Fair Fun in the Winter

There is no denying that I’ve got the winter blues. Being cooped up in the house after work and on the weekends is driving me crazy. As a new winter activity this week, I convinced my roommate to play the Blue Ribbon Foundation’s “It’s a Fair Game”. 

 

I’ve been advertising the game since I starting working for the Foundation but this was the first time I played it. Being completely honest, it was a lot of fun. 

 

The Foundation created the game in 2009. This board game brings the Fair home as you relive the fun of trekking your way across the Fairgrounds. Using custom tokens, players participate in the Fair in one of twelve different professions. As they make their way around the Fairgrounds, a player can increase (or decrease) his or her worth by buying food or merchandise or by winning contests. The player with the highest value when they retire for the night in the campgrounds wins!

 

During the game my career started as a Concessionaire but quickly switched to Livestock Patrol.  I won several Blue Ribbons for my food entries. I always landed on the “buy yummy Fair food” spaces. (Not a stretch from real life.) Some of my favorite spots along the board were:

 

• Step in cow pie, buy new shoes. Pay $40

• Win Bill Riley talent competition. Collect $500

• Missed the campgrounds shuttle. Lose Turn.

• Buy a brick. Pay $100. 

• Hungry for a corndog. Pay $5

 

The board game is filled with everything you love about the Iowa State Fair. The Foundation currently has the game on sale in the State Fair Store for $15. 

 

The Iowa State Fair seems like a distant event in these cold weeks of winter, but it will be here before we know it. I won this week’s game but I’m sure my roommate will challenge me again soon. I encourage you to play the “It’s a Fair Game” and find the winner in your family.