Garden Games

A game of giant Snakes and Ladders, perhaps? Or would you prefer a pleasant hour of Giant Pick Up Sticks? Something more constructive? How about Giant Jenga?

Garden Games are clearly a British phenomenon. Most likely because so many United Kingdomers have large gardens. As one of the mini-gardened many, what intrigues me about these games, aside from the fact that they're too big for my garden, is that so many of them are simply table games with oversized egos. Giant chess, giant checkers, giant ludo (parcheesi)... There's even a giant version of Connect Four.

There's something fun about playing a game that's been giganticized. Something different when you find yourself inside a game, a mere pawn among pawns, subjected to the laddering and chuting your way to destiny. Something that opens up new possibilities for interacting with your family and friends. Any table game, from tic tac toe to cribbage, becomes something other when made large.

Years ago, 27 years ago, actually, when I had the opportunity to design an outdoor play event for one-quarter million people as part of Philadelphia's celebration of the Bicentennial, it was this very principle that I used to create an event that brought all those people into play. I had a larger scale to work with. The entire Benjamin Franklin Parkway. So, my giant pickup sticks were 15 feet long. But what an amazing experience they provided! As did my 4x8 foot playing cards and blockwide hopscotch game and 6-foot diameter volleyball. Changing scale changes games into community events. In parks and playgrounds, streets and parking lots, in English gardens, and even yours.