For a lot of people on Brentwood campus, this means four XBox remotes and a Common Room TV screen. For others, it means a game of pick-up basketball or soccer on the field. Now I may not be the most reliable source, but in the girls’ houses, distractions normally come in the form of keeping up with the Kardashians, their favourite Modern Family, or the Vampire Diaries. All these things are a relief, a slight chance to take a bit of a break from the busy Brentwood day. With classes in the morning and sport or fine art in the afternoons and then prep in the evenings, we try to snatch precious free time whenever we can.

The point of this article, however, is not to inform people of the normal distractions that permeate the fabric of Brentwood’s free time. This article is not about XBox games, or trips Uptown, or nature walks on the Millennium Trail. No, this blog exists to encourage other generations to have a bit of faith and show them that we still enjoy things that do not come with a power cord. And not only when the power goes out.

This tale, of course, must begin with Saturday poker nights, a phenomenon that I can recall happening nearly every Saturday night since I was in the ninth grade. A small group of people would gather after sign-in on a Saturday night, and burn the midnight oil until one player stood victorious, a mass of multi-coloured chips hoarded in front of him. Games would go on for hours, and one could always tell when a player had lost, because every now and again a dorm room door would open, and someone would slink dejectedly back to their room in the early morning. The feelings after a loss had two options: disappointment, or relief that they could finally catch some sleep. Poker night of course, came with a variety of first time players, hustlers and old hands. All grades were welcome.

Nowadays, the poker sets seem to be accumulating more and more dust, as a new card game has taken over the house. Cribbage, one of the hardest games to learn, full of the quirkiest rules and the most wonderful catch phrases, has taken Ellis House by storm. It began after Spring Break last year, when a student brought a crib board back and asked if his friends knew how to play. Delighted that they did, almost any spare moment would see them huddled around the board, counting fifteens and moving pegs towards the finish line. They would play in the dorm, on the field in the sunshine, once or twice in Crooks Hall, and in the common room. It was about this time that Assistant House Parent of Ellis house, Mr. Wismer, caught onto the new fad. A man who loved crib in his youth, he would occasionally join the group.

Now, nearly a full year after the fateful arrival of the first crib board, there are at least six that have taken up residence in Ellis. Last Saturday night saw Mr. Wismer, a group of Grade 12s including myself, and a group of Grade 10s playing a cribbage tournament. Crib is the perfect social game. While it tests people’s strategy and their basic mathematics, it also encourages a good deal of chatting and ribbing, especially when playing as a team. The horror of being skunked versus the joy of winning a close match, especially on a peg, the mystery of checking your crib… Cribbage is a great game, and a great distraction.

Elsewhere in the house, the occasionally game of chess will see the wits of two individuals put to the test, or even what feels like a never-ending game of Risk will be struck up in the Common Room. It may have begun to feel like board games have slowly been phased out by today’s youth, finding no place in a world of technology. I hope that this article can remind Brentwood students of the joy of a little card game, or the attraction of a bout of chess. These things still exist, and they deserve to distract us just as much as anything else.

Jonathan B-E