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BGonline.org Forums
How to get a 4 year old boy hooked?!
Posted By: Phil Simborg In Response To: How to get a 4 year old boy hooked?! (Higonefive)
Date: Sunday, 26 June 2011, at 4:00 p.m.
When my kids were that age, they loved playing backgammon (they are now 39 and 36 and one of them is a great player and the other never plays!).
We turned the game into even more of a game. Whenever one of us rolled 1-1 we would narrow our eyes into little slits, hiss, and say "SNAKE EYES!" And if we rolled 6-6 we would jump up and clap 6 times.
Whenever they hit one of my checkers I acted like I got shot through the heart and was killed, and they screamed and laughed. I can't remember all the rituals we made up because they changed as they got older, but you get the point...don't just sit there like a stone and play a serious game of backgammon with a 5-year old...make it really fun. Every time they beat me (and I let them win a lot) I cried like a baby and they laughed hysterically. If they had an indirect shot at me and needed a 9 to hit me, I would help them and make it fun and say something like, "If you roll a 9 here and hit me, I will quit and let you have the win and I will help you clean up your room" or "if you roll a 9 here I'll buy you an ice cream" and later, "If you roll a 9 I'll put a quarter into your piggy bank." You can imagine how hard they shook the dice and how excited they got if they rolled a 9. (Also, they started to look for indirect shots and learned what combinations they needed to hit.)
As they got older the games and rewards got tougher. It got to the point where Dan could tell me how many times out of 36 he would come in from the bar and hit (Mike lost interest completely, probably because his younger brother was so much better at it.)
So be creative...make it fun and exciting.
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