So much of our daily living takes place on screens these days. Work meetings, family visits, letter-reading, news-watching—all of it is in the electronic realm. The pandemic has made social isolation a real concern, so many of us might feel like we have to connect virtually to stay entertained, supported and to have any fun.
I was thinking about this recently when I found a challenging dot-to-dot book (1,000 dots per page!) hiding in a drawer. Half an hour connecting the dots led me to make another connection—quality alone time, free of the glare of a screen, is part of living positively and healthfully. Here are four ideas for games you can play when you have the pleasure of your own company.
1) Solitaire
The aptly-named card game is part luck, part concentration and highly satisfying when you get to line up cards in number order, alternating red and black, and eventually setting down that final card for a win. Click here for how to play Solitaire.
2) Puzzle Books
There are countless puzzle books for adults, featuring Sudoku, crossword puzzles, word finds, “Spot the Difference” challenges, detailed coloring pages and logic riddles. A visit to any bookstore or online bookseller will offer engaging, fun choices to keep you thinking and smiling.
3) Jigsaw Puzzles
A jigsaw puzzle is an exercise in delayed gratification, as sometimes it can take a number of matched pieces before you can even see the design coming together. But you can have faith that all the pieces fit and build to a beautiful result over hours, days or weeks.
4) Tile Games
There are two tile games that are solo-play favorites in my house. For the wordsmiths among us, Bananagrams is a Scrabble-like challenge that can be played in a number of different ways. For the number-crunchers, Mobi is a similar pouch of tiles that can be set into myriad patterns and equations.
What other one-player, off-screen games do you enjoy playing?
