Never heard of Pente?

One thing that always amazes me, no matter how many times it happens, is that as a parent I am often the first person to expose my children to things that grownups take for granted. I know that sounds crazy, but once my kids started going to public school I expected that they would be learning about stuff without me. I get a little thrill every time I find out that I am the first one to tell my kids about a game or song that has been around forever.

So what was my kids' latest discovery? This:



To me, Pente is as common as Scrabble or Monopoly. I don't think of it as a hobby game. Although I haven't played it in a while, I assumed that the kids had probably run across it as someone's house. I think my copy of Pente has been with my longer than my husband has, and we've been together almost 20 years.

Anyway, the kids were bored yesterday and I sat Pente on the table, not really expecting that they would play it. Boy, was I wrong! They took to it immediately. Apparently, the neighborhood kids hadn't heard of Pente, either, because I had several of them wander in to take a turn. Who knew that something that had been sitting in my garage all this time would turn out to be the kids' next game craze?