Let Us Gather

The many hours when folks gather for fun usually involve games of guessing - identify the subject of a drawing or of an intricate design or of some pantomimed action. There are many tried and true games of that sort. One I had not seen before had a stack of cards each with a short irregular line. The first player picks the top card and copies the line on blank paper. All participants must copy that line on their paper and draw an idea of their own in a measured amount of time.
The concept appeared simple enough - make more lines with and around the first one to show a recognizable item or scene. The more complicated the drawings are, the higher the score. I thought of the steps a player’s mind goes through to come up with something acceptable for any score. The brain has a great capacity to handle such a simple task and the results revealed an amazing range of ideas.
And that’s not surprising. The human brain contains about 10 billion nerve cells and each one can interact with other nerve cells through something like ten thousand connectors. What an impressive information processing system! No wonder there must be a special rating system and rigorous rules to narrow the results. Otherwise the time needed for rating would surpass time taken for the game itself.
But back to the point I want to make: that the decisions of what to draw will be determined almost instantaneously because of the speed in which the billion nerve cells can communicate to bring forth the options. Creating situations that require spontaneous decisions is healthy – keeps the synapses bouncing around the brain with a purpose.
Studies by brain scientists indicate that active minds help us stay healthy as we grow older. Causes of Alzheimers and dementia have yet to be determined but with more folks living longer we need to do everything we can to maintain a good quality of life. Playing games and enjoying getting together for any reason will do just that. Bring your friends in and play group games. Use your imaginations to make up new rules, and even new games. And enjoy every gathering.
Naomi Sherer