "forced" to be very creative and we "made up" games all of the time. These three were among our favorites...

Wii Remember Childhood Moments... 1 Wii Remember Childhood Moments... 2Wii Remember Childhood Moments... 3ORPHANS: Looking back, this game is a bit depressing, but my sisters and I absolutely loved it. Inspired by the Orphan Train Adventures series (one of my favorite book series as a tween), The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (probably one of my all-time favorite books from my childhood- especially the audio version), and Oliver Twist, we had a rather odd fascination with orphans and orphanages. Our game consisted of the same basic plot almost every time: our parents die (morbid, I know, but I assure you that we loved our parents very much and didn't want them to die in real life), we are left in a frightening orphanage without food and water under the direction of an evil headmistress, we escape by train and then encounter various adventures along the way. 

SUPERHEROES: I mostly played this with my brother, but my sisters sometimes joined in too. Essentially, we'd attach towels around our necks using rubber bands, carry Cheerios around as "power food," and save the world. 

CLUBHOUSE/SPIES: We usually created a secret clubhouse (it was always secret - clubhouses can't be public, you know) either in our closet or out of a huge cardboard box. My brother was never allowed in the club (oh, the trials of having five sisters and being the only boy!) and our activities consisted of spying (usually on my brother), writing and delivering secret messages, and creating various spy devices. Oh, and we solved mysteries...lots of mysteries.

Wii Remember Childhood Moments... 4Nestle Crunch is doing a big promotion right now called the "For the Kid In You" that is all about inspiring people to remember and enjoy the wonders and delights of childhood.  

Wii Remember Childhood Moments... 5Right now, you can play lots of online games inspired by childhood favorites (bowling, puzzles, water balloon fights, etc.) on the Nestle website or you can play the Nestle Crunch "Hit it To Win It" Instant game for your chance to win one of 10,000 Crunch bars or 2,500 small toys. Smash that pinata before July 31. You can only play once. 

Wii Remember Childhood Moments... 6You can also enter to win something really cool right here at Metropolitan Mama - a Nintendo Wii!!! Here's how: just list YOUR three favorite games/pasttimes from childhood in the "comments" section. As usual, "unimaginative" entries will be disqualified ("enter me," "so cool," "love it," etc).

P.S. If you prefer to blog about your three favorites, feel free to do so and just leave the URL as your comment. I'd love to read your post!

WIN IT! There will be two winners. The Grand Prize winner will receive a Nintendo Wii. The First Place Winner will receive a pinata full of Nestle Crunch candy bars. To enter, leave a comment on this post prior to Friday, June 13 at midnight (don’t forget to follow the rules). * Winner must provide a U.S. mailing address.

*UPDATE* The winner of the Nintendo Wii is #552 Sharon Jones and the winner of the pinata full of Nestle Crunch candy bars is #748 Amy G. Congratulations!

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1,089 comments on “Wii Remember Childhood Moments...”

  1. That would be riding in the tractor with my dad, he has been deceased for over 30 years, so those memories mean alot to me. I played music as I was growing up and that was important to me and my family, since we all played some sort of instrument. Playing with my sisters was great.

  2. As a young girl, I enjoyed playing dodge ball, red rover, red rover and also tag. We played outside a lot and now it seems the kids stay indoors more.

  3. In the early years it was playing with all my barbie dolls, then it was playing tether ball, which I was really good at. Last but not least, it was listening to music and still is!

  4. There were a lot of children in our neighborhood when I was growing up. We loved to make up plays and then perform them for our parents on Saturday. I also liked to jump rope but we used rubber bands. It really was a lot of fun. When it got hot we ran down to the River and floated home on old innertubes. I guess children don't do these things anymore but it enriched my childhood.

  5. 1.My sister and I used to love to make up fun dance routines and perform them for an audience. The sad part was we basically played them out like a music video. A very cheesy 80's music video of course.
    2. We also used to pretend we were in the circus and impress everyone at the park. We always tried to get adults to watch us and pay a fee.
    3. I'm embarrassed to admit that I used to color in coloring books then try to "sell" my beautiful artwork to the local neighbors for a dime. I thought it was a good price. I don't think I sold a single one except to family members who took pity on me.

  6. My three favorite games/pasttimes from childhood are hopscotch, Red Rover, and kickball. I loved playing hopscotch so much during recess. I used to play Red Rover at camp all the time and it was so much fun. And I enjoyed playing kickball so much because I was actually pretty good at it. This is a great giveaway and I really hope I win. Thanks.

  7. Great giveaway, Stephanie! Hmmm, we had a few board games that we played ALL the time- Racko, Trouble, and Boggle to name a few :) We played card games often too, especially Uno. My brother and I both liked to play basketball, so we spent a lot of evenings and summer days playing "Horse" and "Around the World". Oh, and don't forget the Nintendo; Super Mario Bros. was one of the greatest games in the world, lol. Thanks for the chance to reminisce ^_^

  8. I come from a large family also, 4 older brothers, one younger, and one older sister. We had a closet just for board games, I enjoyed Mastermind, Mousetrap, and this handheld pinball like games. The best memories were making mud pies up by 'the tree', and swinging from the tree while they dried. I played baby dolls time and time again, we had so many - Little Lulu, and a bunch of beanie filled ones. I also spent many hours playing badminten, rubber handball on the side of the house (God bless our Mom), baseball catch, and free-throw HORSE competition on non-rainy Oregon days.

  9. Most of all, I loved to rollerskate. Not blades, but the old 70's kind of skates. I could even skate backwards. I also loved Candyland, foursquare, and jumprope.

  10. Badmitten in the back yard-no playdates-no tennis-nosoccer camp, just the neighbors getting together in the summer and enjoying friends, family and FUN!! Thanks for the contest

  11. we always played yahtzee, loves mousetrap though it took so long to set up, and war. I now play war with my daughter whenever she wants to play cards!

  12. We had an Atari growing up and I really liked to play the missile command game.

    I used to play "Wild, Wild, West" with my friend down the street, pretending to participate in adventures with Robert Conrad's character, Jim West. Of course, one of us was dating James West and the other Jim West because nobody wanted Artemus Gordon (Sorry Martin Ross).

    And then I am a huge Risk fan, to a fault. Started playing as a kid and I still cannot lose without crying.

  13. My three favorite memories are staying out playing Defender, the arcade game, at C + M pizza, Playing outside in the dirt with my new Star Wars action figures with my cousins, who had the Millenium Falcon, and being in my neighborhood pretty late at night playing kick the can or hide and go seek down our entire block. Also I have to throw in an extra, playing my friends Atari 2600 on a freezing school vacation beating Missle Command.

  14. I had lots of favorite childhood games but the top three would be:

    jump rope with a group of kids
    hide and go seek
    jacks

    Also liked the board games Sorry, Candyland, and Life

  15. I grew up quite a while ago so our favorite games were jump rope, tether ball, dodge ball, jacks, and riding bikes.

  16. We did not have much, but we made the best of what we had by using our imagination. And as i child, we never knew the difference. The power of the imagination.

    1) Video Games (Nintendo and Atari) - I did not own a gaming system, but I could not wait until I was able to spend the night over one of my friend's house that had one. At this time, these games were the best ever. This is one of the things that actually awed me! I did not even have to play. Just watching was enough to make me giggle.

    2) Cheers/Hand Chants/Jump Rope/Hopscotch - We made up cheers and chants to sing and dance to. Oh you should have seen us outside. These activities alone killed so many hours during the day. And many of these words stuck with me until the day.We had the bast time ever and it did not cost a dime.

    3) Playing With Dolls/House - I spent a lot of time alone. I was a tom boy, but I loved my dolls. Each day I was able to invent a new story for them. They had a life of their own. I can even remember looking through catalogs and pretending to order things to furnish their house with.

    Ohh! The power of the imagination. These are things that shaped my childhood. Things I will never forget. Thanks for letting me turn back time.

  17. We loved playing hop scotch, hide and go seek, and ring around the rosy. I have very fond memories of playing ring around the rosy in our church yard.

    Thanks for the contest and for letting me go back in time with the memories.

  18. My three favorite games from childhood were Mouse Trap Game, Toss Across, and Monopoly. I can remember as a child my father and I would play Monopoly almost every Saturday evening until the early morning hours. It was always something I looked forward to and definitely a very fond memory now! Thank you for the giveaway!

  19. This is fun! I remember playing hours and hours of jump rope, hop scotch, and red light green light. Kids don't know how to have fun any more. It's so sad!

  20. I Loved To Play The Legend Of Zelda,Super Mario Brothers,Metroid On My Nintendo These Were My Three Favorite Games.

  21. Since I'm older than dirt, my favorites were:

    Pin the tail on the dinosaur.
    Playing cave.
    Sticks and stones.

  22. * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** *

    The Wii has drawn me in. Every time I see one, I'm curious as I've never used one!

    * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** *

  23. I have two sisters and a lot of cousins. Our all time favorite game growing up was Monopoly. We would have Monopoly tournaments that could last for weeks. So much fun! We also loved to play "Mr. Dirty and Mr. Clean". One of us would cover ourself in mud and the other would have the water hose trying to clean off the dirty one. We also loved to play canasta, spoons, poker, or any other card game.

  24. My favorite games was Gunship for the Commodore 64, Donky Kong for Colecovision and Pitfall from Activision.

  25. Monopoly was and is by far my favorite. I remember many all-night sleep over Monopoly sessions, where the game seemed to go on forever. I guess I was evenly matched then. Now, when I play against my son, he seems to beat me fairly quickly.

    SORRY was another favorite, and still is. We still play it today, but we modify the game to add more challenges. It's nice when a game has the flexibility to allow such changes.

    Perhaps the most fun was building tents inside with all the pillows and blankets we could find. I don't know if that qualified as a "game", but we sure had fun. Then there was the pool... Marco Polo was always a challenge. Even with 10 kids in the pool, it wasn't so easy catching someone!

  26. We passed our time in so many ways... hide and go seek, dodge ball, red rover, freeze tag, squirrels in the trees, duck-duck-goose, baseball, football, jump rope (we never hard of Double Dutch - our challenge was hot peppers), roller skating (the kind that clamped onto your shoes), jacks, wooden tops, and using our imagination to be cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians, or be a mother or a teacher (my students were my stuffed animals and dolls). My favorite "toy" for MANY years was my bicycle. Now I would love to go bowling in my home, learn yoga, hula hoop, play baseball and golf, or perhaps drive a cute little race car on ice! I hope Friday the 13th proves to be my lucky day! Thanks for a fun giveaway!

  27. It seems like poorer kids seem to have better close family memories than kids that got most anything they REALLY wanted. Kind of sad, but I did have some great memories.

    1. Nintendo (Super Mario and Super Tecmo Bowl) - many "Super" times with brother and friends -- did enjoy the Atari with my dad before my brother took his He-Man sword to the cords in the back because he couldn't play until we finished the current game; it never worked again

    2. Sports - most any. I am more social than competitive, so I played any sport my friends did (baseball, football, basketball, golf)

    3. Save the World - Mostly with friends rather than my brother; depending on the day, this would sometimes require the use of G.I. Joe's, He-Man (and friends), Transformers, or some hands-on, machine gun toting, pistol packing, Rambo inspired defense of the USA by the invisible invaders that you couldn't see but they could certainly kill you. Watch out; grenade!

  28. My favorite game was with my little brother. We use to get a big ol sheet and make a tent in the family room. Turn off all of the lights and use flash lights to make shadow pupets. We would have popcorn and giggle away.

  29. I used to love playing "freeze tag" and "tv tag" with the kids in the neighborhood. I had forgotten all about that!

  30. My favorite games were Cooties, catching bugs, and playing dolls. Now my daughter enjoys the same things. What an adorable giveaway!

  31. I used to love playing hide and seek with all the neighborhood kids. We even played it on our bikes in the neighborhood. How we ever knew who was it I don't know.

    I also remember playing lots of family games like Sorry, Monopoly and Parcheesi.

  32. There are 4 of us kids in our family and 3 of us are just 3 1/2 years apart total (what were my parents thinking?) - My sister, brother and I played a lot of fun games. One was the star wars toys my brother had, we would all fight for the land speeder and then we would run around the basement with it knocking over the barbie dolls.

    My parents had a mirrored closet door (this was the 70s remember those?), and we would all pile up on each others shoulders and play Leaning Tower of Pisa until we would topple over.

    My oldest brother (who is 8 years my senior, I'm the youngest), would babysit, and play steam roller we would all stand on top of my parents bed, and then he would roll back and forth while we tried to jump over him hoping that we would not get pulled under by the "steam roller"

    good times good times!

  33. We use to have family olympics with my step-dad. I tried all kinds of arts and crafts stuff and I loved playing tetris.

  34. mike tysons punch out was the bomb, could sit and play it for hours, the first zelda was fantasticly done and very hardcore for its time, and mario was a favorite (and a huge time waister) me and my brother played 2 player all the time

  35. My 3 favorite games when I was a kid were:

    1. tying a jump rope to the back of my friends bike, holding onto it while on roller skates as my friend peddled down a steep hill...my mother soon put an end to that one, but it was fun.
    2. Marbles , where you drew the circle and had a shooter, tried to win marbles from other kids.
    3. Tennis

  36. Oh the memories my cousin and I liked to shop at an early age and would line up all of our baby doll clothes and accessories like they were in a store, put our babies in strollers and proceed to shop away. My brothers and I would take all of the xmas trees once the holidays were over and builkd a fort with them in the woods,the smell of them always reminds me of those fun adventures. And gettin our atari and playing frogger and pacman on it,our parents even got in on the action playing to see who could get the highest score to determine who made lunch on sunday after church. I've heard the wiis are amazing and I've been wanting one forever would love to win it. Thanks

  37. The three things I enjoyed doing when I was younger were:
    -Watching Nickelodeon: My favorite shows were “Salute your shorts” (go donkeylips), “Hey Dude”, and “Are You Afraid of the Dark.”
    -Board Games: I particularly enjoyed "guess who" and “life.”
    -Playing "hide n seek" during the summer after it got dark at night.

  38. I loved playing house and had all the things I needed for my kitchen .What i didn'nt have i pretended I did.

    then there was flower store ,I had to pick violets and make pretty things with them, then i branched out and started picking the neighbors flowers, i got into trouble for that one.

    I also loved 1 2 3 red light green light ,it always started out nice but someone always ended up being made to go home because they would cheat or the person callng the 1 2 3 red or green light said they did.

  39. Growing up I spent hours playing Barbie's with friends. We made many of the accessories to go along with what ever theme we might be playing out.. such as a Wedding, Birthday's etc. Maybe that was the best part of playing Barbie's...the ability to be creative. Now everything is provided for Barbie thus my daughter and granddaughter's never reaaly stayed interested.

    Light Brite and Rollerskating were also favorites!

  40. I loved playing Mario games on Nintendo, playing "detective" with my brother, and playing in the creek in our front yard.

  41. My three favorite activities from childhood were playing teacher/school with my sister, building forts out of all the pillows in the living room, and making tunnels in deep snow in the winter. Oh, and playing our original Nintendo, especially Paper Boy and Duck Hunt! :)

  42. Wow ... what a stroll down memory lane this has been. Well, my family didn't have much money growing up so we kids had to be creative when coming up with fun things to do.

    I grew up during the mid-70s when Olympic gymnasts Olga Korbut and Nadia Comineci were immensely popular. Little girls like me desperately wanted to be just like them. I would take all the sofa cushions and stack them in crazy formations then run down the long hallway and jump over them like I'd see the gymnasts do with the vault. My poor mom would complain she could never have anything nice for very long.

    Another goofy thing I used to do was hold a regular "Dance Fever" show in my basement (laughing) Every time my cousins came over (a couple of times a week), I'd gather them in the basement and crank up the music and give them 60 seconds to do their best dance routine. Then, as "special guest judge" and "host", I'd sit in a ratty recliner in the corner and hold up a piece of paper with their score. I'd critique them using this snooty faux-European accent and we'd all crack up over my ridiculous suggestions and comments. How insane was that? HA!

    I went through a tomboy period where I wanted to be a female version of Evel Kneivel. I had a red, white and blue Schwinn 10-speed bike (umm ... not good for stunts at all) and rode that bike everywhere! It wasn't enough to ride it to the park or to a neighbor's house. Noooo, I had to JUMP over every single thing I could. I must've fallen over and busted my butt a hundred times, but I had a blast.

    Thanks for letting me share my memories :-))

  43. When I was a kid every Sunday was family day. We'd go to church, then out to lunch and then some sort of activity like a Pirates baseball game, or to the Carnegie Museum or a park or something. Then we'd all make dinner together. Finally we'd spend the evening listening to records and playing board games.
    I loved it when we played Parcheesi and Pay Day, Triominos was also another favorite.

    Family day makes up a lot of great childhood memories for me!

    Thanks for having this contest!!

  44. So many memories! One, My brother and I had a very long steep driveway by our house, and we would create obstacle courses with branches down the driveway. We would then tote our Radioflyer wagon to the top of the drive, then "drive" our wagon down the driveway, & around the sticks. This kept us entertained for hours using our imaginations on new ideas, and kids from the neighborhood joined us as well. If it was summer, we were outside everyday. Too many to write, unless I created my own blog about it! :)

  45. My first three pastimes that come to mind are Restaurant, I ate my first mud pie.
    Doggies, one of my favorite.
    Skating, I loved going to the skating rink.

  46. wow this brings back great memories. i loved playing freeze tag, red rover and especially hide and go seek. wouldn't it be wonderful to be that naive again when the only thing to worry about it who would be it????? The ironic thing here is that I am partially disabled and have wanted a WII for a while hoping that it would help me get the exercise i need so desperately.

  47. My favorite thing to do was to go out into the field after it was mowed and take the hay bails and stack them up with my brothers and sisters and make forts out of them. Then we played war!

  48. I used to love catching lightning bugs, playing the "Mystery Date" game, and riding dirt bikes when I was a kid.

  49. This was a fun trip down memory lane, my favorite games were (are) lol Simon Says, hopscotch, and my favorite board game was Go to the head of the class. As kids we did a lot with chalk like math problems, hangman.

  50. -Playing Charlie's Angels & fighting neighborhood crime
    -swimming pool games like Marco Polo
    -putting long strips of masking tape, sticky side up, in the street for cars to run over (the noise makes the driver think he's got a flat tire)

  51. My older brother, his friends and myself used to play Tetris constantly! Our others favorites were Frogger and Super Mario Brothers.

  52. Our whole neighborhood used to play hide and seek. I used to stand behind the light pole. I was obviously visible but was generally overlooked cause who'd be stupid enough to try to hide behind the light post.

    I was also great at jumprope but we didn't have much money and I went through so many pairs of shoes jumproping that my mom made me stop. Of course, my solution to that was to jump without my shoes.

    I was a champion hopscotcher. I could jump all the way from the end to the 4/5 squares successfully.
    Life was good but I wouldn't trade it for my adult life with my kids.
    Thanks for asking. It brought back some good memories.

  53. I don't think i'll ever forget the christmas my cousin got his Super Nintendo. I sat all day watching him play Mario Bros. Years later i got my own super nintendo and my sister and i played Mario Kart for hours, it's still my favorite game! Later in college playing Luigi's Mansion on Game Cube was great instead of studying. My third favorite past time was playing Clue!

  54. In the 40's when the world was dark,
    We were young and thought the war a lark.
    Life was joyous upon each tongue.
    That's how it is when one is young.
    My friends and I collected iron scraps
    To save the world from the nasty Japs;
    Then learned airplane silhouettes
    To defeat the Nazi's without regrets,
    And when the war clouded each busy mind,
    Mumbly-peg and marbles helped us to unwind.
    Kites made from newspapers caught the wind,
    Bearing hopes that the war would end.

  55. My favorites were Italian hopscotch, making forts in the woods and playing board games with my friends like Masterpiece (Parker Bros).

  56. My favorite childhood games were, Scrabble, Poker, and Tag. I guess I'm dating myself, but when I was a kid, there were no electronic games! My boys find it hard to believe, but do sometimes ask me if we had electricity when I was a kid!

  57. 1. Playing video games with my brother. I really miss those times.

    2. Playing with action figures with my brother and cousins.

    3. Playing with my race cars.

  58. Oh man where do I start with my favorite.

    Monopoly with my family once a week was always fun, I was never good though!!

    Mario Kart 64 had to have been one of my favorite games as a child.

    And last but not least, Twisted Metal 2 with my brother.

    Thanks for the opportunity.

  59. My favorites were 1st: ring-a-lario where one team had to hide, then the other team had to find you and bring you to base - you could then free them from base if you could touch it before the other team stopped you.
    Second was "punch ball" which is baseball played with a rubber ball that you punch for hits and home runs.
    Third was "slap ball" but, you pitched the ball on a bounce and you hit it with an open hand, same rules as baseball.

  60. We loved swimming and playing Marco Polo, but inside I can remember Operation, Rubiks cube, Simon, and Pong on the AtarI:)!

  61. Well, as you know...I have six kiddies too, as well as two step-children. So boy can I relate to the S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D budget!

    (1) Your superhero story reminded me that one of my favorite childhood games was playing with the little boy nextdoor (we are still good friends almost 40 years later) and he would be batman and I was batgirl. We would wear the hoods of our coats on our heads and leave our arms out of the coats so they flowed behind us like capes!
    (2) I loved to pretend I was the "Mommy" and my mommy was my little girl and got to be bossy. My little girls do the same to me and make my hair so bu'ful!
    (3) My neighbors had the coolest garage full of bizarre stuff. It had every "dress up" outfit you can imagine, all kinds of arts & crafts types of stuff, etc. We had our "secret" club meetings in there and would have a blast. Her mom would pay us one penny for every 10 weeds we pulled. Back in those days...pulling a hundred weeds for a dime...we could go down to the local store and get candy!!! Yummy!

    Very cool contest...we don't have a WII so I always enjoy opportunities to win one for my crew. I have kids ages 3-19.

  62. Playing curb ball, riding our bikes until the street lights went on and camping in a tent in our back yards!! AHHH the good old days!!

  63. we loved outdoor games:

    top 3
    Freeze tag
    Kick the can (with the whole neighborhood, no such thing as "play dates" back then)

    Marco polo in the swimming pool

  64. Loved to play " hide the stick" in the summer at night. Then there was the Barbie dating game, of corse noone to have to get Poindexter as date, everyone wanted ' Ken" the dreamboat. Also played crazy 8's loved that card game.

  65. I loved playing dodgeball, kickball, and tag. Now that I am a phys ed teacher I get to play these games all day. Except dodgeball because they say its too violent. Whats violent about a hard red ball smacking you in the face at 20 miles an hour? Crazy!

  66. My favorite game was "Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board." I'm just waiting for my daughter and her friends to get old enough so I can do it again.

    If you're talking more physical games, I was the BEST "Red Light Green Light" player around.

  67. Jumping rope, reading, and karate were my three favorite activities as a child. Not much has changed (well, except the jump rope). :)

  68. I loved running through the water sprinkler in the summer, riding my bicycle and laying in the grass watching the lightning bugs and the stars! Simple times, simple pleasures = rich life! Oh to be a child again.

  69. I really liked my barbie and decided to paint her nails.I got nail polish in her hair and figured nail polish remover was the answer;I was pretty distraught when her hair melted off.I entertained myself for many hours playing Jacks but my absolute favorite thing was coloring;a little artist in the making.

  70. My three favorite games from childhood were hopscotch, kickball, and tag. I loved to play outdoors. It's been so many years it took some thinking :) *Thanks* for the giveaway!

  71. All time favorite was hide and go seek. We also spent lots of time catching fireflies and riding bikes.

  72. As a kid I spent most of my time outside making forts and playing in the sand pile. However, when we were inside I absolutely loved Match Game and Candy Land. I can't wait to introduce Candy Land to my kids when they are old enough. I hope I can find the original.

  73. My three favorites were:

    Kick the can
    hide n' seek
    and then there was this game where my Grandma had
    all these little brightly colored thread bobbins
    that we would take turns hiding around the house for the other two kids to find. The kid that found the most bobbins would be the winner and it would be their turn to hide the bobbins. That was fun!

  74. My sister and I spent countless hours playing Scrabble, badminton, and Monopoly -- in fact, 20 years later we still play all of these when we get together! Thanks for the contest.

  75. Qbert, Ms. Pacman, and Bubble Bobble were my favorite games. Along with board games like monopoly. I also enjoyed ice skating and horseback riding.

  76. My sister and I would play make believe all of the time, but one of our favorite storylines had me playing Princess Aurora, and she was the queen. The strange thing is that I'm the older sister (I guess I though being a princess would be more fun). We would also use our Legos, My Little Ponies and stuffed animals to create elaborate adventures with romance, war, humor and drama; it was a regular soap opera. And I loved night games like Come to Court, Sardines, etc., but my favorite was probably Steal the Flag.

  77. My favorite things were playing school (being a teacher), roughhousing outdoors, and playing yahtzee and monopoly!

  78. Growing up It was only me and my younger brother most of the time so we played a lot together I liked to play cops and robbers, hide and seek, and the good old mean big sister game of hide your little brothers favorite toys from him lol Thanks for the great giveaway!

  79. We would get a bunch of the neighbor kids together and pay "kick the can" until dark. It was a blast!

    We would also get the neighbor kids together for baseball games in our backyard. I have to say that we broke a few windows. But, it was so much fun.

    My best friend had Atari and we would play Pong for hours!

  80. When about 5 or 6 I loved my srick horse, a willow with a piece of twine rein.
    Then about 8 or so sitting on top of the big sprayer tank for the fruit trees I was on my elephant slowly going thru the jungle, for hours.
    Then it was paper dolls any and all and as many as I could get, even one a friends big sister made me, Just last year a friend sent me some paper dolls she had cut from a magazine, this 63 year old woman laughed till she cried.

  81. SIX KIDS IN THE FAMILY TOO!!
    WE LOVED TV. PLAYING BADMINTON.
    WE PLAYED THE CARD GAME WAR ALOT
    YACHTAZI
    SORRY I SPELL LIKE A 5TH GRADER. NO WAIT
    LETS MAKE THAT A 4TH GRADER.

  82. I don't have a blog so I'll say right here my 3 favorite games were Frogger, Capture the Flag, and Heads Up 7-up. Just thinking about those games make me smile. I never think of stuff like that.

  83. Roller skating (the old double-wheel kind!), jump rope, Chinese jump rope, and potsy (kind of like hopscotch)

  84. Well I really hate to date myself back to pre-electronic entertainment, but my favorite pasttimes were roller skating, bike riding and using the hula hoop.

  85. My sister and I used to love to pretend we were from a foreign country and in a public place we would start to talk gibberish like we were talking a foreign language of course we also got very animated with our hands and looked like complete fools. We also used to play statue tag in the front yard at dusk. Another favorite was snowball wars we would build snow forts and use garbage can lids for shields.

  86. Well, I loved to play under the house (in the crawl space) with my brothers and friends. It was our own "Fantasy land". I also loved to play hide and seek. And third, I loved to ride my bike, exploring the neighbor hood was so much fun!

  87. making our own dolls, clothes for our dolls, making craftwork, etc. We were poor and had a big family so we had to make our own toys and create our own fun to keep ourselves busy, not like kids nowadays!

  88. I really love playing make believe with my doll Baby Kristy when I was little. She had red hair just like mine and if you pulled it it grew. I used to spend hours pulling her hair out long the pulling the string and making it short again. My second favorite thing as a child was play explorer with my big brother. We would roam the woods behind our house and look for new animals and secret treasures. One other favorite was playing on our Atari. My bother and I would spend hours trying to beat each other in the game Joust.

  89. Ok...as a young girl I loved the game Hungry Hungry Hippo! That game was so cool...I also liked Battleship...I loved the commercial first "you sank my battleship" and then as a teenager my favorite game was Pacman!!!

  90. Now that I have kids of my own, I'm always thinking back to what I did when I was there age.

    Wii spent a lot of time riding bikes in the summer with the neighbors kids. Wii had a great place to ride and we had certain trees set as "stores" and some as gas stations.

    The other big memory growing up was camping. Wii camped a lot. Again, we spent a lot of time riding bikes as wii always brought along my friend/neighbor. Wii would go fishing and swim in the lake too. Best part was sitting by the fire every evening.

    I also remember having a lot of picnic and family get togethers. My mom always took oven fried chicken and I hated playing with my cousins. LOL I was very shy and it seemed like most of my cousins were strangers. Both my parents had very large families. My mother had like 11 siblings and my dad has 5.

    Now wii live 350 miles from our closest family member and it does seem lonely at time not having all that family involvement. On the other hand, my one son is very shy like I was so I'm sure he doesn't mind missing the family reunions. LOL

    Did you see the new "Wii fitness" thing? That looks cool. When I was growing up wii had Atari Pong. Not that exciting, and I hardly remember playing it.

  91. My sister, the neighbors and I would play twister, this old board game about dating (while inside an empty refrigerator box!), and we would play red light, green light a lot. We had so much fun!

  92. my brother and sister were a LOT older (7 and 10 years respectively) than I was so I had to play games that would keep them interested.

    With my sister, we placed chess and checkers.
    With my borther, I played poker .... don't knock it I learned how to count very quickly when you're playing w/ money.

  93. We would us the Wii as a family for fitness and entertainment. We are a family of 5 and I know that it would be used almost constantly. We all need to get in shape and I have seen the advertisements on TV showing how it can be used to do workouts. We would also play our favorite sports such as golf, baseball and skateboarding.

  94. I lived on a dirt road that didn't get a lot of traffic. For some reason, our favorite thing to do was to try to pretend we were statues when cars DID drive by. I'm sure we looked like weirdos.

    Because we lived a bit away from everyone else, a lot of my childhood was spent reading or listening to books on tape. I used to put a blanket over a card table and bring a tiny table and lamp in there with me, and it was my little hidey hole.

    Finally, when I was about 7 years old my dad came home with an Apple IIc. Years of Zork and Lode Runner led me to a 286 and a life-long love of computers and being online--first with Prodigy, then with local BBSes, then gopher, and fianlly the graphical web as we know it. :)

  95. I loved playing Candy Land with my brother, riding on my Inch Worm (made much better than the one out today), and playing Battleship with my cousin.

  96. Oh dear - I'm going to show my age.
    My favorite games was Beany and Cecil. Cecil was a sea monster and the game came with a puppet of him that you put on your hand and then pulled the string so he'd say something like, "LOVES to eat!"

    My second favorite game was Life.

    My third favorite game was "The Rubber Band Game". It belonged to my cousin. By the time we got all the rubber bands off the pieces, nobody wanted to play anymore (hence the name of the game), and it drove my uncle crazy. If you gave me multiple choice, I couldn't tell you what the actual name of the game was.

  97. With 4 siblings and many neighborhood friends we were always outside. In the winter we would ice skate all day. In the summer we played Ghost in the Graveyard and Red Rover.

  98. all the kids in our neighborhood would play hide and seek at night..it was so fun..my best friend sherry and i always played hopscotch..we hated when it rained cause there went all our hard work drawing it out :( we also loved jumprope it was always me and sherry and when we didnt have a 3rd person we always had to tie the rope to the porch or a telephone pole :)but all the same it was a blast and it was fun thiking about that again because its been years and years and years..lol :)

  99. My siblings were all way older so I mostly had to entertain myself. Whenever we would drive somewhere I would picture my dog running alongside the road leaping over all obstacles in the way so that we could complete our secret mission, as we were spies together and even my own parents didn't know! We saved the world numerous times. My one sister and I would make trees out of the hair on my Dad's arms by twisting it round and round. We made many a forest. But my favorite game was played with small plastic animals divided into herds. Each animal had a family and a unique personality. They were easily portable and I played with them for years.

  100. I used to drag a jump-rope around our backyard, pretending that there was a horse at the end of it! My siblings and I also would pick pretty red (probably poisonous) berries off some bushes that lined our property and make "stew" by throwing them into old coffee cans with leaves, twigs, water, whatever inspired us. And at night my sister and I pretended to turn a radio dial and would sing different songs, as if that's what was playing. Isn't imagination a great thing?

  101. We used to play "Tap-Tap", kind of a hide and seek game. Then there was "Manhunt" in the dark outside. I also loved to play hopscotch!

  102. Red light, green light. Swinging statues. and simon says. these are the main ones my brothers and I played as a kid, but there was a few. cowboys and indians was fun and fort was fun too.

  103. My friends used to come over and we'd play "Life" in the evenings while sitting on the porch all summer long. Then there were the usual games like hide and go seek that we'd play when I was even younger. But, my all time favorite was playing with our paper dolls.

  104. I AM ATTEMPTING TO WIN THIS FOR MY NIECE AND HER TWO ADORABLE CHILDREN.
    I AM ALOT OLDER THAN THE OTHER ENTRY SO MY GAMES MIGHT BE DIFFRENT.
    WE DID NOT HAVE COMPUTERS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT LIFE WAS JUST SIMPLE.
    1. TWISTER
    2. ROCK IN HAND YOU SAT ON THE STAIRS AND HAD TO GUESS WHAT HAND THE ROCK WAS IN AND YOU COULD ADVANCE TO THE NEXT STEP. (VERY SIMPLE NOT LIKE TODAY)
    3. OPERATION
    GOOD LUCK EVERONE

  105. Well, let's see there were 4 of us growing up and we were so close in age. If I had to list our 3 favorites they'd have to be:

    1. putting a towel around our neck and playing batman of course we'd also surround the tv singing at the top of our lungs whenever that came on
    2. using the kitchen chairs and a bunch of blankets and playing wagon train - I really don't remember where we got that idea but it was so much fun!
    3. going on nature walks - ok, well i guess they were more escapes than anything - I was the ringleader and would grab everyone's hands and have them follow me - I remember quite clearly my mom's expression when she found us out by the canal - oops - that wasn't my best day!

  106. I loved to play jacks! I was really good up to my eightsies, then not so good! I also loved to play ditch em after dark. That or I had my nose in book. My favorite series was the Bobsey Twins!

  107. Sorry, I had to add a P.S.

    P.S. I have to add that I did sometimes play dolls.....

    Thanks for the amazing gift of WII.

    Oh, Did I mention that my grand daughter calls
    me WII WII? Oh yes, my son's children call me Grandma Hill and calls his other Grandma
    Grandma Hot Tub.

    Can you guess Why? :)

  108. SMASH! I got him! That would be dodge ball. Me, the skinny runt that could catch and thow!

    YEOW!!! (that is my grown up half-brother who sat on the engine of the home built, gasoline, spark-ignighting go-cart! I'm riding it around and around and around the field while Dad stands ready with the gas can to fill it up again...oh yes..more than half of the neightborhood kids are standing in line waiting their turn!

    Come on Janene! That was all Dad needed to say to get me into the garage to use the lathe, torch, soldering iron or sort out a million sized screws, bolts or nails. My pride that summer was a small coffee table I helped him build.

    You only said three right? I've many more favorites. I know the garage and tools aren't technically considered a sport, but, I loved it!!

    kickball, midnight hide-n-seek tag, swimming under moonlight, reading as long as I could by street light(since mom shut all the lights of downstairs with one switch). . . .. . . .. .
    Crazy for games!

  109. When I was a kid I loved to play Dodge Ball(even though I wasn't very good!). I was also a reader from early on, always had my nose in a book. I also loved to play Seven Up when we were in school!

  110. My 3 fav childhood games...the neighborhood kids would all gather in the courtyard and play kickball in the summer - that was the best! We also loved playing hide-n-seek, and freeze tag.

  111. The atari is all we know, we have to get in with the times here.
    There are many games that stick in our minds old maid go fish candy land tip it pocket games and
    pick up sticks mr potato and thee was nothing like the family winding down telling stories and the kitchen smelling of home baked breads taking a walk back as a kid hide and seek and red light green light kick the can red rover red rover with
    skip it and tricks our parents tought us nobody looses were all winners as long as were not the poor sport

  112. I grew up in a foster home with six other girls and parents who grew up during the great depression. We loved crafts, beading bracelets etc. my favorite board game as a kid was actually rummikub. NO one would play with me because I was so good I could move 14 tiles just to get rid of one lol. They hated that. Favorite book which I still love today was the song of lioness alanna series

  113. I loved playing with my pogo pony (kinda like a pogo stick, I haven't seen them since then though.) I also played a lot of tag or sat in a tree reading a book.

  114. Making a tightrope/swing out of thread hung on two chairs for my barbie dolls to play "circus" on.

    Building a hideout out of tree limbs.

    Playing on the tire swing.

  115. Playing cowboys / indians or cops and robber.
    Playing video games / pinball.
    Searching the woods and streams for critters.

  116. As a kid, I loved to go sleigh riding in winter, bike riding in the summer, and also in the summer, my brother and I would have "watermelon-seed spitting contests", where we would try to see how many we could spit into a cup!

  117. Thinking back a few of the things that come to mind were playing town in my grandmothers house. She had this long hallway with 5 bedrooms off to the sides and my cousins and I would set up businesses in each room. Her panty was HUGE and had a lot of canned goods and she had this old adding machine with roll for the paper that was big like a cash register. So, the panty was the grocery store and the other rooms where a beauty shop, a day care for our dolls, an office for us an office for our work and then of course the other rooms for our homes. We could do this for hours just entertaining ourself.

    Of course grandmas house was also good for her patio which was all concrete and huge so with our roller skates we'd do roller derby. We had matching outfits and skate covers. Boy, did we think we were cool

    Another thing I remember doing was a chinese jump rope. There were all kinds of different ways that you could do it and I got a book that showing how to do more complicated ones.

    Grandmas house was a never ending source of entertainment and having many cousins made everything that much more fun.

  118. My favorite board game was hi-ho cherry-O. We caught lightening bugs in the summer and built snow forts in the winter.

  119. Sardines in a Can, Dare Base, and Old Maid... the first 2 are active outside games that my Dad played in a one room school.

  120. My favorite board game was Clue and Mousetrap! We have Mousetrap now and my kids love it, I have to get Clue again. We don't have a game system and a wii is perfect, the kids move and play. Lucky, whoever gets this!

  121. My favorite games were 'go fish' and 'war', which were both card games. And, I used to play jacks all the time, too. I guess I was easily entertained!

  122. Vacations all over New England, but especially the beach; reading, reading, reading; baseball with the huge extended family; any card game and scrabble

  123. Lets see...
    I remember playing, and loving this game called Oregon trail in computer class when I was in elementary school.

    Another is this game we used to play in the playground called "4-square" - (Always good times!)

    And last but not least was "kings-corners" card game. My grandma taught me when I was young, how to play this, and it's stuck with me ever since!

  124. Let's see...since there were 7 of us in my family and the neighbors always came over, we always played softball and hide & seek. As far as inside games, I loved checkers and go fish the most. Whenever any of us got a new game we would play for hours everyday until we finally got sick of it. We sure had a lot of fun though!

  125. MY 3 FAVORITE GAMES WERE DUCK DUCK GOOSE,RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT AND SIMON SAYS. i WASNT VERY GOOD BUT I MISS THOSE OLD DAYS.

  126. When I was a kid I loved to hike in the woods. Growing up in Oregon I thought it was normal to spend the day wading in a freezing cold creek as we played Lewis & Clark.

    Another childhood pasttime was riding my bike all over town. Since the town I grew up in was small (only about 400 people) there weren't any off-limits areas.

    Finally, the thing I did the most to pass time was go puddle stomping. Again, it was Oregon and there were lots of puddles all the time. So I spent hours wandering around town leaping into puddles.

  127. I loved to play I was a teacher and bus driver at the same time. I invited all the little kids from the block and we'd line up the chairs as if they were in class or riding the school bus. I also got to play that one video game with the gun that shot out the birds? I don't remember the name but it's old school. I also loved creating houses out of wood/paper/carton/mud, anything!

  128. My favorite childhood games were the ones we made up ourselves. The game where we threw a ball as high as we could and then had to beat the others back to "base". Or the game where we hid a rolled up newspaper and when "it" found it he tried to hit the other players with it before they got back to "safe". Or that strange version of war where we ate smarties candy to get extra energy. All pre video games and tv shows/movies disguised as marketing ploys for toys! (In case that counts as only one item, I also loved playing classics like jumprope, jacks, and hopscotch. No, really!)

  129. I loved books from a very young age, but when I wasn't reading I was outside playing such games as Red Light Green Light and kickball.

  130. My favorite childhood games/activities were : riding my bike with neighborhood kids and my siblings, nature walks, and reading. We did have a Nintendo and we had the athletic pad so we could compete against each other in track&field events:)

  131. The memories have come flooding back to me.
    Summer was always an adventure on our street. My fondest memory is playing kick ball in my neighbors yard with all the kids from the block.
    Waiting for dusk so we could catch fireflys in mason jars was a nightly ritual. Seeing who could climb the highest in the apple tree was fun.

  132. I loved to play marbles at recess. But I really loved to play gin rummy, my sisters and I would play all the time - I always won. Another favorite was war.

  133. I loved playing freeze tag with all the kids in the neighborhood, playing chinese jump rope at school during recess, and playing Battleship with my sister.

  134. Hard to choose just three but here goes: baseball with a tennis ball, playing school using napkins as the students desks (ues Mom DID get tired of buying napkins) and playing Monopoly.

  135. I used to play my sega. That was always fun.

    I also used to ride my bike, for miles. I could ride all day, hah.
    The final major one would be climbing trees, i could do that all day too!

  136. I was forever playing 7-Up and Footsie...remember that one with the ring around your ankle with the string attached and you had to jump over it? Also we used to play cooks and make frog stew with the poor squished frogs that were in abundance in our parking lot. We put them in old coffee cans and added various "spices" like grass, mud, pebbles, weed flowers....just add water and stir.

  137. Wow, I'm smiling just remembering these games. I loved Red Rover, Red Rover; kickball; and hide and seek. When we went to grandmas my cousins and I would always play these games.

  138. I remember playing desert island with my sisters. They would sit me on a bunkbed, from which I was not allowed to roam for fear of being eaten by the vicious alligators on our bedroom floor, while they climbed into my crib to sail away and save me. I also remember wonderful games of flashlight tag with all the neighborhood children participating. We could play outside for hours and never tire. We would hide among the trees, bushes, cars, and walls. I can still remember the sweet smell of the honeysuckle bush as we lay inside it hiding. We would pull the flowers off the bush and pull the end off. The little stringy thing inside would pull out of it, carrying with it a drop of delicious summer nectar. Absolute heaven! When we weren't playing flashlight tag, we would all gather in our front yard for a rousing game of flashlight dancing (when everyone shakes the flashlights back-and-forth really fast so that whoever is in the spotlight appears to be starring in an old movie). It was especially funny when a parent, or two would show up and unexpectedly join in. We never had trouble falling asleep those nights!! It was a wonderful time and the memories are still very strong.

  139. Well, it was the early 80's and Wonder Woman and Spider-Man were both big hits, so you can imagine me and my closest friend spinning around, jumping into our invisible airplane and shooting pretend webs at each other - seems like we could go on for hours and never run out of ideas while playing. My favorite boardgame was LIFE. It involved getting married, collecting kids, driving a car, earning money, and spinning a wheel - NOTHING could top that! Then I would have to say baking was the third thing we loved to do - experiment like McGyver, make cakes like, well, that was before Martha Stewart, so like our Grandmas!

  140. I remember playing Stratego with my neighbor on his front porch. I've always loved board games.

  141. Growing up with 3 brothers, the games always centered around what they wanted. I loved playing hide and go seek until Mom made us come inside because it was so dark. On days when it was raining, my brothers would play a game called "Save your pennies". I was told to collect my pennies and put them in the slot (crack) in the kitchen doorway. There they would be safe and it wasn't until I was much older that I realized they were having fun with me, because the Bank, was nothing more than a crack in our doorway and the pennies I had deposited there were gone forever. Never did figure out why they thought this "game" was so funny, but when you have 3 brothers and they tell you it's a fun game they invented, you just have to play and after all you are grateful, as the only girl in the house, that they are letting you "Play" at all. The 3rd game lingering in my memory is basketall. We would play for hours and hours and our house was the gathering place for the neighborhood kids. Lots of memories but had to narrow it down to 3. Thanks for taking me back...

  142. WHEN I WAS YOUNG WE HAD TWO OTHER HOUSES NEXT DOOR BETWEEEN ALL 3 HOUSES THERE WERE 24 KIDS, AND ALL OF US WOULD PLAY RED LIGHT, HOPSCOTCH AND HIDE AND SEEK UNTIL DARK. WE HAD A WONDERFUL TIME WE WERE ALL AROUND THE SAME AGE, SO WE ALWAYS HAD SOMEONE TO PLAY GAMES WITH. WHAT WONDERFUL MEMORIES I HAD.

  143. My all time favorite game had to be hide and seek. My brother, sister and I would play with half the neighborhood. I don't think I was ever found. Tag or Freeze Tag had to take a close second. We chased each other all over town! The last one was a game of our own invention, butt boarding races. There was a huge mound of dirt, the equivalent of a sand dune made out of dirt place there for construction that was never begun. We went and got boxes from the grocery shop and flattened them, then we would all run and drop our bums on the boxes and slide down the giant hill to see who won. That was a grand trip down memory lane. Thanks!

  144. As kids, my cousin and I played Voyage of the Mimi. It was a show on PBS. We pretended we were on the boat looking for humpback whales. My sister and I used to play "Mike and Chris", named after our "boyfriends" of the time LOL. It was our version of playing house. We were also fans of hide and seek. My cousin and I used to sneak out of a crack in my fence and watch my little sister and her little brother look for us with no luck of course! Looking back, maybe it was kinda mean, but we thought it was funny then!!

  145. My very favorite thing to do was read, and Nancy Drew books were my favorite. I have 7 brothers and sisters so we used to make up plays and put them on by the pear tree for our parents. Our other favorite thing to do was pack a sandwich and go exploring on our 43 acres

  146. Oh I loved to play Kick the Can and Statues, also Red Rover. Now those were some fun games we played with the neighborhood kids and you sure got your exercize then.

  147. When I was a girl, I had this Cher doll. She was 1/2 an inch taller than Barbie so no Barbie clothes would fit her. I loved that doll, she had hair to her knees and rooted eyelashes. There is one being sold on eBay right now for aroudn $20 and I'm so tempted to get it! My other 2 favorite toys were Fashion Plates and Spirograph.

    I've enjoyed reading others' comments, thank you for a great contest!

  148. My three favorite games as a child were:

    Delta Force: My buddy John and I would pretend we were in the movie Delta Force with Chuck Norris and relive the explosion scenes by jumping off his couch onto the concrete floor.

    Wire-Ball: This is a pure city game. Just throw the tennis ball over the wire. You hit the wire, it's a home run. You go over, it's a base hit. The other team catches it, you're out.

    Mike Tyson's Punch-out: 20-some years later and I still haven't beaten that.

  149. I lived in the mountains of Colorado, and spent a lot of time on dirt bikes. During the winter, my best friend and I would hike the hills and find huge snow drifts to get "lost" in. Finally, I spent lots of time outside with our dogs, just plain exploring. I sure miss those times now.......

  150. There were 6 of us kids too. 5 brothers, one sister and me. We were spread out quite a bit though that my younger brother and sister missed out on all the fun of the "lean" years of hand-me downs, making up games and the general chaos of a house full of kids.

    One of my childhood memories would have to be getting the big appliance boxes from the local hardware store. These were so popular there was actually a waiting list of kids. The most popular thing to do with a big box was to find a hill and all crawl in the box then roll down the hill. The box would usually last for hours of fun while kids rolled together down the hill crashing into each other in the box.

    Going swimming in the ditches after a rain was another past time we enjoyed. But my very favorite childhood memory was of the one time it actually snowed and stayed on the ground. I live in Northwest Florida so it is rare for it to snow. I was about 5 at the time had a bad cold so I couldn't go out and play in the snow. My older brothers decided it was a shame for me to miss out so they made up a bunch of snow-balls and froze them so we could have a snowball fight later. When I got well enough for our snowball fight, the temp was in the 80s and the snowballs were hard as rocks. We realized it wasn't a good idea to freeze snow for later.

  151. My favorites were playing cars, especially Rummy, with my best friend Denyse. In the summertime we would play for hours and hours. I also love to play the game "imagine". We made it up and would sit and say imagine you could be this or this or do anything you wanted what would it be?

  152. My favs were Monopoly (loved it), chinese checkers and Barbie, ( I pretended I was Barbie and hung out with my friends at the pool)

  153. I liked the pinata when I was younger, but I didn't start really "playing" until I was in college... I remember super monkey ball on the game cube and battle of the sexes... oh yeah!

  154. Okaaaaaaaaaaay I'll admit. The Wii has drawn me in. Every time I see one, I can't help but to play. Yes I know I'm 25 and too old to play video games, but I CANT give them up yet. Maybe when I hit 32..lol!

  155. I used to love playing "Mother May I" when I was a kid. I always liked to be the one that was the Mother-there was something about being in charge that made it the most fun for me.

    I also loved playing hopsscotch with my best friend who lived next door to me. I wasn't nearly as good at balancing as she was, so I was a little jealous of her for that.

    My friends and I also made up a game called "Hollywood Questions". One person would ask a trivia question about a famous person, and the others would have to try and guess who it is. We set up bases on my front lawn, and if you guessed correctly, you got to move to the next base, kinda like a baseball game. If you got to go to all the bases, you had to answer one last question. If you got it right, then you won the game, and then you could ask the next trivia questions.

  156. Being the only girl in a family of seven I didn't get to play with dolls much.My brothers and I would go to the bony dump at the end of our street and we built a not so fancy tree house (with donated wood) it even had a roof. We would get our chores done early and run down to the treehouse to play cards, checkers,and of course Mumbley peg and truth or dare. Some days Mom was so thankful that were watching each other (not knowing exactly how high off the ground the treehouse was) she would make us lunches and we would have wonderful picnics. I started babysitting for a couple of neighbors when I was 11 so I had to wait to go down to the treehouse but we always had good times and great memories. Thanks for the blast from the past.

  157. We liked to play a game similar to your orphan game, only we were "homeless". We would bundle up in sheets and blankets and hang out on the dirt floor of my friend's detached garage. We usually had to "run away" from something.
    Another game I liked to play with my brother was one in which he was royalty and I was his servant. He wore fancy clothes and I presented him with the jewelry box and played records for him.
    We also liked to do the "Star Stage Band Radio Show" (my dad was a DJ so we were imitating him). We recorded our "radio show" on cassette tape. We would talk and sing songs and play the keyboard and scream a lot. It is fun listening to those tapes now!!

    It is so fun reading all of these comments!
    Great question!
    And great prize!

  158. The games I remember most, and that was from the early 1950's, were kick the can, simon says and hide and seek. I was an only child so I depended on the neighbor kids a lot to keep me occupied.

  159. I loved playing with my Lite Brite, my cabbage patch dolls, and my Barbie townhouse (couldn't afford the dreamhouse!). I was the only girl in a house full of older brothers, so I never had to share! It's kind of funny that I had four girls!

  160. I loved Atari as a kid. My brother and I played it every day after school. My favorite board games were Candy Land and Monopoly.

  161. It was a long time ago, but loved playing Pong, monopoly, and checkers. Seems like today, kids never experience the older simple games

  162. Well,let's see...being an only child,I had to have an imagination so I have alot of things to choose from.
    One of favorites was playing with my imaginary sisters,Big Pillow(she was my older sister),Light Blue(she was my younger sister),and Train(my brother)..I also had a husband that worked in a trailer(in real life we lived in a single wide so thats where that comes in)and my imaginary husband made toys and we had 10 kids....I loved playing with my imaginary family.

    Another pasttime of mine was reading "The Boxcar Children" and pretending I lived in a boxcar and lived like they did.

    And third,playing with Binky,a doll I received on my 1st Christmas..when she was new,she had a head full of black curls,but after many years of playing with her in bathtubs,pools and normal daily play,she only has on curl on the top of head left.I've had that doll for 28 years now and still love her just as much (although I leave the playing with her to my 2 ear old twin girls).

  163. Either of these prizes would generate a lot of fun for the family.
    My favorites from childhood:
    Reading (it was fun all by itself!)
    Scrabble
    Monopoly

  164. ok, I hope these don`t qualify for unimaginative, but these did it for me....

    1. Comic Books- love to collect, especially the X-Men and get together with my friends and talk about how cool Wolverine was....

    2. Backyard Football- Running around tackling each other, staying in good shape without even thinking about it...

    3.Bicycling- First bike was a Red Western Flyer, it survived a good three years, which was awesome considering all the jumps and trail riding that I did..

  165. I loved to play freeze tag with my three brothers (I remember when the streets lite came on it was time to go in!). Also, we would find sticks and they would become horses. We would ride and play all day with our stick horses! [email protected]

  166. I loved my "Big Wheel!
    Climbing trees and swimming in my friend Heather's pool were great ways to spend the summers.

  167. Reading all these posts brought back so many memories. First off, anything that was outside was the best. During the summer, we were outside from sun up to sun down. You could hear Moms calling kids from their front doors all over the neighborhood right before dark. Hard to really pick 3 favorites from childhood, but I have fond memories of roller skating in our driveway (our paved driveway was the widest and the longest in the neighborhood), playing Operation on rainy days, and shooting hoops with the boys in the neighborhood (I figured out early on that our great driveway needed a basketball hoop-it was like drawing bears to honey-LOL).

  168. My sister and I enjoyed pretending to be Olivia Newton John from the movie Grease when we were young. We pretended to to sing like her. We also loved to play school. Red Rover was also popular and we loved to try to catch fireflys (lightning bugs) at dusk. My favorite pastime when by myself was to read, I loved to read every chance I got.

  169. 1) Read. I've ALWAYS loved to read.
    2) Walk a mile to the country convenience store to play frogger.
    3) Roam through the woods, with a machete, chopping down weeds. (Seriously. And thirty years later, as a parent, I wonder what in the WORLD my mom was thinking).

  170. My three favorite games when I was a kid were
    1) MARCO POLO- we had a pool and would spend the entire summer in it.
    2)CENTERPEDE AND PACMAN ON THE ATARI 2600-when i was little we thought the "blip" on the screen was better than ovaltine. we didn't have all these fancy games.
    3)RUMMY 500- growing up , during the summertime we would pick my grandparents up at the train station and they would spend the summer with us. Me and my grandma would spend hours playing Rummy 500. We loved it!

  171. My favorite things to play with as a child were, my dollhouse, little bake oven, and hi ho cherrio, as I got older it was Life, Monopoly, and Clue!

  172. My 3 favs were:

    Monopoly - I remember having marathion games that would last for several days.

    A Winnie the Pooh Game - I remember getting that at Christmas and I it was one of my favorites. You played it kind of like CandyLand and there was a swamp or a bog that you would get sent to and have to roll doubles or something like that to get out. I remember laughing everytime someone
    had to go there.

    Star Wars - I had this very cool Star Wars game that came out in 77 or 78. Got this the Christmas after going to see the movie. Would love to have that game now. I'm sure it would be worth a bit of money.

  173. We had a big family to, enough for a game of kickball. Also nintento 64 came out in my youth, lots of Mario Bros. My brother could finish it. Laser Tag another 80's staple.

  174. I too grew up in a large family, six sisters and two brothers, money was always tight. I loved playing with Barbie dolls, with six older sisters who played with her before me, I had quite a collection of them. I also loved playing hide and seek with about a dozen neighborhood kids. As a family we played board games a lot, I loved Monopoly.

  175. I enjoyed playing sports with the boys when I was young--especially "horse", but we also played a lot of baseball and just plain basketball.

  176. I grew up in the 50's. We lived out in the rural boondocks but we always got together with the neighbor kids and played sports and games. Button, Button Who's Got the Button was played up the front porch steps of our country home. No real prize except for bragging rights. Also, loved Mumbly Peg where all the boys would get together under a tree with a little pen knife and dared each other to stick the knife in the ground after flipping it from a body part, like elbow or knuckle ... ouch !! The other boyhood favorite was flipping baseball cards. Call match or no-match before the flip and try to win your buddies favorite cards.

  177. I loved to ride my bicycle with friends, play Monopoly, and play in a pick up neighborhood game of softball.

  178. When I was little nothing was more exciting to me than a neighborhood game of Hide n' Seek. It was thrilling to play a game with the "big kids." I also loved girly games such as paper dolls and my personal favorite "doll hospital."

  179. I love My Little Ponies! I grew up in the 80's so I had all those funky toys, my mom still has them up in a box in the attic somewhere. I can still remember all of their names haha! I also loved playing with cardboard dress up dolls and coloring new outfits for the dolls, and making creepy crawlers in my Creepy Crawler oven. The smell of burning rubber was atrocious, but neither of my parents ever complained. Those were the days!

  180. My three favorite childhood pasttimes were playing Super Mario Brox. and Legend of Zelda on Nintendo with my little sister, watching cartoons and game shoes with her, and building forts with sheets and pillows between our beds. This would be a great prize since it would help me re-create one of those past times!

  181. My favorites are bike riding with Mom and Dad and the family, trick or treating, and running in the sprinkler.

  182. I remember playing a game called Ghost in the Graveyard outside as it was getting dark. Shivery fun. My Mom and brother and I loved playing marathon games of Monopoly. And when I was really little, nothing was better than Duck Duck Goose!

  183. I actually played outside a lot when I was little, so I mostly enjoyed swimming, hide and go seek, playing in the tree house, and H-O-R-S-E.

  184. My absolute favorite things were playing chinese checkers with my great grandmother. Playing cops and robbers with my two sisters in the woods behind our house. Lastly, I always loved to play phase ten because we did it as a family during family night. Those were memorable times that were my favorite because I spent them with my family and friends, the people that I love.

  185. My favorite things to do when I was little was jump rope, play with Barbies, and play my NES games like Duck Hunt.

  186. My favorite video game growing up was Bubble Bobble. My favorite game was marco polo in the pool. My favorite pasttime was going camping with my grandma and uncles and aunts.

  187. I used to love "Go To The Head of the Class" which I lost every time to my girlfriend, but it was a great brain tease. I played checkers day after day during our summer playground at the local high school. And, as appropriate for the eldest of eleven children, I loved that game "go play with your baby sister or brother"

  188. Hard to choose my favorites! But I loved to play tag or kickball with friends. I also spent much of my childhood drawing mazes, I wonder if that counts as a game since it was homemade... Then as I grew a little older, the impossible-to-avoid video games (NES, Atari, Colecovision) entered my world and I was never the same afterwards! To this day, I really enjoy these console systems (but it's time to join the 21st century, and a Wii would be GREAT).

  189. We used to play a game called "Man from Uncle" based on the TV series. IIRC, It was basically a game of freeze tag played over about a square mile of Sunnyvale, California.

  190. I used to play uno a lot. I guess thats probably still around. I also played Zelda on the first Nintendo system. And I also played Pac-Man on a little hand held thing I had. Those were the days!

  191. At my grandparent's house, would play with the doll house that my grandparents has purchased for my mother when she was a child. With my mom, would play "tea time", with tea and cookies. With dad, would play with toy cars at the auto parts store.

  192. I was an only child, But that doesn't go to say that i was a boring one. My mom and i would make playdough out of flour salt and god knows what else and play with it for hours. (I still remember that smell mmm)When i was old enough to go off my property and hang out with friends we used to go into the "pine tree forest" (which was like 9 small pine trees set as a property line) and we would spy on people from our secret lair, play robin hood or power rangers or even just lay and watch clouds go by.
    and of course i think every one did this but it was still just awesome and i wish i could still do it is getting a group of friends on bikes and just go exploring. jumping over pieces of wood(so cool) and making the bike into a motorcycle with a pepsi can on the back tire ... ohh yea we were hot. and this was stuff we did like every day. Except for the play dough that was rainy or snowey day fun.
    any way good luck to every one. that was fun just looking back.

  193. When I was little I loved playing with my Grandfathers Horses, they seemed so big and majestic. That grew into a love of riding... My favorite childhood game was Hide and go seek... I can remember countless times playing it with my neighborhood friends. Believe it or not reading was a favorite pasttime of mine that and actually still is.

  194. I loved playing operation, candylane and my talking viewmaster which i still have and poping jiffy pop on the stove and watching the foil pop up!

  195. I grew up in a small town with not a whole lot to do, so my friends & I would tie a rope from a bike to a wagon and go down her hill(driveway) into the driveway across the street. We would ride our bikes all day around town and play water games in my pool pretending we were at Six Flags Thunder River.

  196. My favorite games were - Eucre, Chess, softball and hide and seek with my 12 brothers and sisters.

  197. I use to pretend I was on archaeological digs or was being shot at by snipers on my roof! Being a kid was fun stuff :)

  198. As a kid I loved to play Monopoly on rainy days, flashlight tag on summer nights, and with my Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars any time.

  199. When i was a kid, i was all about some nintendo games like super mario bros., castlevania, and donkey punch. Those were the days...

  200. When i was younger i loved to read. I also liked to play simon says, and i loved the game of red rover.

  201. I loved playing Monopoly when I was a kid...maybe that was an early indication that I would end up as the accountant I am! My sister and I always played Connect 4 and the card game Crazy Eights too.

  202. I had a couple of board games that I loved. Mystery Date and Trouble.If there was a group of us we always had alot of fun playing UNO.

  203. When I was younger I loved to play super nintendo, hide and go seek in the dark (my friends and I would play in my basement), and the game UNO. I miss being a kid, but I always feel like I am a kid at heart :).

  204. Wellll....since there were no video games when I was small, we (there were 5 of us) would play outdoors nearly all day during the summer months. We would build 'huts' from cardboard boxes and old wooden ceiling tiles; play Mommy by preparing 'meals' for our family - black dirt & water mixed together in an old pie tin for a chocolate pie, grass and weeds in an old plastic bowl for salad; would pretend to be Incredible Hulk by pushing over old, rotten trees with the slight push of the hand....... boy, did we have fun!

  205. I grew up in the 80s. What kid didn't love to play the original nintendo!? My favorite was the original Mario Brothers. My whole family has been addicted to video games since this era.

  206. My brother and I would each climb into our sleeping bags backwards and pretend we were in spaceships. That is one of my favorite childhood memories. I also loved playing hide and go seek and chinese jump rope. I was a bit of a tom boy.

  207. Wow, I have not thought about this in years! I loved heads up 7-up. I enjoyed Uno, and still do. Oh- and I liked musical chairs. Thanks for such a great giveaway.

  208. I loved playing Candy Land with my brother. I swear we wore that gameboard out! My cousin and I always set up a lemonade stand in the summer. I have great memories of that. The third main fun childhood memory was of me and all of my cousins searching for fossils out by a creek bed. I really had a great childhood! Thanks for reminding me!!! :)

  209. We liked playing spies (we were sneaky kids), recording our own radio shows on cassette, and, oddly, warning the neighborhood when the mailman was coming.

  210. I used to like to play hide and seek in the fields and woods behind our house, we used to play a lot of kickball and dodgeball, and I especially liked designing and making Barbie doll clothes and playing with our Barbie dolls with my girlfriends.

  211. My sisters & I loved to dress up & play wedding in the backyard. My mom hated her wedding dress so she gave it & her veil to us - what fun times!!
    Another thing we loved to do was have backyard campouts in the tent. We felt so adventurous out there in the 'wilderness' - HA!
    We also spent lots of time playing in our dirt pile. We had lots of cars & small dolls to make castles for...we usually ended up with a tunnel underneath our mountain. Which would crumble with the slightest touch of course :)

  212. I was also from a large family (7 kids! I'm the baby). TV was never a big deal in our house. Literally, we had a 13 inch black and white TV with an antennae!
    We used to play "Ditch". (Basically a cross between tag and hide and seek). We also played with cars in the dirt on the canal bank. And we spent a lot of time riding bikes.

  213. Thats the easiest question ever..

    1# playing with my breyer horses
    2# duck hunt (nes)
    3# tetris (gameboy orginal)

    and the orginal zelda for the NES sucked alot of my childhood up too :)

    I blogged your contest on Prize-A-Tron Too!
    http://www.prizeatron.com

  214. My favorite games were Battleship (NOT electronic), and Life with the whole family. My favorite pasttime was climbing trees!

  215. Since I grew up in a town of about 1400 people, my favorite pasttime was riding my bike all over town with my best friend. we also played baseball and basketball together. I didn't want to grow up, but did and now my kids want me to get them a Wii. so if you could draw my name, it would save me a bunch of money.

  216. I loved to read - Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary. I also loved board games - clue, monopoly, candyland, operation. I also loved playing outside. I remember I had various outdoor toys - my favorites were my sneaker skates, pogostick and powder blue banana seat Schwin. Our favorite thing to do though was play outside and get dirty.

  217. 1. In the summer I lived in the pool. A pool club was just beyond our fence and we were there just about every afternoon. Chores first, then swim.
    2. I loved paper dolls and just about any kind of craft.
    3. We had wonderful pingpong championships with the whole family

  218. When I was in grade school, we played "Star Wars." Because there were more girls than boys, Princess Leia always had sisters. Little did we know...

    At home we played "Slap Jack." We didn't always have cards and never more than one deck, so if a jack got lost we switched to queens or any other card that had all four.

    When we were older we played Scrabble. My sister would get frustrated because even though she was 7 years younger I never let her win. Today every match we play (against each other - NOT at club or tournaments!) is a hair-pulling, insult-throwing grudge match and we revel in every second.

  219. My favorite pasttimes when I was a child were:
    1. Building forts with sheets
    2. Turning all the sidewalks in the neighborhood into "roads" for bike riding by painstakingly drawing a dotted line down the middle of the sidewalks with chalk. We made a gas station out of boxes too! The parking spots were the water meter rectangles.
    3. Creating gymnastic floor routines on my neighbors lawn where all the kids would compete for beautiful, hand sewn ribbons.
    Thanks for doing the giveaway!!
    Kristin

  220. Gosh. Well summer makes me think of riding bikes crazily without helmets down steep hills. That's what we did in the 80's and it was dangerous but so fun. My dad was always big on new technology so we had PONG when it first came out and spent hours playing it! I also used to love playing pingpong with my brother. I guess I've always just been into games!

  221. We liked playing a game when we had a long ride to family relatives.We would do the alphabet game.First you would find the letter A anywhere in signs.Then b-z.Whoever finished the alphabet won.We liked to play sorry,monoply.But the Wii would be the ultimate family game in these days.My family would love it Im sure.

  222. I remember playing Sea Monsters. A game that we made up and the whole neighborhood played. You had to only play at our house because we had the all important cracks in the driveway that spelled the bridge that made you safe from the dreaded sea monster. It was like a tag game. We had a blast running and screaming sea monster! In the end it was always a ton of sea monsters against one little lonely human.

  223. This is so nice to remember...I would play "mother may I" with all of the neighborhood kids in the alley next to our house. We would also go to a wooded plot that we nicknamed "the greenie" and play hide and seek. Lastly, my best friend and I would play jacks all the time in all sizes. What fun we had!

  224. I loved to play in my grandparents "park" with all my cousins. We had so much fun playing tether-ball, teeter-tottering, swinging. Anything where I could be the boss or the banker...oh baby, Monopoly. Or cards, Skip-bo, Milles Borne, Phase 10...dice; yahtzee or 10,000. Even though I rarely get a chance to play on the seesaw anymore at least I still have the stamina for board games, lol.

  225. When I was younger I would play tag and we would sneak into a field close to home to clim the large trees that hung over the canal. I have seen the Wii and was saving my money to buy it, if I won it would be amazing.

  226. I remeber playing for hours a board game called
    Husker Du. I played everyone and beat their bottoms off lol. Then I grew out of that and then there came Atari.Oh boy those were the days!!!
    Asteroids,frogger,Breakout,Donkey Kong,Joust, oh and I can't forget Pitfall and Packman. My daughters friends have a wii and we go over there and play for hours when it's raining or too HOT for outside.

  227. I liked playing Operation, riding my bike and roller skating on my driveway. As I grew, my mom introduced The Ungame, which was a good substitute for the Operation game I up and sold at a garage sale for a quarter (D'oh!).

    Thanks for hosting such an awesome giveaway!

  228. First generation of video games - pong
    Second generation of video games - Space Invaders
    Third generation of video games - Super Mario
    New generation of video games - Wii

    Thanks for the contest

  229. Oh my favorite things to do were to play jacks, and roller skate. The number one thing was to play three flies up. You had to catch three fly balls and then you got to be the batter. I spent a lot of summer afternoons playing that game!

  230. Our all time favorite (usually summertime) games were, for indoors, Monopoly, and outdoors - street baseball and swimming in the neighbor's pool, playing various water games, ie. Marco Polo. I think my grandson would be thrilled with a Wii.

  231. when we were little my brothers and sister and I used to play "store". (Even then I liked to shop). We would take the vegetable and fruit cans and boxed items from the pantry and put them on a bench. We would then take turns being the clerk and the customers. We used our play money, and it amused us for long afternoons when it was raining and we could not go outside to play.

  232. I am the youngest of 7 so I totally understand where you are coming from with little money and lots of imagination! Oh and we had a triple bunkbed from a Naval ship in our room to accomodate 5 girls (1 bunk bed & 2 twins) and the boys had another room. Talk about crowded but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

    My 3 favorite childhood games/pasttime memories are...

    1) Camping. We went to Lake Henshaw and Butterfield Ranch as often as we could growing up. The adults slept in the camper and the kids got the tents and sleeping bags! I remember straightening out wire coat hangers so we could toast marshmellows (or char them in my case...yum!) to make s'mores. We would tell fun stories around the campfire and just get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a few days. Usually our cousins were with us so it was a large group and lots of fun.

    2) Sliding down the Pickle Weed hills on our coats or cardboard boxes. We would careen down the hills at break-neck speeds and walk the insanely steep hill all the way back up to do it all over again. Man we were either really brave or really stupid...still not sure which! Regardless, we did it for hours on end and were exhausted when we got back home at the end of the day.

    3) Dance parties in our room with my sisters. We would put records on and dance for hours. I can hear Toto singing Africa as I type this. The boys were never invited (sorry guys).

    I have so many other fond memories like these but the ones above are coming to mind first! Thank you for putting such a nice smile on my face today!

  233. 1- I loved (and still do) puzzles. I can't stop when I start (even the 1,000 piece ones).

    2-Jacks. I know, silly but we played it at summer camp and it was always a favorite of mine.

    3-Monopoly. About the only thing my brother and I could do together without getting into a fight (at least for the first 30 minutes or so) was to play Monopoly. On snow days we'd have marathon games. He always won. :(

  234. I have so many favorite, imaginative memories - but here are three:

    Haunted Houses: I was overly fascinated with ghosts and haunted houses as a child. I'd often read ghost stories form the library and then have trouble falling asleep at night (totally my fault). I would spend weeks during the summer at my grandparents house where I'd lie in bed and make up ghost stories for their house and farm. They are still some of my favorite and thinking about them still gives me the creeps when I'm out there alone. Deep down I secretly wish they were true and not made up.

    Star Trek: I LOVED LOVED LOVED Star Trek the Next Generation in 5th grade. Thankfully, so did many of my grade school friends. We had a playground that had an actual bridge on it and we turned it into the Star Ship Enterprise and it became the ship's bridge. We all picked characters (or made them up if there weren't enough "good" ones) and we played Star Trek during break. Hey, it beat out playing Gone With The Wind which we did the year before that. We were strange grade schoolers.

    Siblings: I was the youngest of 4 children (by 10 years) so I didn't get to "grow up" playing with my siblings. I did, however, get to do many cool things with them instead. My sister used me as a model while she was in high school and I was not yet in kindergarten. I have a few (although not complete) memories of spiked hair, HUGE belts, glitter makeup and a microphone while standing on the fireplace singing along with Madonna on the radio. Ah, memories.

    Thanks for allowing us to take this trip down memory lane.

  235. I was brought up in a very strict Catholic home and we were not allowed to watch TV or play video games or any of that essential stuff that kids do today. But, we were allowed to play games like Jacks which my childhood friend Joan and I used to play for endless hours on the sidewalk on those hot summer days. We also played hopscotch and jumped on our Pogo Sticks. Then there were the neighborhood hide and seek games where about a dozen kids from the street got together and played. The last one to be found was the winner. I remember my Mother has this really loud whistle and when it was time for us kids to come in she would whistle for us and we all would come running home to get ready for bed. Those were the most carefree classic days of my life. I wish every child has the chance to experience that during their lifetime, it was molds us into who were are today!

  236. 1) Playing Mario Bro's on my NES
    2) Playing DuckHunt with my LightGun on the NES (oh yes!)
    3) Going to Oriole Park @ Camden Yards and watching the Orioles!

  237. Freeze tag, badminton, and water fights with the hose. When I was a kid, we only stayed inside if we absolutely had to.

  238. Playing tag with the boys (didn't try very hard to run fast!!)
    Super Mario Bros. That song still sticks in my head.
    Using my mom's color enhancing mousse (red) on my blonde barbie dolls.....and then I got old enough to do my own!!

  239. Well I remember playing a cooking game outside, making mud pies (yummy), and we also had a delicious WITCHES stew....everything in the yard, and on the trees went in that stew!! Haha. No wonder my hubby would rather go out to eat, thats where I learned my cooking skills from! As I got older Truth or Dare was FUN!! hummmm...and Kiss Chase...everyone has played that RIGHT?

  240. Summer was great growing up, my favorite things were fishing with my dad, going to the A&W drive in and getting root beer floats brought out to the car , and camping.....not so much the bathroom arrangements, but the camping itself was great.

  241. Hmmm, hide and go seek was a fun game always. I sed to love to read, and i liked being outdoors with animals

  242. 1)Pac-Man

    2)Dig-Dug

    3)Galagia

    I played the pretty much these types of games. I wasn't really into gaming until later.

  243. 1. Going to the library to pick out books to read.

    2. Walking to the lake to swim.

    3. Playing kickball after school with friends.

    We didn't have any videos, and TV had pretty meager offerings, mostly lots of old b/w movies.

  244. I loved coffee can walking, where you tie ropes through the cans and walk on them.. that is how we got through all of the creeks. I love my little ponies. Also we were always riding snowmobiles or sledding.

  245. Possibly most memorable was the time we took over the doghouse for our neighborhood clubhouse. (Poor dog!) I also loved to read and do crafts.

  246. I had lots of fun things to do so I'll only list the three.

    One of my sisters and I, along with a few friends, would act out plays for our parents and other neighbors. My two oldest sisters had taken dance classes so they had costumes. I remember doing he Frog Prince skit. I wanted to be the princess but I was the youngest so I got stuck being the frog. When it came time for the frog to poof into the prince, my sister hit two powder puffs together to make the poof. Good times.

    We never had video games growing up so I liked to play Atari Space Invaders at my friend Lori's house.

    We played jacks, pick up sticks and marbles a lot.

    I also used to have fun doing the hand games that girls do. I don't even know what to call them. The girls know what I mean. I can't remember any of the songs that went along with them.

    Also...jumping rope to songs I can't remember.

    Tether ball...

    Okay, more than three. I got on a roll!

  247. I somehow submitted before I was done

    Favorite games/pastimes in order:

    1. Riding my bike and jumping ramps.

    2. playing hide and go seek with alot of kids, using about half of the subdivision I live in as the boundries.

    3. I loved to play YARD DARTS even though it was bascially outlawed due to injuries (I never sustained an injury

  248. Favorite games/pastimes in order:

    1. riding my bike and jumping ramps.

    2.I loved to play was bascially outlawed due to injuries (I never sustained an injury) - YARD DARTS. My second favorite was

  249. We used to play a lot of Red Light/Green Light and Mother, May I?. My other favorite thing that we did as kids was catch lightning bugs to keep in our "bug box" that we made with our dad! Wow! The memories are flowing now.....thank you for such a great giveaway!

  250. Candyland, Red Rover and the "new" 80's computer game, Oregon Trail, were my 3 faves when I was a kid!

  251. My brother and I loved to play "library." We made our own cards/pockets and taped them inside our books, then we stamped them to check them out (none of this scanning stuff like we have today!). My friends and I would also play behind the shrubs against our house, and we called it our "cave." Our parents would find all sorts of toys back there. Also, my friend Kim and I used to make up "routines." We would make up dances to oldies songs and then show our parents. Good times!

  252. My three favorite past-times from childhood:

    Dueling "Lightsabers", with fencing swords I made out of old TV antennas and duct tape:

    Legos:

    And the game "Sorry".

  253. When I was young I loved to play tetherball more than anything else. Playing softball with my cousins in the middle of the road comes in a close second and playing with cars in the dirt.

  254. Hmmm... I'd have to say that my three favorite pastimes from childhood were hide & seek, catching fireflies, and bike riding. I used to spend whole weekends attached to my banana seat bicycle! Ahh...the memories!

  255. My favorite childhood games were hide n seek and twirlies. I suspect my brothers, sisters and I made up the game of twirlies. We use to stand in a circle and twirl around with our arms stretched out as fast as we could , the last one standing was the winner. Thanks for the giveaway!

  256. Three favorites...hmmm. I had the blessing (though didn't see it at the time) of having 4 sisters (no brothers) and a neighborhood FULL of kids. This was back in the good old days of the 70's when parents let kids go off and play on their own and didn't try to manufacture entertainment for the kids.

    Three favorites - jump rope games. Not just regular skipping, but tying the rope to 3 peoples' ankles and playing some kind of triangle game...first the players (not holding the rope) jump over all the ropes, then the next time jump on the rope (without falling over or touching the ground)...then the ropes would be raised and the jumping over jumping on would continue. As the ropes would get higher you could use "pinkies" to lower the ropes to aid. Various rules allowed for "tips" but not "snags" on touching the ropes. Another game was Mississippi and two people with the jump rope around the ankles.

    A 2nd favorite game was probably "Witchie Poo"...I though this might have been a made up town game but I blogged about it one time and did some research and sounds like it was a real game - though various people played it different ways. You needed lots of kids. Basically a mom goes out "To smoke my pipe" and leaves the kids with a babysitter. Babysitter isn't careful, "the witch" sneaks off with the kids and at the end the mom has to catch the kids back.

    A 3rd favorite activity would be an early evening game, again with lots of people, to play "Boogie Man Hides in His Grave". Kind of like hide n go seek - but creepier :)

  257. Three favorite childhood moments: digging in the sand for sand crabs @ the beach, climbing trees (especially avocado), and feeling the wind on my face while riding my bike as fast as I could.

  258. I remember playing soccer with Dad on sundays. Although he is no longer with us I still get nostalgic each time I see a soccer field. I play with my children now and tell them how much fun I used to have with Grandpa.
    The other 2 things I liked to do when I was younger was playing with my bike riding back and forth in the neighborhood going as fast as I could beating the boys that was fun, the other was playing tag in the park. There were many of us and only the fast ones survived. Those were the good old times.

  259. Monopoly, swimming in my neighbors pool, the old Oregon Trail computer game (we didn't have a computer at home, we played this at school).

  260. 1) Long road trips with my grandparents.

    2) Playing in the yard with the sprinklers turned on full blast.

    3) Riding my bicycle all around the neighborhood.

  261. monopoly. i have 4 brothers & sisters. we would play that into the wee hours on the weekend

  262. I loved ATARI 5400 gaming system that featured asteroids. Then Ms Pacman came out in the aracade and spent every quarter I had playing against my friends. However, I remember to be topdog you had to know how to play centipide..

  263. Legos always kept me busy. If I was outside we'd play capture the flag. I was also pretty obsessed with my commodore 64.

  264. My favorites were Mystery Date, Kerplunk and the Game of Life. I also liked chinese jumprope for outside. Thanks for the giveaway!

  265. We played outside A LOT when I was a kid. We played hide and seek and kick the can (my favorite. We also played kick ball.

  266. My favorite games as a kid are very hard to boil down to just 3. One of my favorites was my Sega Genesis...playing Sonic the Hedgehog. My favorite board game was Mousetrap. My 3rd favorite game to play was this really stupid game called Toejam and Earl. They belched and farted throughout the whole game :)

    [email protected]

  267. I loved playing S-P-U-D! That game where you'd throw the ball in the air and scream someone's name and they'd have to catch the ball while everyone was running from it. Then they tried to hit someone with it. Prison Ball and Dare Base were great too!

  268. 1. Playing with the water hose (digging tunnels, adding rocks, and creating streams and mini rivers)
    2. Chinese Checkers (original metal gameboard)
    3. Barbie anything! I even had my mom's vintage Barbie Goes to the Prom board game from the early 1960s.

    Thanks!
    [email protected]

  269. My three favorite childhood games were: hide and seek, concoction creation (we'd go out into the yard with a bucket of water and throw in all sorts of ingredients to see what turned out), and construction site (also done in the yard, we'd dig long trenches and fill them with water and watch how the water travelled around the village we built.)

  270. I really enjoyed quite a few games as a child such as Parcheesi, euchre, hearts, Monopoly, and Clue.

  271. When I was a kid all the girls in the neighborhood would play Barbies for hours. We had the Dream House, corvette and tons of clothes. We also loved to play Monopoly and on nice days everyone in the neighborhood would get together on our dead end street to play kick ball.

  272. My 3 favorite childhood activies were:
    1 - "hungry, hungry hippos" (and according to my dad 6am was my favorite time to play
    2 - jump rope, and all the variations of other games you could play with one (like tie your little brother to a tree!)
    3 - hiding in my closet to read (see #2 to understand the hiding)

  273. We spent a lot of time outside. I liked to ride bike and jump rope. Inside we played different board games and cards.

  274. My three favorite childhood pastimes would have to be one, that cup with the string tied to it and you would have to try to get the ball into the cup. Haha, remember that one? I must have spent hours trying to master it. Another one would be playing beanie babys with my two older brothers. We used to collect them wherever we went and would pretend they were alive and but clothes for them and stuff like that. Of course me and my brother always left my other brother out, but hey it was fun lol! And last but not the least of my favorite past times would be sitting around with my whole family and playing pictionary. I loved that game and still do because it was so funny how sucky our drawings are!

  275. Oh boy, we loved to hike all over the place!
    I loved MasterMind - was very good at it - also loved any word game - Boggle, Scrabble etc

  276. We played board games a lot. Saturday mornings we went to the movies, I used to buy a Nestle chocolate bar for 5 cents to eat at the movies. That afternoon we played what ever we saw at the movie, cowboys, spys, etc.

  277. My pastime games when I was a child was... Playing bank...LOL I had a piggy bank, found a quiet sot and pretended to be a banker. Me and my cousins loved to play house. Lastly we loved to race up and down the street on our bikes.

  278. I just loved an old game we called "Ghosts in the Graveyard" which was basically a hide and seek game that we played outdoors at dusk.

  279. so many to choose from.... one that comes to mind is playing the "first" nientendo with my sisters. we would get stuck on levels and have are friend come over and help us pass.

  280. OMG...I love this! I grew up in a family with 4 kids and very young parents. Our family was "financially challeneged" so we had to make our own fun. (I'm sure from 2 of my responses you will be able to tell I grew up in the late 70s/early 80s..lol):

    1> The Gong Show: Me and my two friends would torture their poor older Aunt who watched them during the Summer by making up skits/songs and making her judge us and then choose a winner. Of course the sweet old soul never actually gonged any of us and we all "won" because she couldn't make a decision.
    2> Craft Class: I grew up in Georgia and there was an abundance of Georgia Red Clay everywhere. My sisters and I would wet the clay and then make items like small bowls, cups, dice, balls, and let them dry/bake in the sun all day. **Georgia Red Clay is impossible to get off of clothes, shoes, and kids. Sorry mom!
    We also waited for the telephone man to come. He would leave colored wire scraps and we would make braided braclets out of the wires.
    3> Solid Gold: We would watch Solid Gold at my friend Donna's house and then make up dance routines to early Madonna songs. We then put on a show for passing drivers in one of our frontyards. Sometimes we used props like kitchen stools/chairs and hats.....so funny!! :)

  281. On the weekends, we would play cards - primarily Rummy. I also remember playing Parchesi and Sorry.

  282. What a fun topic.

    1) we loved to play the Bozo the clown (Grand Prize Game) the game where you throw the balls into the numbered buckets. So much fun.

    2) I loved playing with my barbies, had the van, the camper, motorcycle, and of course the purple corvette.

    3) Little House on the prarie books, loved them!

  283. Let's see, three favorites from childhood.

    My sister and I had a cardboard refrigerator box that we used to play "house" in. We painted it, and our parents cut out windows and a door. We had a great time in that simple little box.

    We also played "school" all the time. We had a chalkboard and a little desk, and I was always the teacher.

    Finally, books. My sister and I loved reading so much that our parents would have to come into our bedroom, take our books, and turn out the lights. Otherwise, we would stay up all night reading, no matter how tired we were.

    Kind of different than a lot of people, I guess, less of the games/toys/etc and more imagination. :)

  284. When i was a kid, we loved to play tag, 4 square and we used to play catch by throwing the ball over the roof and catching it on the other side of the house. Fun!

  285. My favorite games were played on warm summer nights, when the sun stayed out as late as we did. We played "Mother May I", "Freeze Tag" and the classic "Hide and Go Seek". I still can hear the laughter of my sisters and friends and nobody got upset if they lost, everyone had fun.

  286. I was a reader. When my nose wasn't in a book I'd be with friends playing kick the can or ghost in the graveyard. We also liked to jump rope a lot.

  287. 1. We would gather all the chairs from the dining room table and make two rows with them. We then proceeded to play "Airplane". We would pack for a destanation and serve our passengers.

    2. My dad would bring home a bunch of huge cardboard boxes from work and help us make forts with them out in the backyard.

    3. Playing "Mermaid" in the pool, each of us would pretend we were a different color mermaid princess.

  288. Wow, my 3 FAVORITE past times. Really tough choice.
    #1. BARBIES!!! I loved barbie and her accessories. i loved how her clothes were better than mine, and i would have hundreds of barbies and 1 or 2 always and forever naked kens. lol

    #2. Sidewalk chalk. I would sit in my driveway for hours getting sunburned just to color and draw, write my name, draw a heart around my cute boy neighbor's name. ha ha

    and last but certainly not least

    #3) Was Swimming in a pool. My mom used to call me her little mermaid. I would never get out of the pool..and even when the water was freezing and my lips were blue..i would refuse to get out.

    Aww so much i miss about being young, but i am so happy to live it again with my 3 year old son...well we don't play barbie but one day hopefully i will have a girl...oh and she will be a barbie girl..:-)

  289. My 3 favorite pastimes as a child were 1) playing freeze tag 2) riding bikes and 3) playing in the hose! I don't think I was ever in the house, in front of the television as a child! Thanks so much for the giveaway!

  290. Wow, you have a LOT of comments right now, Steph! I hope you're not really reading them all or you'll never get any sleep. Anyway, there are so many things I loved to do that it's hard to pick. I played different variations of Tag a lot (including one in kindergarten we called "GI Joe" tag, where the boys started chasing the girls and then put us in jail when they caught us, and after a few minutes we turned into GI Joes and helped them chase everyone else) because I was a fast runner and that was a fun game to play. I made forts out of blankets and stuff that my dolls or friends and I played in and I LOVED my Minnie Mouse tent for those purposes too. I also played dress up a lot. Not just in dresses, but all the way from dresses to bunny costumes with face paint to a prarie woman outfit. I have a funny picture somewhere of that one, because I wanted to really get into the part. So I put my small Maltese's leash on, sat in my "wagon" (really a plastic shopping cart) and tried to make her pull me across the "prarie" (family room). Poor tiny dog.

  291. My three favorite games as a kid was.....

    Baseball with all my brothers and sisters.
    Pretend store where I got to be the banker.
    And make mud cakes.

  292. We (my brother and I) would ride our bikes through mud puddles. I'm sure mom loved it, but it was fun.

    We played on our rope swing with the neighborhood kids and of course we would build a "fort" in the basement and have our tape recorder so we could play DJs. I want my kids to grow up the same way!!

  293. My neighborhood friends and I would also "cook" food in my backyard. Which normally amounted to finding different leaves and dirt and mushing them together. We also had a clubhouse that we would always "redecorate", i.e covering the floor with moss carpet (note to self, moss is slippery). And I guess the last thing would be creating synchronized swimming routines in the summer... They were always horrible, but it was fun! ( :

  294. I loved "Red light Green light" in elementary but in high school I was all about Donkey Kong and Frogger. Now that I have my own boys I have become a amateur wrestler and chaser.

  295. I was the only girl with all my male cousins and we used to play rockem sockem,which I still love.We also played this game with paddle balls,you know those paddles with balls on an elastic string? and we would get on the beds and try to hit each other with the balls without leaving the bed. The unfortunate thing was once the string and ball came off the paddle my uncle thought the paddle was great for spanking.Another great game we played was "all star wrestling" of course I almost always lost lol

  296. I use to love to play spin the bottle when I was little but of instead of getting kisses we would have to give each other a push on the swing at the playground. We also use to play freeze tag, wich was always fun but when the boys caught you they would want a kiss on the cheek.

  297. Oh man, there are so many! My all time favorite that I can remember is playing hide-n-seek with the kids from the neighborhood. We had the run of the whole neighborhood and I would be SO scared hiding alone! We used the "big green thing" as safe - it was some type of electrical box for the neighborhood and it was ALWAYS warm, so on cool nights, it was great to hang out and wait for everyone (we probably all will have cancer, but...). My other favorites are definitely hanging out at the beach - reading, sleeping, building sand castles, finding boys, etc - and sledding with friends in the winter. :) Thanks for great memories and a great giveaway!

    Like many of the others

  298. We played hide and seek in our neighborhood on summer evenings way past dark. The darker the better.

    My friends and I had a secret club, too. There were three clubhouses but the best was the shed in my backyard. You had to move a loose board to crawl in.

    Third favorite pasttime was riding our stingrays. That was the bike we all had back then. Long rides everywhere. Pack lunches and head off for an adventure.

  299. We played all kinds of games in our neighborhood. Redrover, cops and robbers, tag, we didnt have video games so it was all our imagination!

  300. Q-bert on the commodore 64 @ school, freeze tag & when our wealthy neighbors got the very firt Nintendo....we would play Super Mario Brothers for hours!!!

  301. I loved playing board games, especially Sorry and Operation. I also enjoyed latch hook. On nice days, my friends and I used to walk on stilts.

  302. Kickball (modified to fit the yard)
    Freeze Tag
    Being able to ride bike/run around an play wherever we wanted as long as we were within an earshot of home. Not having to worry about the creeps that exist today. I wish my kids could have that.

  303. As I kid I used to love playing Marco Polo with my friends in the pool. Miles Bournes (a french card game) was another good game my family would play often, it is the one game I remember playing with my parents. Another thing I really enjoed was playing Barbies. My girlfriend and I would use carpet squares and leftover pieces of food from her grandpop's shop (he was a carpenter) to make and furnish our homes. We could play with our Barbies for hours :).

  304. This is fun! I've enjoyed reading the posts. One post even reminded me about one of my favorites - Heads up Seven Up! I remember the smell of the desks, the anticipation, and how bright the room seemed at heads up.

    I loved playing hide and seek with all of the neighborhood kids all summer. How devastatingly sad when it was too dark and we ran out of "Just one more" minutes.

    The third one I liked was building snow forts with my brothers and neighbor kids and having snowball battles between the forts. When our Mom could finally bribe us to come inside with hot chocolate, my jeans were frozen and would literally stand up for a minute or two. Our coats, hats, etc could barely dry out in time for the next day's battle.

    Ah, gee, now I'm all melancholy and nostalgic... gotta go hug one of my kids and make hot chocolate. I wish I had one of those desks I could smell...

  305. We used to play Tripoley every single Christmas Eve. My grandmother started the tradition, teaching us kids how to play. We would all buy 7 "white Elephant" type gifts ( dollar store stuff, a dollar bill in a gift box, candy) and wrap them up. Then use pennies & one gift on the board, each, for each round. When we finally got done for the evening, we would have tons of fun opening our gifts.
    Another game my grandmother taught us, was Yahtzee. We would play this for hours!
    We had alot more freedom, than we let our kids have nowadays. We would play all day in the woods, behind our neighbors house. Building forts, hideouts, and sneaking our first kisses.

  306. My three favorite pastimes as a child was "hiking" through the woods by our house, four wheeler riding, and playing uno on the bus ride home with my neighbor.

  307. As a kid I loved playing with paper dolls, I also loved playing imaginative games with my big sister (ooh! today we're pirates!) At home I also loved playing on my first nintendo I got for christmas with my big brothers. I still remember playing Mario Brothers for the first time!

  308. Well, we loved playing tether ball and four square for games, but I really remember watching The Sound of Music with my family! I know, it's corny, but we loved it!

  309. My three favorite games/pasttimes were Boggle, Sorry and roller skating (not to be confused with roller blading!).

  310. I have a lot of wonderful childhood memories, playing card games, such as crazy 8, go fish, board games, checkers and monopoly. Hide and go seek, tag, Red Rover, Spin the bottle,jumping rope. I grew up on a farm in MN, when the hay was gone from the haymow, my sis and I would swing on the haymow rope(used to hold the hay when stacked high)We would swing from one side of the mow to the other..what a ride! Spent a lot of happy times down by the creek, trying to catch minnows. Ice skating on the creek in the winter, riding the sled down the hills that we had in our pasture, short ride down, long walk back up. Too many things to list here...those were the "good old days"!

  311. my three favorite was pac man, hide and seek and truth or dare. they were all so much fun. thanks for the contest and reminding me of some great times growing up

  312. This has honestly been the most fun comments section to read! I had three awesome things from my childhood picked out and then realized that alot of the comments had some of my great childhood memories too.

    Well here goes:
    1) I loved watching my mom play Nintendo. She could always beat every game and my sister and I would watch her with awe. Both of us would make her beat Mario Brothers over and over, because we loved the ending with Bowser. Our mom was the first person to beat it and we were wicked proud of her.
    2) My dad used to start pick-up baseball games with the entire neighborhood and it was awesome. He used to pitch to everyone with tennis balls so we would hit the ball further. It was a big deal whoever got picked to pitch to him, it was like the MVP award for the game-- it definitely felt like an acheivement when I got to pitch to him.
    3) Every Sunday we used to take a 45 minute trip to my aunt's house and our whole family would watch the Patriots game during the winter and during the summer we would play baseball outside.

    Actually, just thinking about childhood memories reminds me how awesome my family is and how lucky I am!

  313. Riding bikes all day, playing with Little People and playing with Mandy and Chrissy dolls with my sisters. It's amazing how some of our toys are coming back!

  314. I remember there was on summer my sister and I would play Monopoly all day. We would play from first thing in the morning all the way through the afternoon.

  315. My favorite pastime was reading,followed by playing "War"(the card game),and catching fire flies!

  316. My 3 favorite games were:
    1) "The game of Life" (loved spinning that wheel),
    2) Dirt (this is where we would pick up clumps of dirt from the pasture and hurl them at each other). Parents of today would freak out if they learned their child did this but we had tons of fun doing it. Only once in the hundreds of times did someone actually got hurt (minor dirt in his eyes).
    3) Guns (a simple game of hiding throughout the country side and pointing a toy gun and saying "bang". Again, parents would freak out about this but would you believe it wasn't very innocent and we are the least violent people in the world. And yes, none of us own a real gun today.

  317. Oh childhood games!!!
    Spiralgraph,Kerplunk,and Operation,Don't Break the Ice were some of my favorites! What a trip down memory lane! There were many more!

  318. For a board game it would be Payday. I really should buy it to play it again. I always felt so "grown up" paying bills and stuff. Ha. As for imagination it would have to be war in the wintertime with snowballs for bombs with garbage ties on the top for a wick. But my all time fail safe was Barbies. God I loved my Barbies!

  319. I like for board games chutes and ladders, mouse trap, and life. I was more of an outdoor child during the summer though I was always riding my bike, swimming in the backyard, running through the sprinkler at grandmas and catching lightning bugs at night.

  320. We played kick the can, and I love flashlight tag. I also remember the summer my parents remodeled the kitchen, and for a week or so, the old kitchen cabinets were outside in the backyard. I got a pizza box and played house, pretending I was cooking a real pizza in the oven. I also loved playing with my stuffed animals.

  321. Let's see, wow! Taking a trip down memory lane, way, way, down memory lane lol! We used to play hide and seek which was real fun because we lived in an apartment complex and there were so many places to hide. Another thing we used to play, I cant remember the name but one person would spin all the other people around and around and when you stopped you had to turn into a statue then the person that spun us went around and tapped someone and if they caught the spinner, they became the spinner. The last game we played was we would take turns putting on shows for each other, we would play our records and sing and dance for each other and get scores. Thanks for letting me think about being a kid again!

  322. Every summer the girls in my neighborhood set up a carnival in my backyard. My parents were the only ones who were good sports about the mess :o) I usually was the fortune teller and we has penny toss, raffles etc. and gave the profits to a local charity. Another thing we did was to catch fireflies....my absolute favorite pastime.....we always released them too. On rainy summer days we played LIFE, checkers and card games. I have great memories!

  323. 1. Cigarette tag (My parents were shocked!)

    2. Blackberry fights (My mother was ticked!)

    3. You-Guys-Hide-Until-I-Find-You (Invented by the oldest sister of the five brothers she had to baby-sit.)

  324. My favorite activity of all time was playing with Legos. My friends and I would also play Chinese jump rope during almost every recess (where the boys would always try and interrupt). Also I loved riding my bike around the neighborhood with friends.

  325. 1 - swimming at the local pool. Everyday my friends and I would walk over the the pool for a day of cool fun.

    2 - Board games such as Mouse Trap, Sorry, and old game called Camp Granda

    3 - Playing dress up with my cousin.

  326. Two of my favorite pasttimes were games, Hide-Go-Seek and Red Rover, Red Rover. The other pasttime which I still enjoy immensely was reading.

  327. when i was a child there was a woods behind us and my favorite games to play in there were army, then we would play hide and seek, then we would rap it up with a few rounds of tag

  328. I used to play orphanage when I was a child too, but the game was different. I had marbles for orphans and I spent hours lining them up for meals. I also pretended I was a nurse in an orphanage for sick children. The children were all dolls and were always covered in bandages and gauze. Those games were fun and exhausting! I had so many responsibilities to help the orphans. When I would get tired of that, I would play a game called, “Fishing for Screams”. That game was not a very nice game and I am somewhat embarrassed by the joy I took in playing it. We would tie dead crows or squirrels to string. We would then drape the string over tree limbs and hide on the garage roof with the other end of the string. When someone walked by, we would lower the string so that the squirrel or crow would dangle in front of their face. The hapless victim of our prank would always scream! We thought that was hilarious!

  329. Hide and Seek, Freeze Tag, and playing board games and regular (old school) Nintendo until the wee hours of the night!

  330. When me and my brothers and cousins get together, we always bring up our favorite games we played. My favorites were always:

    Freeze Tag
    Hide & Seek in the woods
    RollerSkating Rink

    Oh my goodness! I just read Jodi's comment. We also used to play Orphans or Runaways! I don't think we ever played Kidnapped though.

  331. Such a great giveaway! I always remember playing tag, Trouble, and Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega. Thanks!

  332. We played orphans, too! Either that, or kidnap victims. I guess lots of kids have a morbid streak.

    We also spent hours exploring the creek that ran by our house. If we were stuck inside, we'd read or design Barbie clothes.

  333. I remember playing these three favorites as child:

    1. Ollie Ollie Oxen Free
    2. Tag (any kind especially candy bar)
    3. Four Square

    How I wish I could go back to those times!!!

  334. My three favorite childhood games were:

    1. Heads Up 7-Up (in school)
    2. Monopoly
    3. Checkers

    Great memories!

  335. My brother, friends and I would play kickball in the street (which resulted in many stitches and a cast or two over time). We also loved playing "CHiPs" on our bikes with walky-talkies. Another favorite was "Sharks and Minnows" in the pool. Good times!

  336. My sister and I would play with "Mr. Ghost" as we were going to sleep. We would talk to him as if he were in the room with us. We also enjoyed "hide and seek in the dark" and playing with Barbies.

  337. Sorry, I hit submit before I finished.
    We played in homemade forts, at first it was my brother and I and we had a trundle bed and under the upper bed we played for house.
    Jump rope we played chase and school. I don't remember all of the rules, but we had a great time

  338. My favorite childhood games had to be Jacks we sat for hours. Around the world, sweep the floor and a different name for each number of jack you were required to pick up.

  339. carried my Raggedy Ann doll around with me everywhere. Loved all card games and board games. I really loved to make snow forts in winter time

  340. Some of the best childhood momments were some of the simplest. Hide and seek was a particuarly great game. It was fun to play! Hide and seek tought me to how to escape a blood thrusty killer in a horror movie.

    House was also a great game to play. It tought me how to be self sufficient since I knew I couldn't count on anyone else to play house with me.

    Finally, Doctor. Yes this game tought me how to perfom complex HMO form filling out. My child hood was a great childhood filled with many great games, all of which made me the funny person I am today.

  341. Chinese Checkers-played with family while camping...loved and love this game!

    Centipede video game--would throw my $ into the machine wherever I could and was actually pretty good!

    Monopoly..a family favorite always

    THANKS

  342. Life and Twister were always my board game staples, but nothing beat Nintendo when it first hit the market!

  343. I loved playing hide n seek, concocting potions & hot lava-jumping from furniture to furniture without touching the floor.

  344. I loved board games when I was a kid -- Life was probably my favorite, but also Mousetrap (though with that one the most fun was just sending the little ball through the maze), and as I got older Trivial Pursuit.

  345. When I was little me and the neighborhood kids would play 'Red light, Green light' a lot. Other outdoor favorites were 'Red Rover, Red Rover' and touch football. When gaming consoles came out I loved pac-man! And Sorry was always my favorite boardgame.

  346. I loved to read, and I still do. I was on the swim team, and I also liked to write stories. Actually, I still do all of those things, now that I think about it :)

  347. My favorite childhood pastimes:
    1.) Drawing & Coloring
    2.) Playing w/ Toys
    3.) Pretend Baking/Cooking

  348. I also have four sisters and one brother. Absolutely money was tight! I do remember a chocolate factory in town that we would walk to and could afford one piece of candy. We also played classis games, Don't break the ice, Don't spill the beans, and Kerplunk. One other favorite memory was building our own indoor tents by putting a blanket over two chairs, oh yeah, we were creative.

  349. I grew up in the 70's and 80's. 3 of my favorite past times were Cooties, eating Mint Julip candies and floating around the pool in the backyard.

  350. I grew up in the 70's. My grandma used to humor me and play any game I wanted. I usually made up my own rules to my benefit and she let me win. These are the games her and I used to play.

    1. Which Witch (Loved this one!!!)
    2. Clue
    3. Kerplunk

    I miss the old days....lol

  351. My family was a huge gaming family and I keep that tradition with my own family today! A great break from those enticing "plug-in" devices (or would that be "vices"?). Indoors, we would play "Sorry!" quite a bit - we'd sit in our three-season porch enjoying nature while playing. Another game we would play, especially with family and friends, was "horseshoes". Yes, a small town game, but a blast nonetheless. Another great family memory was playing "Charades". I have SO many funny memories from our countless hours playing this game. It's so easy to become detached playing "one-person" video games, which is why I continue to incorporate the good old classic games into our family's together time. Granted, sometimes it starts out with a "Aww, mom - not again", but it always ends up with tons of laughs and memories I hope will last a lifetime!!

  352. What a great contest -- thanks!
    We were always outside. We played the classic kickball, and a game called "ditch," which was like hide 'n seek, except neighborhood-wide. Sometimes we played it on bikes! And (this was SO nuts) there was a drainage ditch that ran under the highway, so you could walk through it like a tunnel. We used to go play down there (I was always glad when we could see the light at the other end of it!!). No video games or computers to distract us, just creativity and fresh air!

  353. One of our strange games as a kid was to pretend the ground under the swingset was electrified. So we'd monkey around the whole time, and then... oh no! Dolly would get dropped, and we'd have to plan a daring rescue, hanging upside down, and desperately not touching the ground.

    I would also like to make stews. Mostly "ingredients" from the snowball and lilac bushes outside of our house. Mmmmm.

    My dad was also great with us, we'd set up a lincoln log town with those non-politically correct cowboys and indians, and then make stop motion videos mimicking some of our favorite cowboy movies, complete with silent picture style captions written on a piece of notebook paper.

  354. As a child, we did not have a lot of fancy games. Oh, we played Monopoly of course, and I learned to play Canasta and Rummy Royal with my older sisters, but the play I enjoyed and remember the most was the play that took imagination. Specifically, I loved playing make believe Man From U.N.C.L.E. with the neighbor kids. We would run around with secret communication devices, hiding in the bushes, pretending to be secret agents or arch villians, or even being the helpless victim who needed saving. Ahhhh....those were the days, my friend. We thought they'd never end......

  355. I was a bookworm, so I spent as much time as possible reading. Beyond that,3 things I remember include:

    1) Playing "Little House on the Prairie" w/ friends, we never watched the TV show but we read the books over & over, there were 4 of us, so we were the 4 kids, our parents were somehow not around . . . the bunkbeds were the covered wagon . . . it was great fun.

    2) Dress-up
    3) House, I loved my baby dolls & play kitchen . . . I could play with that for hours.

  356. for me it was parcheesi, monopoly and my poochie dog :)

    When your mail gets bounced it's one of those "delivery status notification (failure) and Im not sure why but it's happened the last 4 or 5 times I've tried to reply to your emails. I have another email, it's my main one so I'll use that one to post this time and that one hopefully will work!!

  357. I laughed at playing orphans. We did have a TV, and I watched it, but unlike now with digital programming on 24/7 there wasn't always something on.

    These are fun games I remember playing when I was around 8 or 10 with the girl across the street:

    Nautilus (this was in the 80's--the advent of the health club)--we'd run around her pool, and pretend we were at exercise stations. One time--in the winter--I fell in. Oops.

    Charlie's Angels--bike riding crime solvers!

    Office--we'd call each other's houses back and forth and answer like we were working in an office.

  358. I simply just don't the disposable $$$ to purchase a Wii for my family since I care for my elderly Mother. It would be a wonderful distraction though if I were lucky enough to win one.

  359. three of my favorite games growing up had to be forts which involved just building forts around the farm we used some pretty weird things to build the forts the best was an old 60's style bus that we turned into a "house" i also played monopoly quite a bit and probably the weirdest game was skunk hunting i had some weird fascination with going out after dark and trying to find skunks thank god i never actually found one! but i would drag my older cousins outside after dark to look around for them we had a lot of fun though!
    thanks for a great giveaway boy does thinking about all this bring back the memories!

  360. Hands down, the first one was Red Rover, I loved that game. In our neighborhood we also played Freeze Tag and that was a lot of fun, as was kickball. For indoor games, I loved Monopoly and Yahtzee! Thanks for a great contest, brings back memories!

  361. Favorite games: Clue, Life, and Monopoly. Am I old school, or what?! Loved getting to spin the spinner in Life, and adding babies to the family car was always fun. :)

    Fun contest, brings back good memories.

  362. Connect Four, watching the movie Xanadu and swimming nights out with our dad and on to Dairy Queen after! It was always so cold in the air conditioner with wet swimming hair.

  363. ahh the sweet pleasures of childhood summers! My mom would take my friends and I to the pool quite often or the beach and we got to go to an amusement park even better, but when it wasn't a day trip we all loved to play Jacks, Red Light Green Light, Double Dutch, Freeze Tag and we all giggled to death when we could a hold of a MadLibs book! Those were the days!

  364. I was the typical "tom boy", climbing trees, building forts in the woods, riding my bike all over town by myself. Of course, that was when it was safe for a kid to ride their bike alone. Things were a lot simpler back then.

  365. I was an only child,so my "games"were pretty lame,lol!!One of my favorites pretending that I was getting off work and going home to my apartment.I swear I'm not kidding!!I would borrow my moms' keys,pretend I was unlocking my apartment door,(which was my bedroom door),and cleaning up my house(bedroom)(keep in mind I was pretending,so no actual cleaning was done).LAME I know....thank God I had friends in the neighborhood.....

  366. 1. Playing humpty dumpty (Jumping off the top bunk bed)
    2. Shooting model rockets
    3. Tormenting my brother

  367. Some of my best memories...fishing with my dad was always so much fun, my brothers would always get into some kind of trouble and my dad was always so patient...sleeping in front of the box fan with my brothers. We had no A/C and we would sleep right in front of the box fan that was right by the open front door. Games I always loved Red Rover and Dodgeball, no one could get passed me. The most fun was always at birthday parties with a pinata. I wish they made them for adults! I know I could get to that candy now.

  368. I love thinking back on my childhood. Especially as I watch my own children take such delight in the world around them. Three things I loved: Skating(I imagined myself as an ice skater on wheels and made up dances), Imagination play(my favorite thing was to create a little imaginary world where I was the teacher/mommy, etc.) and just being with my family(playing games, laughing, traveling, I loved it!) Thanks for this chance! I was really sad when my pic didn't make the finalists and we really want a WII, just can't afford it.

  369. WOW ~ what an awesome giveaway!! my son has wanted one since before christmas but they are just immpossible to find :(
    As a child and even today i still love to play baseball and basketball. we also love to play hide and go seek and ride bikes with the kiddos!!
    thanks so much!!
    moore.g at insideconnect.net

  370. Ooops, hit submit before I finshed. I also like to play hide and seek with my brothers. I was always found first. My brothers and I also loved to play Slap Jack.

  371. I loved to jump rope during recess. I knew all the songs that went along with jumping rope and could "jump in" even while double dutching.

  372. Wow, this takes me back. Like you, had a BIG family :12 kids, 6 boys, 6 girls. Never a dull moment!!! Monopoly was a huge fav in the house, also making up "shows" for the folks-singing and dancing. Kickball too, we had enough players for 2 teams!!!Thanks for the contest!!!

  373. Let's see, Steal the Bacon was a popular one; At the playground we would play Hot Lava Monsters, and whoever hit the ground from the dome, was turned into a lava monster and had to get the others from above. Last my favorite game was similar to freeze tag, except it was a statue store and when the "customer" touched you, you had to pretend you were something or someone and tag the customer. Ya i was weird.

  374. My favorite outdoor games were hopscotch, jump rope, and red rover. As far as inside play-Monopoly, Dominos and Barbie were usually the favorites.

    Playing these games with my kiddos sure takes me back!

    AH! To be a child again!

  375. I was lucky enough to have friends who lived on a ranch and had horses. We would play we were in the old west and "travel" very far of course it was all on their property but it seemed huge to us. But they lived in an area that had many pine trees so it was easy to imagine. We would also race our horses to see who was the fastest. It was just a blast for me!

    My mom and I would play Yatzee together. I was the only child and loved spending time with her.

    Back when computers weren't in every home, my family was friends with a family who had Minesweeper on their computer. This game was addictive and big deal to me when there wasn't too much out there for computers.

  376. 1. Creating "magical" concoctions out of whatever we could find in the garage and out in the woods. (we were lucky we never chlorine gassed ourselves!)

    2. Blowing up green plastic army men with firecrackers, or melting them with makeshift hairspray "firethrowers". We would also build the army men wooden forts out of twigs, and burn those down too.

    3. Playing "tornado". We lived in an area that had been badly struck several time by tornadoes, and we used to hold out own extremely dramatic mock tornado drills, pantomiming trying to run and hide, and the wind carrying us away..

    Looking at everyone else's posts, it seems like my brothers and I were quite destructive and violent, comparitively!

    celticbikerbabe (at) AOL (dot) com

  377. Well, I'll probably be showing my age, but, I was a pro at Atari "Pong". Absolutely loved that and it was so much fun beating my sister.

    My 2nd fav is Galaga. I still play this whenever I get the chance. Had the high score during college.

    My 3rd is Pac-Man. Lots and lots of time spent trying to eat those meanies. Was too funny when they came up with Ms. Pac-man.

  378. Baseball in the front yard with apples from the tree and a tobacco stick... monopoly... and the game of life! =)

  379. Wow, lets see, some of my favorite pasttimes as a child. One game that I can remember playing was Red Rover, Red Rover. I wasn't to good with this game because of my polio, I really couldn't do it very well at it, the girls were good with helping me out. Another game was, Mother may I.
    I also remember during the fall when the leaves were mostly all down from the trees. Some of us girls from the same dorm would rake the leaves up into squares that would be our homes. We would have the bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen. These are some of the things that I did as a child. Thank you

  380. There were 7 kids all together in my family 4 girls and 3 boys. We did not have alot so we made up a lot of games. we played freeze tag , hide and go seek,along with alot of other games outside. But the best one I can remember was we had an old 55 gallon empty barrell in our back yard and we would turn it over and stand on it and see who could walk on it rolling the farthest. or even better we would put each other in it and roll it around and then see how dizzy we could make each other. Yeah we were nuts!!!

  381. My sister and I would play SO many games. It's hard to choose my 3 favorite, I guess I liked the ones we made up the most. 1.Dress up barbies in tin foil to make them warrior women and then have them fight our dino and giraffe toys 2. Go out to the garden, break off some bamboo (our parents totally let us do this because that bamboo was running wild) and pretend to be Amazons and pretend fight each other 3.Playing with out old cat, pretending that she was a dragon guarding treasure (the key part of this game was trying to sneak up on her with out waking her)
    Wow I used to play a lot of pretend based games. Ohhh fun times =D

  382. My 3 favorite things to do as a child were to play "pioneers" with my brother outside. We made forts, and "stew" out of weeds and water...mud..whatever. I also loved sled riding in our back yard in the winter. In the summer I loved cooking out and catching fireflies.

  383. I used to play Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and Don't Break the Ice all the time as a kid. They were simple games, that kept us entertained.

  384. Reading. I loved big colorful books and fairytales. The girls in the books were always so pretty and I remember wishing I was a princess. Watching clouds for hours. Playing street games outside with friends knowing that as soon as it got dark it was time to go home. Catching bitterflies in the back garden. Working on painting by numbers. Playing with my Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Watching reruns of the Brady Bunch and Partridge Family on t.v. My favorite pastime was not having to worry about anything, no responsibilities, no cares in the world. Just to play and go to school was my job and if I could go back and do it again, I would!

  385. I remember the all nighter Sega Genesis benders playing Sonic the Hedgehog with my stepbrother. Lots of video games in my childhood, and I'd love to have a wii!

  386. I used to love to play Red Rover in Elementary School, I don't think the kid's play that one anymore!

  387. My Dad used to take me and my brothers and sisters (of which we totaled 6) to an old skating alley growing up. We always looked forward to Saturday nights when Dad would take us out. I also played a bunch of softball and had a great time riding bikes at the park down the street growing up.

  388. We could make a Monopoly game last for days! We got the whole neighborhood out at night (sometimes as many as 20 kids) to play kick-the-can. And we roller skated or biked, on the sidewalks not a rink.

  389. As a child I loved to play cards (rummy or solataire), monopoly, and I enjoyed doing embroidery crafts.

  390. I was always busy with sports and games. My 3 favorite ones in childhood was called Don't let the old witch in. I have taught it to my boys, loved King of the rock and Hopscotch and pickup sticks

  391. Totally Four Square. TOTALLY. In fact, the summer camp we go to every year has a Four Square court. And I totally plan on crashing it as a big, bad adult and ticking off the youth... just like the adults used to do to us back in the day. I so get it now.

    Softball. I played, starting at some young age, for 11 years. It was a bonding thing with my dad that became a summer love and passion.

    And let's kick my last one winter style: OMG, SLED RIDING! We lived on 89 acres, atop a HUGE HILL. And, MAN, there was no snow like we used to get back in the day. We had huge parties. But even when it was just me and my brother, oh, those were the days. (This is why I still LOVE snow to this day. As it's been 90 for the past few days, I'd gladly take some right now.)

    :)

  392. I grew up in a family with six kids. We didn't have a lot of money and video games weren't invented back then. We used to play outside. One favorite game was played with cousins and neighbors when it turned dark outside. We would turn on the outside light and half of us would be on the "dark" side, and the other half would be on the "light" side. We would try to pull/tag each other to drag them to the "other side". We also played badmitton, baseball, basketball, croquet etc. My older brother, who is to this day into the latest electronics, earned a little money with a paper route and bought the first Atari video game console. The only game he had was Pong and it was in black and white. But boy did we have fun playing it. Video games have come a long way since then. Still loved the "simple childhood memories" though.

  393. Nitendo was huge when I was kid so staying up late playing video games were a childhood favorite. Playing board games particularly cribbage, Monopoly, and Sorry. Finally Ghost in the Graveyard was a neighborhood favorite on summer evenings, which was a sort of a combo reverse hide and go seek/tag game.

  394. Loved reading, playing with wooden blocks, and creating a tent in the yard using the clothesline and a blanket. Hope that's "imaginative" enough--I'd hate to think my childhood was so dull it got me disqualified.

  395. I was the oldest of seven children and my father died at a very young age so my mother had to raise us on barely any money.
    Our pastime was spent reading or playing gin rummy, old maid, go fish, crazy eights, candyland and monoply. Hasn't times changed. Now my children want a wii, they tell me I could even lose weight if we had one and played it.
    Thank you for a chance to make my kids happy.

  396. I loved playing hide and seek with my brothers and sisters. Also enjoyed playing board games. However my most favorite memory is playing poker with my father. He would get the penny jar down and divide them between us.

  397. A few of my favorite games as I was growing up are: Marco Polo when we were swimming. Freeze tag while camping with all the other kids in the campground. I also loved playing yatzee. I actually loved yatzee so much that I taught both of my kids how to play when they were just toddlers. Obviously I would figure out what they should go for, but I loved hearing my little one's yell Y-A-T-Z-E-E! Now that the weather is getting warm, I'm sure we will be playing a lot of my favorite games soon!

  398. We would play "Red Rover, Red Rover" and then "Star Light, Star Bright" and of course there was always jump rope.

  399. All the neighborhood kids played outside when I was a kid. We played a lot of kick-the-can and step-ball (racket ball for kids without money)and jacks when we weren't feeling so energetic.

  400. There are 6 kids in my family, too. And The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was one of my absolute favorite books as a kid. I must have read it at least 10 times! I also grew up without a TV.

    My favorite childhood activities were reading (and reading, and more reading), playing make believe (cowboys & indians and knights and princesses mostly), and climbing trees.

  401. I have the fondest memories of playing games at my grandparents house. They kept their games under the sofa in the living room and we would play for hours and hours almost everytime we went to visit. I cherish those memories and I thank you for allowing me to remember :-)

    My favorites from under the sofa. 1. Yatzee, 2. Chineese Checkers and 3. Connect Four. Not the most exciting games but oh how I loved to play Grandpa :-)

  402. I was really into gymnastics when I was a kid, and I'm ashamed to say that one of my favorite games was trying to teach the cat gymnastics! I also had really long hair which allowed me to roll two large Princess Leia buns on each side of my head. I spent many hours pretending to be her. Finally, I'd have to say that Chinese checkers was an all-time fav of mine. I'm not sure what I liked more, playing the game, or playing with all those bright-colored marbles.

  403. I loved to play Hide and Seek when I was a kid, Family Feud on the computer when the only colors were red and green, and then I would always play this game with my cousin called "cooking show" We would pretend we were famous chefs and mix all sorts of ingredients together saying they were something else and talk like we were on an actual cooking show.

  404. My favorite games were paperdolls, pick-up sticks, and jacks, which i was terrible at. used to play make beleive cowboy(girls) and indians too

  405. A favorite game was called "gimme a wiggle". Why?...I don't realy know, but it was basicly outdoor hide and seek with flashlights and a constantly changing and expanding group of those who were "it". I don't think I ever fully understood the rules (maybe since they were always changing), but it was so thrilling to be creeping around the neighborhhod in the dark.
    While at my grandmother's house in the woods, we would often pretend we were lost. We would leave trails to follow..sort of "Hansel and Gretle". Living in the city now, I regret that my children have never had such freedom.
    There were also endless lawn games at grandma's house for as long into the night as we could still see...Badminton, croquet, bocci. It was a great way for young and old to play together while tiring out us kids. I treasure those times spent with my family.

  406. I loved playing Atari, and I still have it. My favorite games were Frogger, Kool-Aid Man, and Pengo.

  407. My favorite game when I was younger was playing spy or detective in the lumber yard behind us. We weren't really allowed in so that made it even more exciting! My brother and myself also used to go fishing in the little pond behind our house, we would take a picnic basket and then stay out for hours (until we finally caught a real tiny fish!), all these memories!!
    There's so many entries out there, I'm keeping my fingers crossed here. Thanks for the fantastic giveaway!

  408. Don't have the patience for it now, but I used to love monopoly! Hop scotch is in the top 10, but I think playing school was my fave...I was teacher of course!!!!!

  409. Hmmm! Memories, memories!
    - I loved to dress my Barbie with clothes I sewed myself. No kidding! I was really creative.
    - I copied a cool board game a friend had, and asked mom to cut two small wood pieces for me. You guessed it, I made dices out of them.
    - I used to write short stories.

    ^^ A perfect child, I was! :D

  410. I liked to ride my bike. My other two favorites were roller skating and kick-ball. We lived across the street from an auto glass repair place with a large parking lot that we used when they were closed.

  411. 1-I loved to play hide and seek with all the kids in the neighborhood-2Boomsy Boompsy that was where you would lay on the bed and your brother our sister would put their tummy on your feet you would raise them up with your feet if they fell off they would say boompsy boompsy this was a poor kids game
    3-I also remember making mud pies under our porch and decorating them then trying to get someone to taste them.2-Turtle hunting get a bucket see who could find the most turtles in the creek.

  412. When I grew up in the 40s-50s we played marbles(by the side of the Bank), jacks, and roller-skated using clamp on skates - with the skate key worn on a string around our neck!

  413. We used to love riding bikes, playing "Mother, May I?", and playing hide & seek.
    mommyof3inva(at)yahoo(dot)com

  414. Since I am as old as dirt (child of the 60's) my favorite toys were "skip it", Barbies, and my Hippity Hop! My friend Terry and I would hop on those red balls with handles for hours up and down the hill behind her house.

  415. We moved a lot. Our parents loved to play cards, but they had trouble making friends (they worked very hard, and are not outgoing). So they taught all of us at very young ages to play against them. I am the oldest, so it began with me at 5 or so being taught to play cribbage. After Mom put the other kids to bed, she and I would stay up together and play while she smoked her 1 or 2 evening cigarettes (it took her weeks to go through a pack). That time with her made me feel so special. Then, as my siblings became old enough to hold a handful of cards without revealing what they had, team play began. My sister and I competed against Mom and Dad in spades, and were a killer team. Even before my sister's feet could reach the floor, she was savy enough to kick me under the table as a way of signaling what she held. We also played various types of rummy, and our parents even attemted to teach us bridge when I was 9 and my sister 5. 35 years later, a family get-together at my parents' house always means that the card tables are out and ready.

  416. The three games I loved most when I was young were jingle-jump, chinese jumprope and the hula hoop, also a game called grab-a-loop. I know that's four, but couldn't help it. Thank you!

  417. The three games I remember playing with the most from my childhood are: barbies, freeze tag, and swimming. I remember swimming in my friend's backyard pool EVERY SINGLE DAY in the summer! My mom used to call me a fish.

  418. One of my favorite games was 'Annie Annie Over' where we threw a ball over the shed in the back yard. Then the one catching it would run around the shed and try to tag the other player. Another games we played was tag. But my all time fav was to play school. (Later I became a teacher!).

  419. We rode our bikes, built tree forts, read comics, and loved the games of Life, Monopoly, and Voice of the Mummy!

  420. I grew up in a major city and our neighborhood was filled with kids. In the evening we would always play "hide & Seek". The game would end at dark when our parents gathered us all up. During the day it was Red-Rover-Red-Rover and roller skating and double dutch! Board game was usually Monopoly or card games like "Old Maid". We never even had time to watch TV...which was black & white anyways.

  421. I only had one sibling (an older sister) and she always wanted to play 'school'. Of course, she was the teacher, so it wasn't much fun for me. I liked hide and seek, and playing with barbies. And I lived to go swimming or play in the sprinklers or with the water hose. Anything to do with water, because it was so hot and we had no a/c back then. Thanks so much for the opportunity. My daughter's birthday is June 28th. Would love to win this for her gift. Great giveaway.

  422. I had a book that I used to read (over and over again). I've looked for it online, if I can find it, I'm going to buy it and read it again! Unfortunately, I have been unable to find it. Grimm's Big Book of Fairytales.

  423. 1. Don't Step On the Brick, made up with my childhood best friend. There was a larger stone on the sidewalk, when stepped on it would sound an alarm, we would be captured, and then we would have to find a way to escape the evil villians.

    2. Twins. Another game with my best friend, in which we would pretend to be twins. We didn't go to the same school but her grandparents were my next door neighbors and we were friends before we were talking, so a fitting game.

    3. Nintendo. My family would rent a new game each weekend. I loved California Games and rented that multiple times. Another one I remember is Maniac Mansion--one of these days I am going to find that game and figure out how to beat it!

  424. Barbie was definitely my number one as a kid. Running around outside playing neighborhood wars was probably second in line. And I loved being creative with painting and drawing and all sorts of crafts.

  425. Oh my goodness! Your life sounds so much like mine! I have 4 brothers and one sister...so we had 4 boys/2 girls. We grew up with no TV...EVER! We certainly grew up with imaginations and a love for reading!

    A few of our favorite childhood games:

    We too acted like superheroes. My mom had made one of the boys a Superman costume, and a few of them ended up wearing it eventually. I had a leotard and some tights and a knitted shawl, so we all became an imaginary superhero, zooming around the house. I think I was about 10 when I quit doing that.

    Another thing that we loved doing, was to play Star Wars with Dad. He would put the Star Wars soundtrack record (yes, vinyl!) on the record player (remember those?), and then he would be Darth Vader. I was always Princess Leia of course, and my brothers were Luke and Han. They would use their invisible but highly sound-effective light sabers against the evil Darth Vader, and they would "rescue" me.

    When we were a little younger, and there were only three of us, mom and dad would go to Officers' parties (we're Air Force brats). They would leave a babysitter with us. If it was a sitter we didn't like, we would pretend we could speak a different language, because "our dad was stationed in ....." (which we didn't, and he wasn't). We would carry on a "conversation" and giggle all over the place, because it would make our sitter mad! If it was a sitter we liked, then we would line up the dining room chairs, and put a sheet over them like we were flying on an airplane. Our sitter was our stewardess.

    Lots of fun times! Thanks for helping dredge up some of those wonderful memories!

    Angie

    PS...I'm blogging about this on my blog:
    http://www.rioosodesigns.blogspot.com

  426. Loved to climb trees, and we had a fort in like three trees and we would see who could get across the planks. Also loved to play hide and seek in the woods in the back yard, and the best of all playing vet with my snakes. TOM~BOY. Now I have two boys of my own. And a little girl that does the same things as me.

  427. Oh boy, this brings back memories.
    My sisters and I used to play paper dolls by the hours in the winter.
    In the spring and summer we would play tether ball or hike up in the hillsides pretending we were explorers.
    I wished we lived where my kids could have enjoyed these funs things in their childhoods as I did.

  428. Being one of six kids in the family, we were never bored. We did alot of walking and exploring at the dairy farm where we could help milk the cows, hung out at the Ungar plant and had many rides with the Good Humor delivery man. I loved roller skating, my trampoline and pogo stick. Had a transistor radio too and boy those were the days. Wii for mii, pliise!

  429. I loved telephone..we sat in a circle and whispered a phrase and as it went around the room it turned into something so silly!

  430. We used to hang out at the beach,shop for school clothes and I was an oddity because I liked to read. Thank goodness I passed this on to my kids
    Thanks for the great contest

  431. I loved pretending to be a spy. Also, many board games -- esp. the game of Life and trivia games. I also loved being outdoors and running around -- all the classics, like hide & seek, tag, etc.

  432. I am an only child so of course I enjoyed riding my bike. While at school, I loved playing 4 square and kickball. Thanks for the contest. It brings back fond memories.

  433. When I was younger my mom and I lived with my grandparents. Being an only child I always was coming up with things to do. I LOVED making forts. This became my number one passtime, even though my grandma was not too fond of the idea because I kept asking for blankets and towels. :P My grandparents had a huge backyard, so whenever it was nice outside I was always out there. Usually playing "Jungle Adventure," as I called it. I used the birds as exotic ones and any cats around were instantly lions or tigers. It was a great time. Then lastly, I longed for the days when my cousins came to visit. We played outside, climbed trees, played/made up some many games like Hide and Seek, Dare someone to go into the garage and grab something(it was a scary place), or see how far back you could get behind the fence without grandpa seeing you. Overall, great times. I miss them a lot.

  434. My three favorite childhood games? Wow. My friends and I did so many weird things, it's hard to choose! But here are 3 of them:

    (1) We used to play "camping" at our sleepovers. We'd drag any chair we could find, along with extra sheets swiped from the linen closet. We'd drape the sheets over the chairs, tuck ends into dresser drawers, and pretend we were camping out.

    (2) We'd hook a microphone up to a tape recorder and record our own radio shows, complete with weather forecasts, the newest hits, interviews with the stars, and (of course), live performances of your favorite songs. Those tapes are scary to listen to! LOL.

    (3) My dad and I would throw tennis balls over the roof of our house. As an 8-year-old girl, I found this task very difficult and was overjoyed when one would finally make it over the peak of the roof. Looking back, I have to give my dad MAJOR credit for having the patience to deal with both waiting for me to get one over the roof and for retrieving them from the gutter!

    Thanks for the contest!

  435. When I was little I had an old school Nintendo. I loved to play Dr. Mario, Super Mario Bros. 3, and when my parents were married I would always play Double Dribble with my dad.

  436. I loved playing Zelda and Super Mario Brothers on our nintendo. I have lots of great memories of going mini golfing with my dad. We had a pool in our backyard, so there was much swimming at my house. I especially loved it when my cousins came over to swim.

  437. I usually played with my brother too, my sisters were too young. We loved GI Joe, Legos, and Star Wars - I wasn't too girly! We also played Monopoly and Life- for board-game activities. And my third childhood game would be... tag (flashlight tag was the best!). However, I remember the day a nintendo entered our house... lost my brother completely to that darn machine. I actually sort of fear the day a game player enters our house (although I hear the Wii is very fun). I would LOVE the pinata (I know, I'm a scardy-cat).

  438. well, i guess my favorite game growing up was wrestling with pretend pros. it was really a time of various imaginary people and like all kids I had alot of them. My 2nd favorite game was the card game war/old maid played with my family and friends. and about my 3rd game, guess it was hide and seek. I played many games growing up and think that by doing so, I am much better able to cope with the everyday challenges of life as the show up. Games are the things needed in life. enjoy them allways.

  439. During the winter, we made snow angels & played hearts & gin rummy or read books.

    During the summer, we played softball, tag, & pump-pump pull-away. What fun we had--no TV to distract us.

  440. My friends and I were Monopoly tycoons. We also played a lot of Captain May I, and when we got a little older-Twister. Thank you for this giveaway!

  441. I always loved playing outside doing almost anything, I played in the tree house alot and I used to dig for buried treasure among others, but my most favorite memories of my childhood are the times the whole family went camping or fishing. I have taken my kids so that hopefully they can have some of the same great memories to look back on when they are grown and have children of their own.

  442. I remember Twister! And we actually went outside to play and ride bikes and such. For an added thrill, we used to camp out and tell scary stories after dark.

  443. I loved to play imaginative games-- Dukes of Hazzard, Wonderwoman, and Star Wars were three favorites!

  444. I loved to read as I do now. I took ballet lessons and violin lessons, too. I haven't kept those up, though.

  445. One of my sister's and mine favorite things to do was to make paper dolls out of the Sears catalog. We would cut out their clothes, housewares and the like-we did this for hours. We would also play Rummy-the loser had to do chores. We would also roller skate around the block over and over. Looking back it was very fun!

  446. I was kind of a boring kid, LOL. My favorite pastime by far was reading. But I also loved to create little cities out of tissue boxes and other cardboard bits (bet mom loved that, haha) and I spent many hours making signs and drawings for my bedroom walls. Thanks for the super contest!

  447. I used to love riding Big Wheels around the neighborhood with the boys, playing with my bff's Barbie Mansion, and I always enjoyed reading stories about kids going on adventures in fantastical lands... thanks for reminding me

  448. My favorite game was Monopoly and Button Button, who has the button and roller skating. We did not have many toys at that time

  449. My very most favorite childhood game (who am I kidding, we still play it today!)is Home Run Derby. This wasn't your typical HRD. We had to use an aluminum bat and a soccer ball...that's right a soccer ball. We had an enormous back yard and it was lined with lilac bushes. In order to run to the bases, you had to hit it past the bushes. There was always someone in the yard across the way, because that's where the ball went. We had more laughs over this game...and it's still fun to get my brothers together for it. My hubby and their wives think it's a blast too!
    We also lived a block from a neighborhood park. Swinging on the swings, playing tag from the big area, picking up a game of basketball, or just a picnic in the park was always great fun. I still take my kids to that very same park for all of the fun things we did.
    Thanks for this very fun giveaway! I love sharing my childhood memories!!

  450. we always played tag or jumprobe - gosh i am getting old ..lol :) thanks for this great contest!!

  451. My three favorite games as a kid were:
    I grew up in Philly and we used to play "wire ball" using the electrical wires. We used a pimple ball and if you hit the wire, it was a home run. If you threw the ball over the wire and it wasn't caught by the other person, it was a single. If it was caught, it was an out. We played for hours.
    My second favorite game was "stick ball.We drew a diamond in the street with the bases using chalk. We used a broom stick as a bat and cut a pimple ball in half. The half ball was swung at and the whole game was again based on baseball.
    My third favorite game was double dutch which I would hope everyone knows how to play.
    We played outside from early morning until dusk. I think more kids nowadays should be outside playing these games. We didn't have computers or video games and you rarely ever saw an overweight kid.
    I think the Wii Fit game is definitely a step in the right direction.
    I want a Wii so bad. I would get the Wii Fit for it so I could make my yoga routines a little more interesting.
    Thanks for the giveaway! :)

  452. As boys (seven on the block}, I always liked to play army. That was my fav. Then there there was the football. In school I liked dodgeball'

  453. My 3 favorite... Any card game with my Grandma, swimming in the horse trough, and writing programs on the commodore 64.

  454. I used to play Kick and the can, Rummy (by the hours) and the old favorite of course....checkers.

  455. Oh my childhood! I miss it so much, those were the good old days. I was an outside girl. All the games I played were outside. Mother may I?, red rover red rover, red light green light, kick the can, hide and seek, barber shop, kick ball, dodge ball, tag. Man those were the times. It's a shame kids now days can't play outside safely like we did when were were young. Kind of makes me sad. Anyhow thanks for the memories as they say. Great giveaway!

  456. I use to play kick ball and tennis with the neighborhood kids. I had a "lemon twist" that hooked to your ankle and you would swing it and jump over it.

  457. Wow, what a cool idea and contest. I almost never read other's posts, but I really enjoyed reading everyones thoughts here. It brought back a lot of childhood memories. Kids of today are missing alot and really are different. When I was little, though I did have an Atari, I spent most of my time outside playing. Riding bikes, tromping thru the woods, playing Ghost in the Graveyared at night, kickball in the street. I could go on and on. Ahh, the good ol days!!

  458. I loved to play Red Rover, Red Rover and my sister and I would play good guy/bad guy and chase each other on our bikes. I also loved to "be" Wonder Woman! LOL Great contest, thanks for the reminder of what it was to use my imagination!

  459. Swimming in the bay.
    Making sand castles.
    And playing risk with my brother on snow days.
    Thanx for the contest.

  460. We had fun playing monopoly as a family. My sister and I loved playing Battleship "you sunk my battleship" We also played Boggle which was a fun game. Ah...the memories. Thanks for the contest!

  461. Playing with my matchbox cars under the tree in the front yard, fishing with my dad, and touch football on the street in front of our house

  462. Gosh, there are so many. I loved playing jump rope, riding bikes, going to the pool in the summer. Reading was always one of favorite past times.

  463. I remember stringing candy necklaces onto licorice ropes at on of my early birthday parties.

  464. I heard something recently that made me remember something from my elementary school days. I used to love to play Red Rover, Red Rover. I was fairly athletic, so I was a big fan of the jump rope. I liked to do the double ropes and run in and out of them. My third one was dodgeball. We used to play in gym class and at recess. I have to say, for a girl, I could throw that ball pretty hard!

  465. We played card games a lot - setback was a favorite.
    And we sat on the stairs and threw baseball cards against the front door, hoping to get a leaner, or knock the others' over.
    And we played hopscotch a lot - it was fun to decorate the backyard with chalk, and draw a hopscotch piece

  466. 4 square,hide - n - seek, observation games, kick ball. tether-ball, i spy, dodge ball, old maid, kings corner, slap jack, war, candy land, checkers to name a few

  467. I remember stringing candy necklaces onto licorice ropes at on of my early birthday parties. So funny that I still remember that! Thanks for a great contest!

  468. I grew up on a farm in the 70's. I don't remember us having a lot, but there was never a dull moment. We really made our own fun much of the time. One summer, we whitewashed the chicken house when we didn't have chickens any longer, and turned it into a playhouse. We moved a bed out there, set up a little kitchen with our dishes, and played out there all summer long.

    I remember spending hours after school in the springtime, going to the pond to catch tadpoles, to watch them develop into frogs, or just go out and catch the frogs themselves...or snails...or blood suckers...or water beetles. Whatever unfortunate critter came my way, I was happy to add to my collection.

    One thing I do remember us having is a number of board games...mostly what would be considered classic board games now. We played a lot of Monopoly, Sorry, Aggravation, Clue, and Perfection. I think board games filled much of our free time throughout the winter.

    Thanks for the giveaway.

  469. I grew up in the 70's. Loved to play board games such as: Chutes & Ladders, Candyland and Mousetrap. I would play those with my Gram.

    Now that I'm older, I still go over to my Gram's and play games with her. Now we play: Yahtzee, Scrabble and Scattegories.

    I think it's just getting to spend the time with her that I cherish just like my memories of growing up in the 70's. It was an awesome decade. Wish I could go back.

  470. By far, reading was my favorite, especially Bobbsey Twins. Couldn't get enough and continue to love those books to this day.

    Enjoyed playing blocks with my brother and driving little paths in the carpets with the hotwheels. GI Joe and barbie adventures were fun.

    Lastly, playing in the yard. Hunting down those pet caterpillars, crickets and grasshoppers. And munching on fresh chives from the garden.
    thanks!

  471. I used to love to play hide'n'seek, hopscotch and to roller skate on the sidewalk. It occurs to me that we'd all be in better shape - emotionally and physically - if we'd continued with our childhood games.

  472. Let's see... I loved playing double dutch in 1st grade and also super nintendo's super mario cart. I wish it still worked.

  473. Wow, what an awesome giveaway! 1.)I remember playing GI Joes and Barbies with my brother. But he'd give up before too long because I always had to name all of the GI Joes and Barbies before we could ever play with them. 2.) I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up so I'd play "school" with all of my stuffed animals. I'd read them books and give them report cards. I also did workbooks all the time. I actually enjoyed doing homework. 3.) I was an avid reader and took thorough enjoyment in staying in my room, reading a good book.

  474. Rideing my bike. I still love to ride my bike, and with the price of gas, it is a great way to get to work.

  475. We played "Circus" in our backyard... it was fun to see how many clowns would fit in the Cozy Coupe. We had an above the ground swimming pool, which we lived in all summer. I loved Connect Four. This was fun reading all of your reader's posts.

  476. Playing catch with my dad, playing dominoes with my mom, and playing trivial pursuit with family during holiday gatherings

  477. Wow!!! I would LOVE this for my husband...Ok...here it goes : )
    1. We used to go to the beach almost every weekend it seemed. I'd bring my dolls and we'd walk to JITB (crazy huh?) for ice cream. Loved those days...My mother even walked with me along the shoreline for what seemed like miles when I dropped my Strawberry Shortcake doll from the pier...if you can believe it we found it...
    2. My mom and I played Clue and Candyland all the time. We actually spent a lot of time playing board games now that I think about it...Life, Monopoly...
    3. Last but not least, Nintendo. Yes...I am a girly girl and I LOVED my Nintendo. My parents bought it for me when I had to get some teeth pulled before I wore braces. I finished all 3 Mario Brothers' games...at least that is how many there were at the time....am I showing my age?

    Thanks for an AWESOME contest!

    Caryn

  478. back in the day we had playground instructors and we play every outdoor game under the sun: redrover,mother may i,dodgeball... we also had tournaments --jacks,card games, jump rope, hula hoop you name it we did it.Now at 50 the wii sounds great.thanks

  479. How can I not talk about swimming all summer or fishing. I would go swimming until the city pool closed then I would go fish until dark. Of course in games I played I would say that my favorite game was Ms Pacman. It was addictive an still is. Good luck everyone.

  480. This really brings back some memories lol.
    When I was growing up we used to get all of the neighborhood kids together and play baseball in the fields. On saturday nights as a family we always played Monopoly, watched a movie and ate popcorn.
    As I got older Atari came out and then it was all about Pac-Man. Those were definitely the best of times.
    Thank you so much for offering this wonderful giveaway.
    I would LOVE to win !!

  481. Oh gosh I feel old! Being an old(er) granny now I get a chuckle out of the grands reaction when they want to know what games I played when I was little. My favorite was Red Rover. Then there was Hopscotch (honestly it was fun). And then being the dutiful sister I was to an older brother I played Hide and Seek and was terrible at it. I was always "it". Coarse it could have been cause he was 3 years older than me and would tell me where to hide...lol. Cute site, I enjoy visiting every once in awhile.

  482. 1. Skeet Huntin' with a stick

    2. Cops & Robbers with a stick

    3. Sword fights with a stick

    See? Doesn't all that "Stick Enrichment" entitle me to upgrade my entertainment levels? :)

  483. We used to find seeds, berries, etc., in the neighborhood and make a "stew." Our favorite actual games, though, included a scary and somewhat dangerous version of Ghost in the Graveyard with our older cousins and Marco Polo in the pool. I hope to pass some of my favorites on to my kids, but wouldn't mind sharing the Wii with them, as well!

  484. playing in the fort, playing in the sand box and I remember when My Mother got new stove We got the box and played with that for weeks.....then older Risk...and card games Conasta wow that was fun I would love to learn that again....

  485. Let's see - as a wee one, I would love playing princess with magical powers and made my older cousin who visited often be my "sidekick" - haha! I also liked playing vet since my doggy had babies more often than my grandma would've liked! And the other thing I did a lot was make up my own songs on this kiddie piano that can record what you play and belt out my own lyrics. :)

  486. favorite passtimes-
    1. building forts out of saw horses and all the left over lumber in the back yard...some of them were huge!
    2. Walking to Foster's Freeze for a dipped cone.
    3. Body surfing at the beach in the summertime.

  487. I also come from a big family--there were 8 of us! My poor mother must have been so stressed, but I just remember how FUN it all was. Favorite games?
    -4 square
    -cops and robbers
    -kickball in the cul de sac after dinner.

    Great memories!! :)

  488. We loved to play out doors, we had a bad-mitten set, pogo sticks and bicycles that kept us busy for hours every evening. There was a lot of Cops & Robbers on our bikes. In the rare event of eletricity outage in the winter there was always Checkers by candle light. The wii would be a challenge in comparison to these games.

  489. I loved playing "Chips". We tore around the neighborhood pretending they were motorcycles. Pretty embarrasing to think about it now.

    We loved to play house. My poor dog had to be the baby.

    Hide and seek was also one of my favorite games. I was so small that I was really hard to find.

  490. My favorite board game when I was little was Monopoly, but none of my family would play with me since I always won! (I was thrilled when my parents got me a Monopoly PC game so I could play against people online!). Other games, I did like 4 square a lot, and my sidewalk was the only place on my block where we actually had a 4 square area. I also liked trivial pursuit a lot too (young players edition when I was younger :P)

  491. What can I say... I AM A VIDEO GAME FREAK! I loved playing the Zelda Games, like Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, or A Link to the Past.

  492. My 3 favorite childhood games:

    1. Kick the Can- One person is "it" and starts counting to...10...20 etc. next to an empty soda can---the rest of the players hide. (This game only really works well at night!!) The object is for the "it" person to find all the "hiders" before one of the "hiders" kick the can over. The person who is "it" calls out who they see and where they are then this person comes out and sit by the can. TOTALLY fun game!! We used to play this while our parents "socialized" aka- got drunk by the bonfire in our col-de-sac.

    2. Mario 3-- I guess this is sad to say but I was addicted- my mother would not buy us a nintendo when growing up so at 8am I would run over to my friends house to play!!! I loved this game!!

    3. War- Yes the card game...I loved to play it, I never got sick of it and everyone around me HATED to play it. You can never forget the rules, it goes on for--- what feels like--- ever. It was beautiful in its simplicity!!

    Thank you for the chance to win!!!!

  493. It's been a long time since my childhood but I'll try to remember.

    1. Jump rope
    2. Hop scotch
    3. Playing with my dolls

  494. I lived in a tropical climate so most of our games were outdoors. My favorite was an extreme game of hide-and-seek we used to play (too involved to detail here), we also loved going out on our bikes for what must have been hours and lastly, when we couldn't do outdoor activities, we played with our Barbies. Life was pretty uncomplicated then...

  495. I would always READ all morning, SWIM all afternoon, then when the pool closed we would all come home and play hide-n-seek in the dark yard. Summer was great!

  496. As a kid my favorite pastime was reading. I always had my 'nose in a book'. I also liked to play board games like Payday and Monopoly and my dad's upright and tabletop video games - PacMan, Centipede, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Asteroid, etc. All of the 'oldies'. :)

  497. My favorite outside games were 4-square and flashlight tag. No TV at our house but my uncle had the old Atari, with space invaders and Pong that was cool.

  498. Remember Intellivision? It was kind of the 'poor man's' Atari. I used to play a game called Snafu and also Burgertime CONSTANTLY!

    I also loved dodgeball on the corner (game on!) and ghost riding our bikes through the park (jumping off while riding fast and seeing whose bike made it the farthest before falling down).

    Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

  499. My 3 favorite games/pasttimes from childhood are:

    Playing Duck Duck Goose , reading the Little House on the Prairie series, and playing with our GI Joe dolls and Barbies, LOL

  500. There are so many childhood memories; slinky, hoola-hoops, frisbees in the park, monopoly games that lasted for hours and hours. Oh, I also remember covering balloons with paper mache.

  501. My three favorite pasttimes... reading! (serious bookworm here) playing outside in the creek/tree fort/woods/riding bikes and going swimming in the river or pool. Yay! Sadly the only one of those things that I do with any regularity anymore is reading. :(

  502. "WOW!" Some lucky person is certainly going to be an extra happy camper! I like my "Operation" game a lot! I also had a "Casper the Ghost" game. He would glow in the dark and you moved him with a magnetic wand. I will be darned if I remember what the purpose of the game was or even what determined if you won or loss!!!!! Then, there was my "Chatty
    Cathy!" I wanted her so badly one Christmas and times were lean. I really didn't think I was going to get her. Alas, there she was waiting for me under the Christmas tree. Please enter me in your fabulous drawing. Many, many thanks, Cindi

  503. I loved to play that game in school where you put your head on the desk and put one thumb up, then the "it" person would come and push your thumb down. Can't remember what happened after that, but it was my favorite "subject" in school! I also like to ride my bike for hours, we had a very short driveway, so it was basicly pedal 4 times and turn around, but so exciting when your 8! And my other favorite was just to read, getting lost in an imaginary place where when the book was done I could go outside and try to reenact the whole book(with my stuffed animals or barbies!).

  504. playing school and hide and seek. i loved making lemonaide too and do that with my kids now.

  505. My favorite past times were Barbies and baby dolls, Mousetrap and riding bikes. Oh to go back to that time!

  506. I remember playing hide and seek, duck duck goose and tag with my friends when I was young growing up.

  507. my favorite game was clap. at least thats what i called it. where you and your friend slap each others hands and sing songs. i also loved jump rope, and i was good at it too, chinese jump rope too! my third favorite game would be tether ball, even though i wasn't good at it, just made me feel good that i could hit the ball(cause it's on a rope!) i didn't make the volley ball team, so that was my next best thing.
    a wii would get my kids, me and hubby off our butts, when we play a game.

  508. I loved piling as many friends/cousins as we could fit into the Chevette and head out to go sledding at the sledding hills near our house. I also loved to ice skate in the backyard. We would build our own skating rink with plastic and 2X4's. I cannot share those fun times with my kids because we now live in the south. We do get to camp out in the backyard, another fun pasttime. We also get to play alot of games that I liked as a kid, like PacMan and Frogger, Monopoly, candyland, etc.

  509. Anyone else play SPUD? Where you throw a playground ball into the air and call out a number. If your number was called you had to get the ball while everyone else ran away. Once you got the ball you yelled FREEZE and the other players froze while you took two steps (the biggest you could manage) and tried to throw the ball and hit another player. If you hit one you got to call the next SPUD. If you missed you had to get the ball while everyone ran away, and so on...

    Other than that I'd have to say my other favorites were Freeze Tag and Four Square!

  510. hmmm.. playing yahtzee, chinese checkers and with our paper dolls and barbies... aww the simpler times!

  511. My cousins and I loved to play poker (we were taught by our parents so we'd stop bugging them during their game:-) We also would play Hearts for hours on end. I remember one 8 hour drive from Myrtle Beach where my father literally had to pry us from the car at McDonalds since we were so engrossed in our game. We also all loved board games, especially Monopoly and Life. All these games taught all of us to be fierce competitors!

  512. I loved on the computer: Pac-Man, Paper Boy, and Tetris. Board games were Life, Risk, and Scrabble.

  513. I loved to go bowling every Saturday. I loved to play stoop ball. And when indoors, I loved to play Rummy 500.

  514. Playing animal doctor with my stuffed animals, playing capture the flag in the neighborhood, playing nerf basketball in our hallway!

  515. I loved to play Freeze Tag with my neighbors
    We also played Sorry alot and we played Statue Shop. Where each person has to pretend they are a statue and then one "customer" tours the shop and chooses the statue they want. The one who is chosen is the next "customer"

  516. I too grew up in a big family (4 boys and me) plus loads of cousins as my mom is one of 15. Anyway, we used to play funny made-up games like Plow (two teams, each holding hands in a line trying to "plow" the other team over). We also did a lot of digging in the dirt and sandbox as well as lots of arts and crafts. Of course we also played with the original Nintendo. Legend of Zelda was my favorite.

  517. I have alot of wonderful memories of being in the video arcade when I was in high school. My friends and I enjoyed playing Pole Position, Ms Pac Man, Zaxxon, Frogger and Tempest to name a few. I also had an Atari 2600 and had lots of fun playing games on that. I miss the arcades and would love to go back in time to play those games in an arcade again! Back in the day, I loved getting rolls of quarters so I could play all day :-)!!

    I sampled Wii for the first time with my nephew a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I tried bowling and did pretty well. Tennis was something else altogether but it was fun to try. Baseball was the best ever and a real hoot. I felt like a kid again! Winning this Wii would make me feel as young as my nephew (well almost!)

  518. Talk about bringing back memories. My mom and I used to play Sorry for hours; I used to love that. On the weekends, my family would play monopoly and we had company all the kids used to play the game of Life. Our little cars would be overflowing with these little plastic people!!

  519. My first fav. thing was to play with the next door neighbor girls. We would play house in the shed in our back yard. I had little crappy furniture that my mom gave me from yard sales. I also liked riding bikes with sister around the neighborhood. I had a pink ten speed. And finally, I used to love love to have slumber parties with my friends. We would talk about boys! lol thanks!

  520. The first thing that came to my head was playing MARIO brothers with my brothers. I used to dream about that game while sleeping :) Second having sleepover and making up dance routines to songs with my friends and then preforming them...I can't believe I just typed that! My third is a toss up between a huge water fight we had when we lived in an apartment complex (I was about 8) lets just say someone ended up in the shower getting soaked and had to wear a bunny costume, no change of clothes or playing on my grandparents farm and riding his dairy cows.

  521. As a kid me and my sister played some cool games.. I remember pretending we were lost in the house and we would build forts to protect us from the monsters.

    We played the Hot lava game a lot. The rules of the game were step on everything but the ground or you would melt.

    Lastly I remember redrover with my cousins but the older we got the more violent it got.

  522. We loved to play oregon trail. My dad still talks about it: one time he came home and my little brother was crying. When he asked what was wrong, he sobbed, "Amira died of typhoid fever!"

    We also spent hours playing candyland...but we added our own rules and characters. every board game, we tended to change the rules.

    but the best memory comes from the amount of time we played UNO. game after game. i realize now that we were really competitive, we all had to win at least once before we stopped.

    thanks!

  523. "Orphans" or "Run Away Kids" was our favorite, too. Odd. I am the eldest of 9. Maybe we just liked the idea of having to make it on our own?

  524. My childhood memories include jacks, pick-up sticks and hop scotch. As I recall I was really good at all of them.

  525. Ok. I am middle age and so my games go way back.
    Hi Ho Cherry o I think was my very favorite game.

    I absolutely loved barrel of monkeys and I have to say my third would be Mystery date. That one was the one that put me over the edge.

  526. My favorite games were Trivial Pursuit, Shoots and Laddlers, and Spades my family loved to play cards. This would be perfect for my daughter's birthday!! Even the first prize would be great!! A pinata!! My fourth graders made one this year. Very complex, but it was a lot of fun.

  527. When I was a child I loved card games. I played lots of Rummy, Go Fish, and War. My favorite things to do on the school playground were jumping rope and Hopscotch.

  528. My childhood memories are filled with such happiness and being totally carefree, as it should have been.
    Climbing trees was my number one favorite thing to do. I would stay up in the highest tree for hours and enjoy the sky, the ground down below, pretending I was a superhero girl that could fly.

    Hide and seek, Marco Polo in the pool, tag, football, softball (I was such a tomboy) all these games were fun. We never stayed inside. We were always outside playing, swimming, riding our bikes. I can truly say my childhood was magical.

  529. I've been wanting a Wii for so long & so have my kids. All their friends have them & we feel like the big losers, LOL. Let's see, my favorites:

    Playing school/Teacher/House that kept me busy for so many years. It included make believe, dress up, could play with dolls and/or friends.

    I had a younger brother, I loved playing Superheroes with him, Ninja Turtles & even cops/robbers with his huge collection of toy guns

    Monopoly ~ I was a total monopoly addict. My mom says that I started being the banker at 3 years old & could always beat her. She said she could never figure out how good I was. I'm thinking I may have cheated in the beginning, but my mom thinks that all kids are perfect angels, so according to her I didn't, lol.

    Great contest, hope to win!

  530. I loved to play with my jump rope,and my neighbor had a long rope tied to his boat and all of the neighborhood kids would play double dutch.I also love to play hop scotch and hide and go seek.

  531. played lots fo sports, touch football in the middle of the street (I had three brothers). We had an above ground pool and many times we would sneak out for a late swim after my parents were asleep and wake up all the neighbors. And last but not least my dad use to take us fishing a lot...but I guess we scared away all the fish...skipping stones...my brothers and I would do that for hours.
    Would love to win this
    thanks

  532. When I was a kid I used to love my pogo-ball, my skip it and I dreamed of owning an easy bake oven, but my mom refused to let me cook little cakes with a lightbulb.... knowing me, probably a good idea!!

  533. We used to play War which I Loved since we ran all over the neighborhood, we played hide and seek and I actually liked playing candyland.

  534. It was all about the Game of LIFE, I loved it! I also grew up in the Nintendo era so Mario Kart and the Legend of Zelda were tops for me.

  535. Growing up in the 90s, I gotta say number one is Goldeneye the james bond/007 game for Nintendo 64. Earlier than that I was playing sonic for sga genesis, that and this game called comix zone for the sega genesis always held my interest.

  536. Double dutch jumprope. Red Rover. Hide and Seek. We stayed out until we were forced to go inside. Those were the days!

  537. I grew up with a bunch of boys and we made up a lot of our games. Our top 3 favorites for many summers were:

    "The Woodblock Game" (we were brilliant!)
    "Spy vs. Spy"
    "Star Wars"

    Luckily, being the only meant I was always Leah!

  538. reading (Encyclopedia Brown and Choose Your Own Adventures were big faves), drawing (lots of unicorns), and listening to 45s on my close and play were my favorite things to do as a kid.

  539. Let's see...I used to love playing Monopoly. Maybe it was all that money. And I had 6 Cabbage Patch dolls...two twin boys and 4 girls. I loved playing with them. And I loved having tea parties with my firends.

  540. When I was young Atari and Intellivision were the only home video game stations that were sold. I loved playing Donkey Kong (Atari) and Pac-Man (Atari). My favorite game however was Dungeons and Dragons even thought it scared me silly.
    I was a bit of a tom-boy when I was younger so I loved to climb trees. One particular time while riding my bike I wanted to show my sixth grade boyfriend & his best friend that I could ride my bike like a boy. So.......I tried to "freestyle" ride my bike and ended up losing control and flipping over the handlebars head first. I hit the concrete and scrapped the skin off the entire right side of my body. I chipped my tooth & had a splint on my leg for a long time. So.... needless to say I have NEVER been on a bike since then. Oh my! What fond memories!

  541. I was always a bookworm, and I spent a lot of time reading in my room. When I wasn't reading though, I could come up with some great games... how to best torture my little sister was one of them (she is a regular reader of this blog - she can tell you it's true!) I also had an industrial streak. My friends and I would make things to sell on the side of the road. We lived down a little dirt road and had few neighbors, but they were always very generous and would buy whatever junk we put out for sale. I also remember riding go carts down the hill from April's house to Ida's house; most memorable of course, being the time it tipped over and I knocked out 4 teeth. Ah, memories...

  542. I loved playing "Red Rover". I loved it when the other side would call me over. I felt like I belonged. It was so much fun. Couldn't play these days...I probably couldn't gain a decent trot over there.

  543. My three favorite past-times as a kid:
    1. laying the grass and watching the bugs and birds fly overhead. (Still like doing that)
    2. Making melted crayon pictures on a hot-plate.
    3. My Snoopy sno-cone maker!

  544. I grew up in a blended-family of 5 kids. We use to play flashlight tag in the cemetery across the street. A combination of tag and hide-and-seek. We'd wait for a cloudy or moonless night and spend hours preparing. We'd make ourselves as invisible as possible in the dark, painting our faces, putting black tape over our white shoes.We'd build forts and have snowball fights in the winter and waterballoon fights in the summer. We also built furniture forts in the livingroom that drove our parents crazy.

    Thanks hosting this contest - and making me remember that my childhood wasn't always how I generally think of it.

  545. I loved watching and encouraging my six children to be creative. They made up their own puppet shows, created a miniature golf game in the backyard and "sold" delicious mud pies and cookies. Stephanie was one of my imaginative children, and I can see that it has carried on into adulthood.

  546. Writing, I was writing stories when I was two. Still do, only as a hobby. I miss reading them, my brother and I use to take characters and read them aloud.

    Red Rover, I can remember playing it in fall as it was getting cold out.

    Catch/tennis. We lived in the country and about 5 cars a day used the road. There was a street light right in front of our house. Many afternoon and nights we played catch and sometimes tennis in the road. Go play in the road! It was fun unless you were on the side where the hill was. The you had to run down hill to get the ball and back up to the house.

  547. Barbies were always desirable if I was alone or just with a few friends. There's just something about that skinny girl with the waist length hair and the cool pink car.
    I loved the board game Clue, even though it centered around solving a murder, how morbid and scary!
    And my teacher-mother bought us a set of Cuisinart rods to learn math, and I remember lots of kitchen table math projects solved with those colorful rods.

  548. My three favorite games/past times from childhood are Red Light, Green Light, Duck Duck Goose and I loved to play school. Writing on a chalkboard, grading fake papers and all that stuff was so much fun. I remember my 4th grade teacher had these awesome nails with white tips hee hee (I didn't know they were called french manicures at the time) and I would put on the fake nails and try to be just like her. Fun memories!

  549. Oh, it is so much fun to think back on all of this! I had a big family - but not quite as big as yours. Their were 4 kids in ours - but we lived in a neighborhood filled with children and in the summer evenings especially our streets would fill with playing kids.

    A big one for me, my siblings and friends was hide and seek. We'd play on teams. We'd use the whole neighborhood. We'd play the regular way, or the expanded "release" version -- all of it done at dusk, adding to the wonder!

    Don't know if this is exactly considered a game, but a big past time to be sure -- laying out on the grassy hill late in the evenings and staring up at the stars with my big brothers. We'd talk and laugh. We'd point out stars. Sometimes we'd collapse there during the day and stare up at the clouds and point out what images we saw in the clouds. I do that one still with my girls today.

    Then and now, doesn't matter much which -- but pick out a board game and I'm there! Loved them then, love them now!

    Summertime is big fun for me - and I love sharing that with my children. I love all of the simple things. Reading by the stars, buiding a campfire and letting them have a smore (not my thing - but boy, the smile on their face biting into one!), holding a lightening bug, and as the year goes on each season brings new outdoor fun...and the indoor fun goes on. Families, friends and fun -- such wonderful things that go so well together!

    Oh! Thanks for sharing your story! My husband and looked at each other recently with a little concern at times as our two older daughters had taken to their own version of "orphan" with two of their friends! We'd think...our girls, their girls, two good families, super loved, happy kids, what is happening? I'm glad you played a similar game and turned out so well! :) (just teasing!)

    Thanks for the chance at the Wii! What an absolutely amazing prize!!!

  550. I loved to play hide and seek at night and we would have the playing field consist of 3 streets, it was so much fun! I also loved playing the board game payday and risk!

  551. I have two brothers, and we all had wild imaginations. One of the games we played was "Space Pirates". We would pretend that our front porch was the deck of our ship. We played this game mostly on rainy days. One of us would be the captain, another would be a lookout, and the third would alert the others about incoming danger, treasure, and aliens. The game would last as long as the rain did. We were all into the japanese animation cartoons back then when they weren't as popular as they are today. I came up with a game it was sort of a keep away type game. I think I came up with it out of meanness. I called it "Daifoo Dog-Doo". Basically one of us would be called Daifoo, and the other two would try their hardest to keep away from them. My brothers got really mad. I would usually team up with one or the other. I don't think I was ever Daifoo? We were all also into scientific stuff like dinosaurs. we would play "Archaeologist" and wander our property in search of "Living Fossils". One day we got so into it that we convinced ourselves that we actually saw a dinosaur. My brother ran into the house leaving me out there. Standing there for a second I began to get really scared and ran to the house too. It was never a dull moment!

  552. I always LOVED playing kick the can, sledding, reading, swimming, playing Nintendo or even Atari...so fun to think back, thanks for the great giveaway!!

  553. Climbing trees,playing Spin The Bottle and staying up all night at a friends house.Helping make home made ice cream and eating it.Making ice cream floats.Riding my bicycle.Snow sledding.Catching lightning bugs.Waking up in the morning to wrapped all over the yard(for no reason).Going swimming.Too many to pick just one.Boy,I had a great childhood!Thanks for reminding me!

  554. 3 of my favorites were:

    Mario Brothers (on the ORIGINAL Nintendo).
    Mouse Trap
    and Frogger on the Atari.

    (I'm only 22 and that makes me feel OLD!)

  555. That is so interesting to read about your family. I am also from a big family 5 boys and 5 girls and we also didn't have a tv until after I was 13 and enen then it only played movies my parent didn't get cable until after I was married. So we played a lot outdoors. One house we lived in even had a huge playhouse that we played in a lot. But mostly I read books my mom always knew where to find me on the couch or in my room with my nose stuck in a book and one of my favorite books was little house on the prairie. We also road bikes a lot and played board games. Just thinking about it brings back so many memories.
    Thanks. katie_mmartin at yahoo dot com

  556. I loved this Smurf game on Atari, the board game Pretty Pretty Princess, and the card game Old Maid!

  557. My three favorite games from childhood are; hopscotch, Go Fish card game, and Life board game. I just loved these! My freinds and I would have so much fun with these! Puts a smile on my face when I think about it! :-)

  558. My favorite game was one that my sister and I had. It was a Flinststone Village. It had the houses, the cars, the people, Dino, palm trees, etc. We spent hours playing with it.

  559. As a kid, I loved acting out elaborate dramas with my Barbies, playing Little House on the Prairie out in the woods, and swimming!

    kelli at pfrog dot net

  560. As a kid, I loved playing with my Fisher-Price Little People toys (castle, Main Street, dollhouse, etc.). I also loved swimming and have many good memories of spending lazy days in the water. And roller skating! My dad used to take me to the roller rink every week on half-price night when I was 9 or 10, and I also went to the rink with friends, and skated around outside on little plastic-wheeled skates.

    The pinata prize also makes me nostalgiac for childhood, because one of my favorite childhood restaurants always had pinatas hanging from the ceiling, and I had pinatas at most of my birthday parties!

  561. I loved kickball as a kid. My cousins, my brother, and I always used to put on shows for our parents. From a play to dancing to silly stuff. We also played alot of sports growing up. You name it soccer in the court or baseball. We lived in a big neighborhood and there was a ton of kids to play with. We were always outside. What happened to those days?

  562. Wow! A Wii!!! Let's see...three favorite childhood pastimes...
    -playing chinese jump rope at the bus stop
    -cabbage patch dolls
    -and kicking my brother's trash at Dr. Mario on Nintendo while chewing my favorite bubbilicious watermelon bubble gum...I can taste it now!

  563. My children and grandchildren will think I am the GReATEST if I win this prize. Thanks for all the great contests!

  564. What a great contest, thank you! (And thank you to Summer's Nook for introducing me to your blog! I am now subscribed!)

    I am also from a family of 6 - four sisters, one brother, and me. Eerie. I'm 2nd oldest in my family. Anyway, we got a Nintendo, *finally*, when I was about 12 years old or so. I instantly loved it. We got into some serious Tetris marathons, back in the day. My mom and I were the best at Tetris, and could usually get as far as level 19 before crashing in a speedy death. To this day, it's rare for someone to be able to beat me on any of the Tetris varieties I've played. It's nice having a "thing" you're best at!

    Another game that I loved playing with Super Mario Brothers 3. What a classic! My sisters and I spent quite a huge chunk of one summer trying to master that game. I eventually got to the final King Bowser fight. And I would die every time I fought him. At that point in the game, I had at least a million extra lives thanks to a few koopa shells that allowed me to bounce on them against a staircase over and over and over, so I could continue to try to beat Bowser as long as I wanted to. But the adrenaline got to me!! After about 20 or so tries, I was a shaking mess, couldn't take it anymore, and just shut the game off, and never tried it again.

    And not a game, but I also fondly remember playing with the neighborhood kids on our bikes all day long. We had a tree in our front yard that had low-hanging branches, and it made such a cool little hide-out area. We'd go between there and the end of our street, playing chase games, and every other pretend-types of games we could think of, just riding and enjoying the outdoors. And not once would a parent come outside to check on us. I miss the freedom of those days. Now, I'd never think of leaving my kids out to play without supervision, even on a quiet street.

  565. Pong was one of them. Dad bought the game and all the neighborhood kids came over to play this new great "video" game.
    Probably the best games we played were hide and seek at night. All the houses where I grew up had 1 to 2 acre lots, so we had a million places to hide at night. During the day we all would get together and play baseball in the flatest yard that was there. Wow, we had some good times.

  566. My 3 games were mud fighting with the boys aka WAR, Cartoon Freeze tag, and good ol' red rover, red rover let Lori come over:)

    I greatly enjoyed the board game operation, sorry, and monopoly:)

  567. I loved playing doctor with my stuffed animals, mario 1, 2, 3 :), and dressing my dog up in my clothes and painting her toe nails.

  568. Oh, I loved summer as a kid! We played many board games!

    1. We loved to play Monopoly.
    2. We loved to watch The Price Is Right every single morning of summer (and Sale of the Century).
    3. All the neighborhood kids would play baseball on a large hill in our greenbelt area right behind my house. It was so much fun! It was like the never-ending game in The Sandlot.

  569. My three favorite games? First had to be scrabble, and still is. We had a family friend who was a retired school principal, and when I was a child we would play scrabble, but when I was stuck she would play "collaboratively" and help me find words with high points, and I learned some new words in the process. I learned a great deal from scrabble, probably more about generosity and kindness than words. I also loved to play Monopoly, and we would play marathons that would last for days, including building "death traps" around corners so that a competitor had to pay regardless of the side the corner on which the person landed. Finally, I adored playing jump rope games, filling in rhymes and playing number games in the process. Now I just really love the games on the AARP website, which I play daily to keep my mind active.

  570. i used to play jumprope, this game called tap tap wjich was kinda like hide and seek. And we used to play red light green light 1 2 3... oh such fun memories

  571. I loved dressing up as a pioneer and pretending to be a pioneer on the Oregon Trail. My mom hand sewed two pioneer outfits, bloomers, dress, hat, and apron for me in my childhood. I loved it! And I guess because of that I loved books like Anne of Green Gables and Tom Sawyer.

  572. I loved those three books you mentioned. My favorite pastimes were reading, reading, and reading. ;) If that doesn't count, then I would say playing in our tree fort, playing board games (especially Life), and creating massive Lego towns with my brothers.

  573. I have 3 sisters and we are all very close in age. We used to play "store", where we would gather up our toys and sell them to each other. Now mind you, we were only around 7 or 8 years old at the time and when the time came when we all started walking away with the toys we "bought", a RIOT would break out!!! Crying, wailing etc. I'm not really sure why we played that so much, since looking back we acted like we were traumatized by it. We played the usual barbie doll stuff. Except we had a twist where we stick wet the barbie doll's hair and hang her upside in the freezer until her hair dried. We did it to all the dolls. Our favorite was probably plain old hide and seek. There was nothing more fun than that on a summer night! Hiding behind the tree with your heart pounding hoping you had the best hiding spot! Oh, what good memories....

  574. 1. Making forts out of blankets and furniture. My sister and I had a lot of fun with this often.

    2. Playing detective. I loved "Encyclopedia Brown" and "The Three Investigators" and often would look for mysteries where none existed. I guess you could also tie "Working Logic Puzzles" in here - my sister and I both loved them.

    3. Biking / Video Games - a tie between the two. I rode my bike almost everywhere until I was 17 or so (and did even then because I had to borrow the car). I also love playing video games, just because. I tended more to the adventure games than Console games, but that love grew me towards my current job in Computers. :)

  575. I am one of the people who grew up in the 60's-I used to READ READ READ!! My favorites were Nancy Drew,anything by Laura Ingalls Wilder,adventure books,I LOVED Pippi Longstocking(iwanted to BE her!) I also used to play with the neighborhood boys a lot(tomboy)and we go explore the creek close to our neck of the woods,also had a "clubhouse".I also would play Barbies sometimes,too,when I was in the mood-but MY Barbies were daredevils-they often landed up in my backyard's tall trees(much to the annoyance of my lovely mother. being a kid was fun when I was growing up- I don't think kids today have much true"fun" anymore.

  576. dressing up my dolls with my own baby clothes my mother had saved, playing monopoly, playing on the swingset

  577. My three favorite games from eons ago (yes, I am that old :0)

    would be- Pac-man, Frogger & Pong!

    I was so adicted to Pac-man :0)

    Thank you for the great giveaway!

    metropolitan mama rocks like a boulder!

    :)

    fluegas5(at)gmail(dot)com

  578. Great giveaway, thanks Stephanie! Haven't seen you on Prizey in a while, I was wondering about you. =)

  579. So, we lived in the country with no air conditioning!! Sometimes we would play on our swing set, sometimes we would jump on the trampoline, sometimes swim (we had a pool for one or two summers). Lots of times we played 'school' or just read books....I could sit and read for HOURS when I was growing up. Too bad I can't do that now....I think I could if I had an ENTIRE WEEKEND or DAY ALONE!!!!!

  580. As a kid my brother and I always loved going to the lake to go swimming and fishing, roller skating outside on the street, and we also always liked to play tag and hide and seek with the other kids.

  581. My sister and I used to love playing our nintendo. When I went to camp one year she beat the Mario game and paused the ending to prove to me when I got back that she had beat it. We both loved playing Mario Brother. We also loved to play with our barbies and used to pretend we were actually her. We also loved playing volleyball in the swimming pool during the summer. We even got our mom and grandmother to play to. It was so much fun. Thanks for the great giveaway!!!

  582. As a child I had a awesome imagination...I honestly thought I was people other than myself...I went through different fazes:
    1. honestly I thought I was rainbow brite...one year for christmas I asked for a rainbow brite necklace (which I received) all my dreams slowly faded as I opened the necklace and a rainbow didn't shine out...yeah pretty depressing, huh?!
    2. When I was 3 I told everyone EVERYWHERE I went that my name was Dorthy Gale and I lived in Kansas. I carried around a stuffed animal dog which of course I named Toto...I also could sing "somewhere over the rainbow" when asked...all the verses!
    3. I loved to smear my mothers lipstick all over the toilet seat and believe me people weren't too happy about it.

  583. Okay, so when I was growing video games did not exist...nor did computers. I am the youngest of three girls. My sisters are 11, 10 and 7 years olders than me. So my favorite pastimes??? One was bugging the death out of my sisters to pay attention to me.....I just about lived at the library...I used to play hide and go seek a lot..but nobody seeked me out. But I did find out great secrets that way!! Thanks for the great giveaway!!

  584. My 3 faves were:

    1. Kickball- My all time favorite game! I still would love to play it today! I was really good at it and I was so very disappointed that when I went to Jr. High no one played it anymore and that it wasn't an actual team sport, I think I could have gone PRO! lol!

    2. Steal the Flag- I come from a huge family and more than 200 first cousins on my moms side. We would play this all the time at family functions and we played it all day long! Another great game!!

    3. I loved my trampoline! We were one of the only kids on the street with one so it made our house a popular place to hang out. We made up lots of games that required lots of flips!

  585. My favorites were: riding my bike (named Desert Rose), playing Chicken and Fox with my neighborhood friends, and playing all kinds of pool games in the summer -- Marco Polo and the like!

  586. I came over from Summer's blog. Awesome giveaway!!! I have so many fond memories of childhood. Video games weren't around when I was a child. I was a teenager when my dad brought home an Atari. We played outside all the time. My favorite thing to do was climb our tree and hide away from everyone and read. I read all the Nancy Drew books, all the Bobbsey Twins, all the Happy Hollisters and everything else I could get my hands on.

    We loved to play what we called, "Night Games". The entire neighborhood kids would get together and play games like "Sardines" which is a reverse hide and seek. The whole street would be the game and we played at night. I could never let my kids do that now.

    We loved to play board games and my favorite was a game called "Mastermind". I still have it. My best friend and I would play it for hours.

  587. pixie sticks to last all day jacks and marbles. I was the marble queen and had a whole sack of the big shooter marbles...what fun.

  588. super mario brothers great
    zelda i remember when i was younger my dad won that game and it really was the best bonding experience and this was my all time favorite it was on my dads comador 64 computer it was the barbie game you had to get barbie ready in i certain amount of time and meet ken it was great

  589. Exploring (once went w/ a friend into a furniture upholsterer named Guillentine's - asked to see their guillotines...got a laugh from the secretary and a neat tour from the owner.) Made-up games ('hide-from-the-cars' - great fun at dusk. Probably scared drivers, though.) Loved Monster Movie week - Godzilla, Rodan, the whole lot of em'. Fun to remember those days!

  590. Three favorites from childhood; well, growing up in WV, I always loved sleigh riding in the winter, and in the summer I loved playing dodge ball and just playing on the playground. The merry-go-round was my favorite there. I remember going round and round until we could hardly walk when we got off!

  591. We loved board games as a kid. We would always play Life and a car board game. We also had a lot of fun planning a town with Legos.

  592. My favorite thing to do was fort which consisted of a bunch of trees near my moms house. My siblings and I made mud pies and pretended to live in the tree area. We would take turns playing the roles of kids and parents. Many of times are adventures would cause us to forget books outside in the fort during rain storms.
    My other favorite thing to do in car rides was guess the song my older brother would hum. My older brother did this as a way to keep sanity in the car well my mom went in the store. But for me and my siblings it was a blast and kept us busy.
    My other thing was dressing up the poor cats in doll clothes. My sister and I constantly harassed the cats making them endure the cabbage patch clothes and the doll crib.

  593. What a fun discussion!

    I used to love making forts out of everything. The best one ever was under our Ping Pong table. I even hooked up a small black and white t.v. under there and attached my Pong game. Yeah, that dates me doesn't it. (gotta love playing Pong under the Ping Pong table...)

    All of us neighbor kids also had marathon games of hide and seek. We'd be out there until the street lights came on and the parents started calling us in.

    Finally, there is nothing like a good game of Monopoly on a rainy day. Our games would last for days.

  594. I loved playing jacks and follow the leader.

    My sister and I would play this card game spit for hours on end.

  595. My three favorite games while growing up, hmmm, this was before computers and video games. Ugh, I am old!!!! I liked Monopoly, the Game of Life, and Chess...for indoor games, but much prefered playing outside, exploring the forests and mountains around my small town.

  596. I had two brothers, so I never played dolls! We played hide and seek a lot, our family had a greenhouse so we had huge amounts of space to play. I'm sure the customers were quite amused by us! We also used to play "sock wars" where we basically threw our (clean!) socks back and forth as our rooms faced each other across the hall. Whoever had the most socks in their room when we tired of the game lost. (bonus for head shots! ;)

    When we got together with my cousins we played "go to court," a hide and seek game. The it could send you to court just by seeing you and telling you (by name) to go to court. You were stuck in the "jail"--usually whoever's front porch--until someone that was free waved at you. If you saw the wave, you could run away. Great when we went to my aunt kathy's house as they always had a huge yard with big spaces between hiding spots. I miss that game!

  597. We lived on a dead end road, and the city would pile up the snow in front of our house. We could make multiple room snow forts in the massive mountain. Kick the can was a neighborhood favorite, and we'd also play "cowboys and indians".

  598. We would make up obstacle courses a lot because we were obsessed with American Gladiator! Usually when my friends came over with their dolls we would play house and my mom would let us "grocery shop" out of the cupboards. We made a lot of crafts with recycled stuff (ie. garbage back then!) We would also play in the woods pretending we were survivalists. It's funny how our parents never seemed to know where we were as long as we were home by dark!

  599. Wow! This would be amazing to win. So.. I grew up in a big family too. Ten children, I'm the oldest! 1. My sisters and I were so into Barbie's, but the best part was putting everything together. 2. We used to build forts like none other.. out of everything, in the tree's, barn, pastures, you name it. 3. We loved our pets and doing anything with them. Goats, cows, pony, sheep, dogs, cats.. etc! Loved. Please enter me to win. Crossing my fingers.

  600. I loved anything that kept me outside until the street lights went on -- tag, flag football, hide-n-go-seek
    gkstratos @yahoo.com

  601. My sister, brother, neighborhood kids and I would spend a lot of time playing kickball. The most fun was deciding each of the bases...the tree was first, the clothesline pole was second...the game varied depending on where we played. We also played freeze tag and when we got a Texas Instruments computer, I enjoyed the game Hunt the Wumpus!

  602. I remember growing up in a rather large Irish family where your best friend was usually your cousin, male or female, as long as they were close to your age. We would go to my grandmothers after church and all 30 of my uncles and aunts would bring lunch. We ate outside on saw horses with plywood placed over them for a table. After lunch all the cousins would play games like red rover, hopscotch or marbles. My girl cousins would take clover flowers and link them into a lei and wear to church that night while the boys were usually chasing the pigs or chickens in their best Sunday clothes much to their parents horror.It was a life less complicated and a lot of fun.

  603. I've love the chance to be entered. As A child I love to play make believe, play sports, fun hide and seek games. Oh and the worse ha ha, as I child I remember playing Kissing Tag with the boys, that was so much fun HA HA!

  604. I had a game I made up about being a famous bike rider-with a tv show. I'd ride my bike all around the neighborhood singing a song about my show. I also loved freeze tag and flashlight hide and seek-night time hide and seek. So fun.

  605. We loved to go exploring in the woods near our house, we enjoyed a yearly trip to the lake each summer, and ironically when we were little we played school a lot while on summer break, but only if the weather was bad.

    Thanks for the chance to win!!

  606. I can't wait to see how many comments this giveaway gets!!
    As for childhood games/memories. The trampoline was one of my faves. My BFF & I came up with all sorts of games to play on it--Mario Brothers, gymnastics, etc. We also LOVED when an older sibling would put together a "fair" for us in the backyard. We would use leaves for tickets. OMG, it was so much fun! Lastly, we loved playing "treasure hunt." Again, an older sibling would write out clues for us that would lead us all over the house and backyard. We had a blast!

  607. I could so very badly use the Wii...I hope I am still eligible because I dont have any past time games. As a child, I spent most of my time in my room sitting on my bed and I'm not joking. My father was very abusive and my mother was always out with her friends to stay clear of my father. We didn't have many friends because they were all afraid to come over. My father drank a lot and would invite his biker friends over. My parents never read books to us, played games with us or any other "family activity" you could recall. I spent a lot of time in the hospital also because I was born with bilatteral cleft lip (my upper lip was attached to the right side of my nose preventing me from breathing) I have undergone 23 surgeries in my life and wonder sometimes if I was the reason my father drank and beat up on us and why my mother tried her hardes to never be home.

    Does it count that my family now (my husband and three children) make it a weekend thing to always have game night (once a week) and that we are trying to make up for what we were never given as children (meaning time to our kids)? I would love to enter but haven't any past time stories to share (good ones anyways). Here's what we do now:

    okay, my three favorite games are candyland...love playing this game with my girls; Super mario brothers...the whole family will sit together on the weekends and pass a whole day trying to beat bowser; and our most favorite game is Scrabble since it is a way to spend time together while teaching our six year old how to spell (I really think she will win a spelling bee one day)she actually does exceptionally well every time and is getting better the more we play.

    I would love to win the grand prize since there are so many (phisical) plus's to having one; although I'd be happy to win one of the prizes period. If I qualify for an entry.

    Great contest!!!!

  608. One of my favorite childhood pasttimes was playing with Barbies. I also loved to play Red Rover and Four Square.

  609. I remember playing hide and seek with my cousins and friends. We played checkers and card games when it was raining and when we could get out side there was nothing better than playing with your cars and trucks in the sand pile. We also fish. Thanks for giving me the chance to think about childhood memories.

  610. I remember playing hide and seek with many of the neighborhood friends! We would play after it was dark and it seemed more fun. We often played Monopoly too. And I remember jumping rope a lot too. Fun times!

  611. i've never owned a gaming system, but my husband did as a kid. we don't have one now and i'd love to give him one! he was (and probably still is) a huge fan of mario cart and tecmo bowl.

    for me, childhood games were about board games and running around outside!

  612. I loved the games we played as a family - High Gear, Go To the Head of the Class, and Monopoly

  613. Favorite games were: Monopoly, Sorry and the
    card game "War". We would play these for hours and even continue the next day.

  614. Three favorite past times: playing ninjas with friends in the cul-de-sac, playing uno (how I learned to really shuffle cards) and I loved my sit'n'spin!! I also made up dances to my favorite disney soundtrack songs with my ribbon dancer!

  615. I grew up playing games around the family dining room table with my mom and day and brother and sister. We would have pop corn and have coolaid and had a great old time. Familys don't do that any more and it is really sad.

  616. We lived on a dead-end block and played outside a lot. Hide and Go Seek, Peggy on the Bounce skating on the sidewalks. In the house games were usually card games-Go Fish, Old Maid, Crazy Eights

  617. I grew up LOVING video games, especially Mario! I would play Nintendo for hours. My sister and I also used to play a boardgame called "Masterpiece", which I don't think you can get anymore. I still have the game though. Then we also liked to go outside and make "fairy houses" in the backyard. They were little houses we would make with sticks and leaves and they got pretty elaborate. Thanks for a great contest, hope I win!!

  618. I loved to play paper football with my brothers, and I loved pretending to be a doctor, and I mostly loved riding my bike!!!

  619. I love monopoly as a child. And my second fav was tetris. I really hope i win this one.

  620. I loved hop scotch, candy land and red rover. There are so many other games that I also enjoyed but I wouuld have to say that these are my favorites.

  621. My three favorite things were Ms. Pacman, going to SkateLand with my friend Stacy (grandma always gave us money for a slice of pizza and a treat), and riding my bike around the block over and over and over...with my cabbage patch doll in a sling mom made.

  622. Loved my fisher price little people playsets, coloring was huge for me too and any board game i could convince my parents to play made me happy

  623. Gosh we were outside all day long! I loved to sawing and sing. My brothers would tell me to quit singing! Jump rope was great too . The fun chants and rhymes. Just running and playing was fun too.

  624. There are so many things I remember loving from my childhood so I'll make 2 lists, even though that still only scratches the surface! Favorite pastimes: reading, playing in the pool, and going to the movies. Yes, those are generic, but that's what I remember doing most. Specific things I loved were those Chinese jump ropes (the circular bungee cord), my big wheel, and my sit 'n' spin. Lord did I love getting dizzy! Favorite games: Anything that had to do with trivia, Scrabble, and Boggle.

  625. I liked to play "Little House on the Prairie" which involved aprons and lots of sweeping.

    My brother and I would also play with our play kitchen (lots of restaurants were set up, menus made, dishes served, pots washed).

    Our favorite game was Uno. We could play that for hours!

  626. Around my house it was Barbies, Star Wars and how can I make my sister cry. Mean, but true.

  627. My favorite pastimes were playing with matchbox cars in the dirt. We always made a race track in the dirt using popsicle sticks and then we would race our cars around the track. I also loved to jump rope, and cops and robbers. Too bad kids don't do that kind of stuff anymore.

  628. Playing with my best friend, special times with my family like Thanksgiving, and going to the beach.

  629. buttons: This is where I got in mom's sewing stuff and played pretend games with the buttons

    Socks: pretend sock puppets

    tank: I had a most marvelous battery powered tank that could roll over sock mountains and you could aim and shoot little plastic ammo.

  630. I remember playing "Pit" every week when we went to Grandma's house. Her and Grandpa and my uncles would all sit on the floor "Kriss/Kross/ Applesauce" and we would play for hours.

    We had a playhouse in the backyard that Grandpa built, he put a chalkboard in it. I would get my little sister and her friends over and we played "School". I was always the teacher because I could write. We did the alphabet and simple math. It was great fun.

    My third fun game was playing "Sorry". We played in as a family a couple of nights a week. We would pop popcorn and drink homemade grape juice. Here it is 35 years later, and I drink grape juice and am flooded with great memories of fun times as a family.

  631. I had one brother and a thousand cousins...we played Twister until it ended in a fight...my brother and I used to Play GI Joe's only my Barbies were the Amazons who kicked butt and always won the war...there are so many buried GI Joe's and Barbies in my parents backyard down by the creek...and we played Tarzan and Jane with the grapevines that hung over the creek...I was a little older and bigger and he got 'hurt' a lot! Dad brought home the first Atari game and we spent hours shooting ducks!
    I have 4 boys now and they have nothing on me! But they (and I) would LOVE a WII!!!!

  632. My three favorite childhood games were some variation of doctor, but who's remembering?

  633. king of the hill, it's funny it was fun back in the day, Kick The Can another oldie but good, and the all time FAV. HIDE-N-SEEK, spent many many hours playing this...

  634. My favorite childhood pastimes included playing "Jacks", playing with a "Hula Hoop" and just "roaming around" with my friends, something that children today are not so much able to do.

  635. I loved reading, climbing trees and playing games - from hi ho cherry-o to monopoly and risk as I got bigger.

  636. When I was growing up my parents had the Atari 800 system. My dad would bring home new games all the time on floppy drive. I had over 1000 games! As a kid it was fun to play but I loved playing outside more. I would build forts with my friends, ride and dress up my bikes with streamers and balloons pretending to be in a parade around the neighborhood. Then of course playing with Barbie. We would bring all of our Barbie stuff outside and play in the yard. I miss being a kid!!!

  637. As an (only) child, I had to be even more imaginative in order to stay busy. My favorite ever pastime was to get all of my moms comforters and blankets out of her linen closet and make our entire living room into a "fort". There were endless ways to change it up to create different tunnels and different places. I could play for hours in them, and never get bored. Of course, we did have a Nintendo at home and I enjoyed playing Mario Brothers with my mom, as well as Zelda. Otherwise, I liked to play outside on my swingset and swim as much as I could during the summer months!

    This is an awesome giveaway, thank you so much for the opportunity to win. Though we don't have one, I would give it to my grandparents if I won it, because my grandmother has been wanting one to excercise with, as it is too hot for here here in South Louisiana to walk or do things outside in the summer, and gyms are so expensive. This would be an awesome blessing for them!

  638. 1. Shoot the moon. It was a long board with 2 metal rods. You had to put this steel ball between the sticks and open the sticks to get the ball to roll down and try to get it to drop in the last slot.
    2. My very first nintendo with duck hunt.
    3. Shooting cans with my first BB gun.

  639. My three favorite things to do as a kid were to play make believe outside (everywhere was a magic castle, fort, etc), play all kinds of tag at school during recess, and play midnight (a running, hiding game w/ counting involved) at college.

  640. I remember playing kick the can, redrover, kickball- I even played with a cast on my leg, and red light green light.

  641. good memories! I remember playing a lot of red rover and tag outdoors. atari with my brother indoors. fun!

  642. Playing in the sand piles next door, hiking in the woods & climbing the trees and going swimming in the river with my older sister.

  643. This is such a fun post! I loved hearing your childhood memories.

    My Favorite games were also played with my two younger brothers:

    1. "Sharky" - We would strip the couches of their pillows and cushions and lay them all over the living room floor (my mother loved this). The carpet floor was the "ocean". Sharky was our imaginary enemy and we had to make our way from one end of the room to the other without being attacked by our made up foe. If you touched the "water", you were shark bait.

    2. Mud Play - We spent many an hour in our bathing suits playing in an old garden area, turned mud pit. We made mud pie after mud pie. It was glorious!

    3. Sliding (old school style); back in the day before Slip N Slides, we would take the hose to our outside patio. The cement was SUPER slippery when wet. So we would hose it down and slide all over the place.

    I just may post about this on my own blog!

  644. Hmmm...

    I loved kickball, Sorry, and I liked the memory game where you turned over different cards and tried to match them up. Later in life I became a fan of cranium, scattegories, and taboo, but those are my adult favs.

  645. We had a hot tub and my favorite times were making imaginary games in the hot tub. My sister and I would create entire universes in that little bit of water! It was awesome.

  646. Hide and Go Seek! THE BEST neighborhood game. 2 others? Jump rope. That was a 1st-2nd grade recess and after-school past time for all the cool kids (girls AND boys). OK, and seriously, we had a lip synching version of American Idol when I was in 5th grade...at least once a week. We'd dress up and lip synch to Madonna, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson complete with home-made dramatic lighting. Then, we'd vote on who was the winner with the best performance. Yes, those are my top 3 from childhood.

  647. Three childhood memories?
    1. Playing basketball in the driveway with my brother.
    2. Playing kick the can at night with the neighbor kids.
    3. Having babysitters and staying up late eating a ton of popcorn, in the big green bowl!!!

    Thanks!!!

  648. What a GREAT giveaway! So exciting!

    Let's see. Three favorite childhood games. That's actually very tricky!

    Okay.

    #1. Guess Who? I LOVED that board game. Probably a little more than most kids because I adored the "mystery" of it. Once it became too easy, I moved on to playing detective with my friends!

    #2. Tag. Simple, but true. I loved to play a good game of tag! Freeze tag, regular tag, water tag, and all sorts of variations that I can no longer remember!

    #3. Baking. Does that count? I loved to bake with my friends. We made muffins, cookies, cakes, and, of course, our own concoctions that I'm sure tasted like hell but we LOVED!

  649. Well, we enjoyed pretending stories based on some of our favorite tv shows. (The game varied, depending on who was playing.) With my brother, I enjoyed basic "spy." (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was one of our favoite shows.)With my sister and the boy down the road, we played Monkees. (I got to play 2 parts, as there were just 3 of us) and with a good friend, I'd play Star Trek. (She was ALWAYS Spock!)

    On my own, I mostly enjoyed climbing trees and tromping through the swamp. (My mom would have fits - not only was it not lady-like, but she had a great fear of snakes.)

  650. Playing jacks and hide and seek with my friends when I was younger. All types of board games with my family thoughout the growing years. ;-) Thanks.

  651. This is great. Favorite games were "Red Rover, Red Rover", Putting on little shows (singing /dancing) for the neighbors and getting a refrigerator box and playing house or making our own fort!! The good ole days - HEHE!! We had a blast!! Thanks so much for this contest!!

  652. Just realized that I need to list a couple more to qualify for the Wii contest. Growing up, we had a LOT of oak trees in our back yard, so we would gather acorns and pretend we were harvesting them to plant again. And some of my favorite memories are of playing on the trampoline and swingset with my two best friends, who were sisters. We would pretend we were Olympic gymnasts, doing all sorts of amazing moves.

  653. Both of these prizes are great! My favorite games as
    a child was hide- and- seek. I also loved to play Mario Bros on the Nintendo. Thanks for a awesome giveaway...we would love a Wii or some chocolate!

  654. As a young girl, playing with my Barbie, Ken & Skipper dolls of course was great fun; I enjoyed playing cards games like Canasta (we didn't have a tv until I was 8 yrs old); and even at a young age I was a huge fan of crossword puzzles and Mad-Libs (albeit solitary games if you will, they were a 'thinking' persons endeavor).

  655. I've been playing Nintendo since I was 7 years old. I still have a SNES and play it regularly. I can't wait to be able to afford a Wii (or win one)!

    My three all time favorite Nintendo Games are:

    Super Mario Brothers
    Donkey Kong
    Mario Kart

    Thanks!

  656. I loved playing Star Trek in the neighbors horse trailer. We pretended it was our ship and that we had laser guns. And another neighbor had a huge barn and an even bigger garden with trees that made covered paths up and down the rows and we would wander and pretend we were lost in a blizzard. And my favorite free time game was searching for bugs. I love bugs!

  657. I laughed out loud a couple of times reading this post because it reminded me of similar things that my sisters and I did when we were young. An "orphan" themed book (or series of books, rather) that we would often base our play on the plot was "The Boxcar Children".

  658. Ok so this might cause a ruckus but my most favorite pasttime with my girlfriends was playing the ouija board. It was harmless fun. Secondly my best friend and I would play mad libs non stop. Last but not least was my brother and I gathering every couch cushion, blanket, pillow etc in the house and piling them up to jump on top of from the couch. Crazy but fun on a Saturday morning!

  659. TAG-we used to play all day and only came home when the fireflies came out. Reading and just hanging around with my friends (walking to the beach and slathering ourselves with baby oil-those were the days).

  660. My three favorite pasttimes: playing touch football with the other kids in my old neighborhood, jumping rope with my two best friends and (strange as it may seem) acting out the Phantom of the Opera with my two best friends. I had a music teacher play my class Phantom of the Opera in elementary school and I loved it so much I got the original cast recording. My friends and I would hang out in one of our backyards acting out the different parts.

  661. Back in the early 70's, I recall a gallon of gas costing 25 cents a gallon. Sunny Sunday afternoons were our admission to fun. My family would jump in the car and take a drive. A destination was the least of our concern. What did matter, however, were the games we played during our driving adventure.

    Windows were rolled down, allowing clear view of road side signs. Round one of our games was about to begin. The first one to spot a vegetable/fruit stand won first prize. Their award was the honor of selecting the eating establishment where we would dine. Round two consisted of finding a certain license plate from a surrounding state. Our third game on our exciting activity road trip topped the charts.

    As children, we were taught the value of giving. It was not an option. Generosity flowed from our veins. It was an essential part of our life. With that, we made it part of the game. A freshly prepared meal was stored in our trunk. Our final activity was to find a pay phone. Back then, pay phones usually had a phone book attached to the telephone booth. We would open the phone directory to a random page and select a name and address.

    You guessed it; we would deliver the meal to the family we selected from the phone book. Now part of the pastime was to give without being acknowledged. Either my brother or I would have the honor of placing the meal on the front porch, ring the bell, and then run like crazy back to the hidden car. The selected family would find a nice Sunday meal inside the bag with a simple note saying Enjoy and God Loves You.

  662. My three favorite would be hard to pick. I was one of five so our house was the gravity center of the neighborhood and there was always something going on. Hide-n-seek, chase, kickball, jumprope, hopscotch and anything else we could think of or dream up. During the summer we would take all our old broken crayons and try to find ways to melt them in the sun. We even once tried to fry eggs on the sidewalk (some adult said it was hot enough too). lol. There we no video games or computers yet. Daytime tv consisted of soap operas and game shows. We just enjoyed being outside playing with our friends.

  663. Hanging out with my sister's dog when she had her 12 puppies! Going to the beach with my family and going to the nearby park (Nottingham Park in PA), and taking hikes on those long trails they had there. You could get lost very easily. Sometimes it was scary, but it was still a lot of fun!

  664. My alltime favorite pasttimes included jumping on my older brother at the most unexpected moments, playing jumprope with friends, and watching my cat run around the house like a maniac.

  665. Hey, we had a similar game to your "orphanage", only ours involved a rather sadistic headmistress and a torture closet. Don't ask. We also played a game where we were parapelegics and had to lie in our tent that we made, and drag ourselves around to do things and sew things to sell for a living. I think we had a flair for the melodramatic, huh? Lest this all sound too depressing :-) we also had a rather wild game called Jail (ok that sounds bad too but it's not!) which was a version of tag; we had a "key" hanging on the far wall and if you got tagged and were in "jail" (the alcove under the basement steps), someone had to get the key and get it to you without being tagged to free you. Sounds boring in writing, but it induced a lot of hilarity, especially when "it" cornered someone behind the pool table! Oh, and we used to play house on the beach and actually managed to start a fire with a magnifying glass once! :-/ We also "cooked" beans from beach plants in the sun in a plastic container and offered them to my uncle and he actually ATE one - we were horrified! (As it turns out I learned later in college that the plants were indeed edible. I wonder if he knew that or if he was just being a guy?)

  666. I loved Connect Four (and still remember the commercial vividly... "Here - diagonally!"). I also enjoyed playing with Stomper 4X4s and making obstacle courses for them. But my biggest source of entertaining was reading - is it any wonder I'm a school librarian?

  667. Of all the games we played as a kid, I loved monopoly, checkers, dodge ball and volley ball. If I won the nintendo wii there are so many games that get you up and moving, I would be thrilled to win one Thanks

  668. Our all time favorite game to play growing up was flashlight tag! We had a huge rec room upstairs with no windows so we just grabbed flashlights and would hide. Hours of enjoyment! The other two favorites was the card game Nerts (like solitaire with tons of people) and the classic Sardines game (where you hide and people hide with you until "it" finds you).

  669. My three favorite childhood games were dodgeball, musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey! I am pretty sure my mom still has the original parts to that donkey game, may have to ask her for it!

  670. This brings back so many memories. My brother and I are less than a year apart and we were left alone a lot because both our parents worked. This was in the late 70's and early 80's. Our three favorite games were 1) Kick the Can 2) Hide & Seek and 3) Old Maid.

  671. I spent a whole lot of time reading. Then we often played school (with my 5 younger siblings). And we played a lot of board games and card games. Video games weren't allowed, which makes the Wii all that more alluring! :)

  672. What a wonderful giveaway. The whole family would be thrilled if we won. Three games that I enjoyed as a child are playing with sidewalk chalk (I even love playing with it now with my kids), playing dress up and playing with my dolls and dressing them up. I'd spend hours and hours playing with my dolls. Thank you again so much for this very generous giveaway.

  673. Growing up we kids spent our summers outside even late at night playing volleball,rollerskating,hide and seek,making dresses for barbies,drawing with chalk(hopscotch was our favorite)

  674. My sister and I were the only kids around so we played together all the time. Does chasing each other around with knives count as a "fun" activity? Our favorites were playing dress-up, UNO, and hide-and-seek.

  675. Three favorite games I remember loving to play when I was a kid were: kickball (the whole neighborhood would play), hide-and-seek, and tether ball. We had a tether ball pole in our backyard.

    Thanks for the chance to win!

  676. We are a card and board game family!! When I was little I remember playing lots of pick up sticks, memory and candy land! I loved four square in school and flashlight tag!! We camped a lot so we had to play games for outdoors too! Great giveaway! I hope I win!

  677. My three favorite games as a young child were marbles, hide-and-seek, and jumping rope. Very inexpensive to play, but also very entertaining!

  678. We were a huge game playing family growing up! My fondest memories of games are:

    1-Every christmas my dad would get a family game of some sort, we'd spend most of the day playing it!

    2- Playing video games with my brother and dad. Games like Zork, Kings Quest were the best!

    3- Working at a board game store and getting to demonstrate games to customers. Ones like Taboo, Set, Quarto were my favorite.

  679. We loved to play 1)_heads up/7up in school where you would put your head down on your desk and thumb up and guess who pressed your thumb down.
    2)Kickball with the neighborhood kids and
    3)flashlight tag at night with the neighborhood.

    So much fun!

  680. We had a neighborhood full of kids and so my favorite childhood activities were all games played in someone's yard or driveway: makeshift baseball, 4-square, and plain and simple Tag.

  681. We played outside every evening during good weather. we loved to play volleyball, ride our bikes and play with our farm animals. We loved to have our friends over and go fishing in our big pond. We were always very active. So a Wii with the Wii Fit would be perfect to get us back into shape!

  682. I don't remember playing with that many toys or games as a child. Instead I opted to explore the back yard in excessive detail. I would turn over every rock, inspect every flower and draw every living thing I saw so that I could ID them. I also recall loving to make forts in the garden out of the lilacs and paint in the snow with food coloring in the winter.

    (ps: would LOVE to win a wii, but not so much the candy as we don't eat animal products)

  683. First and foremost was always to be reading.
    But I also loved to play bumper pool and croquet.
    Anyone remember those oh so safe "yard jarts".

  684. I had many cousins living close by and we were always outside playing with dirt and leaves and twigs etc. I still remember making play food with crushed up grass and wild flowers. We used to act like we were mountain climbing to find all these exotic herbs with self healing powers. So much fun!:)

  685. My sisters and I grew up out in the country at least 10 miles from our nearest friends so we had to entertain ourselves a lot (also our mom didn't allow us to watch television). We played a lot of cards and board games, mostly canasta and parcheesi. Reading was also a big part a huge part of our lives (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was one of my favorites as well). And of course since we were in the country we played outside in the woods behind our house.
    Thanks for the giveaway.

  686. Wow, you're taking me back. Let's see, my top three pastimes growing up were playing "emergency" (does anyone remember that show? I'm probably dating myself), reading (mostly Little House on the Prairie and Nancy Drew), and picking on my brothers. Oh wait. That last one probably doesn't count. Taking long bike rides. Remember when it was actually safe to ride your bike all over town with no parental supervision? Those were the days!

  687. My many cousins and I loved putting on "plays". We had a few plays we would act out constantly. We also played a lot of kick the can and foursquare. My sister and I were also big fans of the cabbage patch kids and Barbies. We would come up with intricate plots that seemed like mini soap operas and spend hours acting them out with our dolls. It never took much for us together...

  688. I loved playing with a toy that you put on your ankle and jumped over- like an ankle hula hoop with a lemon on the end. I enjoyed playing Marco Polo in the lake and swim races. For games, I liked Racko, Life and Which Witch. I also liked paper dolls and barbies.

  689. The Olympics, soap opera scripts (I think coming up with names was my favorite part), and making our own concrete.

  690. My three favorite childhood games were marbles, hopscotch and kick the can. Notice they were all outside games because there were so many kids my folks were always kicking us outside! We had no shortage of playmates or lack of imagination in making something fun with each other. Summers seemed to last forever and the evenings were our favorite time to play.

  691. Growing up we loved to play grocery store, SPUD out in the backyard, and have "Treasure Hunt Suppers" as a family....good times. =)

  692. Ok I LOVED 4 square! Remember that game!?
    Loved red rover, freeze tag and marco polo in the condo community swimming pool.

  693. I use to love to ride bikes when I was a kid. All my girlfriends use to come over to my house and we would make believe that we were married to one of the "Monkees" from tv and had our baby dolls as our family. I also had a Flintstone doll set with a cardboard house that I loved.

  694. OK. . . I grew up on a farm in ND. Not a whole lot of urban entertainment! We spent hours pretending "Little House on the Prairie" using our playhouse and a Coaster wagon retrofitted into a covered wagon. Also loved to use an inflated tractor innertube as our trampoline. Chinese checkers and card games with grandparents kept us entertained when not outside. . .MKW

  695. We lived in the country with no neighbors nearby. My brother and I would play "over Annie", make mudpies, and swing.

  696. My sisters and I had a Chinese play cooking set....that really cooked! We'd sneak food from the kitchen and take it all outside to make our concoctions....mostly burnt, then dare each other to eat it.

  697. When I was growing up I had A LOT of Fisher Price Little People (the old wooden ones). I had every set they had and I had a TON of Weebles and other wooden toys like a zoo complete with animals. My cousin Cindy and I used to put out all the sets on the playroom floor and set up "Disney Land". The FP Castle was of course the Disney Castle. The FP circus train acted as a Monorail. I had the Holiday Inn (Not FP... forgot who made it) which was the hotel the "guests" stayed at. The entire playroom was covered in the play sets and my cousin and I would pretend to be families going to Disneyland. As per my mom my cousin and I would play for HOURS and HOURS and HOURS and the playroom would be set up like that for almost the entire summer. To this day I still have almost all my FP sets from my childhood (although most of the Weebles have diappeared).

    Another fun thing my cousins and I would love to do is play hide and go seek in the dark. Where I lived my home was next to my uncles home which was next to my grandfather's home. So we had A LOT of places to hide. Even our neighbors would let us hide at their place. All my cousins would get involved and hide and we would all have flashlights too. We would "tease" the person looking for us by flickering the flash lights to get their attention and then running away and hiding someplace else when they got close. This would go on for hours and we really did "catch" each other. I think it was just more fun running around hiding and seeing who else you would come across. Who needs toys when you have lots of open land and great cousins! LOL!

    Of course we liked things like Barbie, GI Joe, bikes, making club houses/forts and things like that. One of my favorite games was "Don't Spill the Beans". I don't know if it was us or the game came that way but we used real dried beans for the game. We played it so much that my mom would have to replace the beans because they would get lost. I remember the one side of it broke and we taped and glued it and it would never stay on the way it was suppose to. We didn't want to toss it out but we finally had to let go of it. I miss that game!!!!

    I know you said just three things but I have so many fond memories. Going to drive in movie theaters was a blast too! We love to set out blankets in the spot next to the car and hang out and enjoy the movie (my cousins and I).

    Thanks for this GREAT prize opportunity!!!!

  698. I liked to play freeze tag. Most of the time was spent outdoors. Rare to see kids outdoors these days. I liked to play cards and I like that game Life.

  699. I always had my nose in a book, still do, but I gained ownership to most of the original Nancy Drew books, so I spent a lot of time finding "secret passageways" in and around my grandparent's house. I also was in love with Mario and Duck hunt.

  700. I remember playing connect 4 and operation. We also played outside - a lot. I remember once after a rain, the neighborhood kids tromped through puddles in search of the rainbow's end.

  701. We taught my son Duck Duck Gray Duck the other night and I forgot how much I LOVED that game. We would play it on rainy days for recess or in preschool. It was always a lot of fun!

  702. I love playing school with my sister and our dolls. I also used to go hunting for frogs with my brother. My brother and I also pretended we were hunting through the jungle in the long grass in our back yard. When our cat would get outside and walk through the grass we pretended she was a cheetah. I also rode my bike a lot. A lot of my childhood was spent outside. (We already have a Wii, but if I win I am going to surprise my husbands grandparents with it because they enjoyed it last time we visited them and were talking about getting one. :) )

  703. I feel sorry for the kids of today. They are missing out on imaginative play and physical activity because of computer games and cable. On Saturdays, my friends and I would spend the entire day outside, weather permitting, riding bikes, roller skating, forming all girl bands (with pink guitars!), making wagons out of wood and bicycle wheels, playing hopscotch, hide and go seek and the list goes on. Oh, Barbies, too! Ahhh, wish I was a kid again!

  704. I loved being outside,riding bikes, playing with the other girls on the street in our "super girls" clubhouse. In my younger years I was a bit of a tom boy and preferred trucks in the mud, I eventually graduated to the Barbie phase. We didn't have video games and rarely watched t.v. Life was good.

  705. Well, here is the moment of truth. They actually had no computer games when I was a wee lassie. I spent countless hours gazing at the sky, playing board games(I loved and still do love Scrabble), reading everything I could find and smashing (yes, smashing) Barbie dolls.
    My son loves all the game consoles and is an elitist in such; word has it that the Wii is simply the cat's meow. Alas, he does not own but has played at friends homes.
    Thanks again for another incredible giveaway and the chance, be it everso small....

  706. My 3 favorite board games were Life, Uncle Wiggly and Monopoly. I spent most of my time outside biking and or inside reading.

  707. Ive never played a Wii, but I've heard that it's a lot of fun and hope to play soon. I heard it's quite the workout and the whole family can get involved.

  708. i loved playing uno,red rover and duck duck goose-wow that feels like ages ago. now my children play those games.
    annjsav at gmail dot com

  709. My favorite childhood games were "Kick the Can". The best time to play it was when it was getting dark out because it made it more scary. I also remember the shows we used to put on in my garage. We would sing and dance and invite all the neighborhood kids to watch. And who forget the card games like WAR, Fish and Crazy Eights.

  710. Duck, duck, goose was a favorite. Hide and seek was always a good one and junping rope was fun. These are not hardly seen today because kids want to be inside. Playing on the swing set was always nice too. That's why I like the concept of Wii, it gets the kids moving.

  711. My three favorite games/pasttimes as a child were playing nurse, garbage woman, and judge. Ironically, my "career games" always involved me doind something not so nice to a loved one. Nurse involved me writing all over my grandpa's arms with a ballpoint pen, garbage woman involved attempting to take the garbage out and spilling it along the way, and judge involved sentencing my older brother to spankings. Lets just say, I'm much nicer now!

  712. We used to play school all the time, also had a clearing in the woods that we would play in and climb trees. I think my favorite pastime of all was reading. I would go to the thrift store and just buy all kinds of books. I liked to lie in bed on summer nights eating frozen blueberries and reading my books until way late.

  713. I loved to play pick-up sticks when I was very young. I then loved to listen to my plastic 45 records on my little childhood record player. My favorite pastime as a child was reading. I would read a book almost everyday that I got from the library. thank you

  714. I grew up in a different time when playing who could kick their shoe the furthest. We were easily entertained.

  715. I was not allowed to play or have video games growing up, so I pretended I was a zoo keeper in my backyard. I would go outside and pretend to feed the zebras and camels. I also always desperately wanted a different mother (one, who of course, let me have a nintendo, among other things) so I would pretend I was Elizabeth Taylor's long lost daughter. When all of my imagination games grew tiredsome, I played geosafari (my mothers idea of a good substitution of nintendo-but that didn't have any of the mario bros. games) So, although I was made fun of for not having video games, I was able to list all of the state flowers and birds....not exactly the best way to make friends in middle school! But, I have a great imagination, so it couldn't have all been bad!

  716. In third game I would rush home every day after school to play Atari Pac-man with my mom. When I was a little older my sister and I ran a jump rope across our porch to make a tennis court. It was a really small but we tried to make do. We played all summer long. And I've always loved to play the "dot game." The one where you have to connect the dots to capture more squares then your opponent. Now my kids love to play. It is a great game to play while waiting for food at a restaurant.

  717. I loved loved loved to play jump rope with my little girl friends during recess...we knew so many jump rope jingles...I'm not sure if I can remember them all now, though.

    dbstout[at]juno[dot]com

  718. Let's see . . . my favorite game to play in school was Heads Up 7-Up, at home it was Red Rover Red Rover, and I loved to read until late at night!

    Thank you for this great giveaway!

  719. I loved to play the game "Racko", you had to line your cards up in numerical order. I remember sitting around the table with my older brother and parents playing that one. Then when I was a little older we got "Intellivision", one of the first home video game systems. I remember the game "Burger Time", and "Frogger". Those were my favorites. My favorite pastime was on Saturday evenings during the summer, we would all pile in the car and take a drive. I'd roll down the window and smell the country air. Quite often we'd end up at Jimmy Cone for an icecream cone! So fun! Thanks for making me sit back and reminisce! Also, great offer - we've been wanting a Wii, here's hoping we win! Thanks for offering this!
    ~Tanya
    the4moyers(at)msn(dot)com

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