Dreidel Games

And a holy hello from Jerusalem. Which happens to be where I am. Where the fact that it's almost Chanuka takes on significant significance. Which makes me think of Dreidels. Which are a form of Teetotum. Or perhaps Teetota.

I'm ever so sure there's an historico-cultural connection between Chanuka and gambling. And if there isn't, it'd be fun to invent one. But I never liked gambling. Especially with kids. Because it's hard enough for them to deal with winning and losing, even without financial consequences, even when they're playing for pennies. Or latkes, even. (see also "The Great Latke-Hamentash Debate")

So I've been thinking that maybe there should be other games to play with Dreidels. For example, maybe a Dreidel version of Yahtzee (we could call it "Yachtzee"), with, say, 4 Dreidels. It could be maybe a cooperative game - see how many different combinations you can make before you get a duplicate.

And how about new kinds of Dreidels - like this lovely, impressive, and interestingly fragile glass Dreidel, or maybe even a junkyard Dreidel made of bottle caps!

Who knows what good a few new Dreidels and a few newer Dreidel games could create for Dreidel-players everywhere, for the children of Dreidel-players, for the very future of Dreidel-playing? Who actually knows?



from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith