by Erik Arneson
The Million Minute Family Challenge is an annual event sponsored by Patch Products, the company that publishes Blurt!, Malarky, Tribond, Talkin' Tango and others.
The goal of the event is to encourage families and friends to spend more time together playing board games. It began on September 1, and runs through December 31. Organizers hope that a total of 1,000,000 minutes of game-playing will be logged when this year's challenge ends. As of December 5, the total stands at 254,660 minutes (which is more than 4,244 hours, or nearly 177 entire days).
You can log your game time at http://www.millionminute.com/logminutes.asp. Any games played since September 1, 2002, count -- so go ahead and log your time.
The web site breaks down game-playing time by state. Wisconsin currently leads, followed by California, Tennessee, Washington, New York and Pennsylvania. Washington, D.C., Hawaii and Mississippi are at the bottom of the list.
Tracy Dudkiewicz, vice-president of marketing at Patch Products, recently took some time to answer a few questions about the Million Minute Family Challenge.
When did you come up with the idea of the Million Minute Family Challenge?
Research has shown the enormous benefits of family communication, and playing games is a great tool to get the family together.
We wanted to create a nationwide Challenge to remind families to take the time to make communication a priority -- to clear the table, pull out a game and get a conversation going. Since 1994, we have sponsored an event called National Game and Puzzle Week annually during Thanksgiving week.
The objective of National Game and Puzzle Week has been to encourage families to spend time together over a board game or puzzle. The response to National Game and Puzzle Week has been excellent, therefore, we decided to expand the concept to a four-month long promotion, hence the Million Minute Family Challenge.
We realize that families are more than ever looking for ways to increase communication and spend more time together.
This year, the Million Minute Family Challenge runs September 1, 2002 through December 31, 2002, and National Game and Puzzle Week runs November 24-30, 2002.
What's the goal of the Challenge?
It’s a grassroots effort encouraging interaction and communication among family and friends through playing board games. The goal is to encourage at least 1,000 families, groups or organizations in each of the 50 states to play a board game together for 20 minutes or more. That’s 1,000,000 minutes!
Participants can log their game-play minutes at http://www.millionminute.com/. The site has a running total of minutes logged, as well as a breakdown of minutes by state.
The web site is also filled with fun ideas on how to participate, game suggestions and educational information including the benefits of family time, the history of games and how to use games in the classroom.
Why do board games offer a better experience than some other forms of entertainment?
Board games are great because they gather a group of people around a table, and there’s a lot of interaction and communication.Research has shown that there are many benefits of playing games.
Playing games builds self-confidence, creativity, critical thinking and enhances vocabulary, increases attention, listening and concentration skills, and teaches good sportsmanship. With many parents looking for ways to interact with their children, the Million Minute Family Challenge is a great tool to open the lines of communication amongst all family members.
How satisfied are you with the results of this year's Challenge so far?
We have consistently increased total minutes of play as the word about the Million Minute Family Challenge travels throughout the United States, and we’re pleased that each state has logged minutes. We are confident that we'll reach our goal of getting people to enjoy the benefits of 1 million minutes of play nationwide.
To add to the excitement, we are working with schools, libraries and museums nationwide to plan events around the Million Minute Family Challenge. In October, we had a museum in Richmond, Virginia, hold an event that attracted over 100 families and played for a total of 3,393 minutes. Togetherness is what the Million Minute Family Challenge is all about, and this particular event brought a lot of fun and togetherness for a community. To me, that's what the Million Minute Family Challenge is about -- togetherness and fun!
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