Article: GAMES RULE THE GIFT LIST FAMILIES AND FRIENDS MATCH WITS, LEARN ABOUT EACH OTHER - AND HAVE FUN.(Spotlight)

Byline: Janet Simons, Rocky Mountain News

Long ago, in the days before iPods and cable on demand, families entertained themselves during long winter evenings by playing games.

When Jewish families bring out the dreidels for the first night of Hanukkah tomorrow, they'll be playing a game that, scholars believe, grew out of a 16th-century British top game called teetotum.

Games are a Christmas tradition, too. In the years the Tudors ruled England, it was against the law for the working class to play games at any time but the Christmas season. As the days grew short, however, the underprivileged folk, like the upper class, could bring out the chess ...

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