Yahtzee Case

Imagine sitting around the table and everyone's eyes are on you. Shuffling the last of the dice in your hand as you prepare for your final roll. Finally tossing the dice on the table, letting fate take its course. After some of the slowest seconds of your life, the dice finally settle. A blur of meaningless dots fill your head and then all of a sudden its clear, YAHTZEE!

A game of chance and dice, Yahtzee is typical "family game night" game that has been around since the 50's. Created by a wealthy Canadian couple that wanted to entertain their guests on their yacht, the "Yacht game" was developed. After eventually selling the rights, the game soon turned into "Yahtzee" and was played worldwide. (NEEDS TO BE CITED).

Coming from a very tight knit family, board games have always been apart of our nightly rituals. From the classics such as Sorry and Monopoly, we have played it all. My personal favorite though has always been Yahtzee. While requiring little to no skill, I always loved the risks and chances that would arise from the game. Time and time again I've heard it been said how beneficial board games and family game night can be, but never thought it would bring my family so close. While promoting laughter, family bonding, and learning, my favorite part of it all was how close it brought my family back together.

A couple summers ago, my dad's side of the family decided to meet up down in Florida. After years of short phone calls, and random Facebook posts in an attempt to stay up to date with each other, the Shirar family was due for a reunion. Scattered across the globe, from South Carolina to Germany, the personalities of all the families varied as much as the locations. The combination of my somewhat quiet and reserved family from Germany, my very southern cousins, and my family caused for a very uncomfortable airport pick up. Due to the fact we hadn't seen each other in years, I can honestly say the beginning of that trip was more awkward than expected.

After what felt like a terribly long car ride filled with (DON'T KNOW WHAT TO PUT HERE), we had made it back to the house we had rented for the week. It wasn't long until we all ran out of small talk, and was forced to try to find something new to do. Thankfully, my mom took the first step to really breaking the ice and whipped out her own personal Yahtzee board. While seeming to be a perfect idea to me, my cousins were a little confused at first.

In our household, everything is about five times normal size. Not because we strive to out do everyone but because it has to be this way. At a young age my mother was diagnosed with a disease that causes progressive eye loss. While gradually losing her eyesight since elementary school, she has now been categorized as legally blind. Having to adjust to my mother's eye loss, Yahtzee has always been done a little differently in our household. Due to the small size of the dice, the dots are difficult to read, even those with 20/20 vision. On top of that, the scoreboards that come with it are about size 10 font. Knowing how badly my mom wanted to be more involved, we made a few minor adjustments to the game.

With today's