So lately I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with "new" stuff. Everything these days seems to be such poor quality!
Like appliances, furniture, clothing, computers, you-name-it, if it was produced recently, it probably sucks, or it'll break before too long. The same exact products I bought only a few years ago (and now want or need another one) are made with different materials- nothing close to what I had before- even though the item number or "reorder" button says it's the same thing. Liars. Look at most reviews... the oldest ones will rave about a product while the newest ones are usually pretty negative because they trusted the first reviews that were written before the product "changed," or the newest-good reviews are written before they've actually used the product for any length of time. Everything just seems disposable. What happened to things lasting a lifetime?
I'm sure every generation says (in rickety old voice)
"Well, back in my day everything was so much better!" But seriously, nothing is built to last, I'm sure you must know what I mean. And though there are still some very nice and reputable things being manufactured, you have to pay a fortune for heirloom quality. Unless it's an actual heirloom.
Which brings me to my ever evolving obsession... vintage stuff!
Including vintage board games. I know they don't count as heirlooms, but I still like some of them better than new ones.
My daughter turned 8 this summer and we've been playing more board games lately, to start teaching her some strategy, or to just plain THINK about what she's doing. Games were on sale so I wanted to get some old classics and I can't believe how much they've changed. Uggh. And where's Chinese Checkers? I remember having enormous fun playing that game at my grandma's on a flat round tin with regular checkers on the backside. Then I realized I must own that exact style game from my childhood memories... no cheap knockoffs, wood versions or plastic pegs.
Well, I couldn't find anything locally and after searching extensively between ebay and Etsy, I discovered that many of those Chinese Checkers are readily available... at exorbitant prices or in very poor condition or missing some or all game pieces.
So the search continued and I finally found a complete set from the 60s-70s, no dents or rust, at a fairly reasonable price (not really) and almost exactly as I remember:
I love love LOVE this game! Only these checkers are wood, and we had the sturdy interlocking plastic kind back then... maybe they were from the other regular Checkers game, which I now also want. Seems like new the Checkers board games are so flimsy and have very thin stacking pieces. Hmm... I feel myself becoming a board game snob.
I don't care.
Then I raided my mom's house and found these:
That Life game cracks me up.
And then I found a newer(ish) Sorry! game at a thrift store for cheap, not quite like the one I remember from the good ol' days, but good enough. Doesn't seem possible that this one's already 25 years old, so it counts as vintage.
It's sad to think that someday today will eventually be the good ol' days. What's this world coming to? Well, I'll tell you what... I think I'm officially becoming an old fogey now.
Like appliances, furniture, clothing, computers, you-name-it, if it was produced recently, it probably sucks, or it'll break before too long. The same exact products I bought only a few years ago (and now want or need another one) are made with different materials- nothing close to what I had before- even though the item number or "reorder" button says it's the same thing. Liars. Look at most reviews... the oldest ones will rave about a product while the newest ones are usually pretty negative because they trusted the first reviews that were written before the product "changed," or the newest-good reviews are written before they've actually used the product for any length of time. Everything just seems disposable. What happened to things lasting a lifetime?
I'm sure every generation says (in rickety old voice)
"Well, back in my day everything was so much better!" But seriously, nothing is built to last, I'm sure you must know what I mean. And though there are still some very nice and reputable things being manufactured, you have to pay a fortune for heirloom quality. Unless it's an actual heirloom.Which brings me to my ever evolving obsession... vintage stuff!
Including vintage board games. I know they don't count as heirlooms, but I still like some of them better than new ones.
My daughter turned 8 this summer and we've been playing more board games lately, to start teaching her some strategy, or to just plain THINK about what she's doing. Games were on sale so I wanted to get some old classics and I can't believe how much they've changed. Uggh. And where's Chinese Checkers? I remember having enormous fun playing that game at my grandma's on a flat round tin with regular checkers on the backside. Then I realized I must own that exact style game from my childhood memories... no cheap knockoffs, wood versions or plastic pegs.
Well, I couldn't find anything locally and after searching extensively between ebay and Etsy, I discovered that many of those Chinese Checkers are readily available... at exorbitant prices or in very poor condition or missing some or all game pieces.
So the search continued and I finally found a complete set from the 60s-70s, no dents or rust, at a fairly reasonable price (not really) and almost exactly as I remember:
I love love LOVE this game! Only these checkers are wood, and we had the sturdy interlocking plastic kind back then... maybe they were from the other regular Checkers game, which I now also want. Seems like new the Checkers board games are so flimsy and have very thin stacking pieces. Hmm... I feel myself becoming a board game snob.
Then I raided my mom's house and found these:
That Life game cracks me up.
And then I found a newer(ish) Sorry! game at a thrift store for cheap, not quite like the one I remember from the good ol' days, but good enough. Doesn't seem possible that this one's already 25 years old, so it counts as vintage.
It's sad to think that someday today will eventually be the good ol' days. What's this world coming to? Well, I'll tell you what... I think I'm officially becoming an old fogey now.
It is like they make things cheap....so they break...so you buy new....so they make $. 
I swear that is the same game of sorry that is still in my parents basement somewhere! My sisters and I had big fun with board games...back before wifi 
