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Show Making Family Life More Fun Economy Dictates New Deal For Old Time Fun Games are making a sweeping comeback in the 80's as Americans of all ages and backgrounds rediscover their intrinsic and psychological psycho-logical values. According to University of Chicago Psychologist Psy-chologist and Professor Susan S. Laber, "The nation's na-tion's game craze may be better than aspirin for some people." One example of the increased in-creased popularity of games is the astronomical success of Uno, an inexpensive family fam-ily card game which toy and game industry experts rank as the country's best-seller. More than 12 million decks were sold in 1980 up from only 3 million in 1977 according ac-cording to International Games, Inc., manufacturer of Uno. Uno has become big news on college campuses, among office workers on lunch hours, for therapy in hospitals hospi-tals and rehabilitation centers, cen-ters, at weekend parties, on school playgrounds and ultimately in principals' hands as students are caught dealing cards in class. One explanation for the resurgence of game play across the country is the state of the economy, according ac-cording to International Games, Inc. President Bob Tezak. "Everyone today has to cut corners on entertainment and living expenses. It'a hard to beat the price of a deck of cards. Singles, children, chil-dren, elderly, familiea are finding that a one-time investment in-vestment of often less than $5 can promise hours and evenings of fun," he says. It's not the economy alone, however, that is responsible re-sponsible for the accelerat- Card games -the age-old pastime is today's ace in family entertainment. ing interest in games. A clearly significant factor, says Susan Laber, is rooted in psychology and sociology. "The whole games phenomenon phe-nomenon in our society is a positive, healthy trend," she says. Ms. Laber says playing games is an excellent way to relieve everyday anxieties and tension resulting from on-the-job stress, personal and financial problems. "Games competition is an excellent way to enhance and harness aggressive energy. ener-gy. It is an acceptable and harmless way to displace or vent emotions and aggressions aggres-sions resulting from a bad day at work, or an argument with the boss or family. Games can boost everyone's ego." Recent research on Uno supports Ms. Leber's theories. theo-ries. Findings indicate that one of the reasons people enjoy the game is its simplicity sim-plicity and the opportunity to play on the same competitive compet-itive level with a variety of people. And anyone can win. One participant in the study summed it up. "Everybody "Every-body likes to think he's tops even if it's only for a little while. Winning a card game really makes you feel like 'numero uno'." "Character is like tree and reputation hi shadow. The shadow is what we think K is; the tree is the real thing." Abraham Lincoln |