In a previous article, Family Bonding Time, I talked about the importance of taking advantage of family holiday gatherings to collect information. Perhaps the biggest challenge of doing this is trying to get conversations started and figuring out what direction to take the various threads. One of the packages that was under the tree with my name on it was a game. The Family Lore Game proved to be a great way to jog memories and get the conversations started.
The game is a basic trivia type, complete with 800 question cards. What makes the game unique is that fact that only 240 of the cards have questions on them. The remaining blanks are for you to fill out with questions specific to your family. Even without the customized cards being filled out, you can quickly trigger a lot of fun reminiscences about the family. The customized questions are designed to be filled out and completed during the course of the game, so after playing a few times, you have a deck of family specific questions. At that point, you can remove the seed cards if you wish.
There are twenty categories of questions including Ancestors and Relatives as well as Pets, Vacations, Schools, Homes and Traditions. We sat down to play the day after Christmas with all of the family present, a thing that only happens about once every two years. It was fascinating to watch the 'Patriarch' (or alternatively the Matriarch, the oldest participant, who serves as the final authority for whether a question has been answered correctly or not) being surprised by the memories that others brought up and shared.
We even had our share of controversy was created when trying to compare the different sides of the family to determine who the "Oldest living ancestor known by any of those present during their lives." Side conversations sprang up about various vacations we had taken. I was delighted to sit and listen to the various threads that branched off the main questions and the tidbits that were shared. The things that were important to one of us where not even remembered by others.
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