Seconds after I walk into your house (literally between the front door and kitchen) you and Camden start asking if we can play a game.

Even though you’ve got a closet full of board games, we ignore these packaged, moribund entertainment treatments and opt… always… for our own inventions.

I guess it’s my fault… I enjoy making things up and definitely enjoy the spontaneity of free-play.   Don’t get me wrong – I’ve always liked board games, especially Stratego, Monopoly, Risk and Clue.  And I certainly don’t mind a riveting game of Candy Land or Chutes & Ladders either.

But there’s something about the self-created game that appeals to all of us.

One of your all-time favorites is Pirates.

We start with a blanket on the floor – that’s always the ship.  Then we find a telescope, which is either a paper towel cardboard holder or a fancy plastic device.  If neither are available, we curl our fingers together and look through.

Weapons and ammunition are always necessary for our upcoming battles.  We often make pirate hats, eye patches (both out of paper) and the piece-de-resistance, the treasure map with “X marks the spot.”  I may help you with the eye patch and hats, but the treasure map is always yours. Sometimes we have two.

We start off on the ship and paddle, paddle, paddle.  Land is sighted through the telescope …”Land ahoy” says Ainsley.  Then we climb out and carefully go ashore.  Bad pirates may be lurking in the distance – we may hear them or see them –  and so we have our firearms and swords ready.  This is where your brother comes in. He’s handed each of us a Nerf gun loaded with Nerf-tipped arrows.

We follow the map carefully – nine steps East, six steps West… you get the idea.  Then we eventually arrive at the X location and begin digging for the treasure chest (always imagined in our minds).  Sometimes it’s hard to open and we have to blow it up with dynamite.  Sometimes we just dig until we hit it.  And sometimes… bad Pirates surprise us and a battle starts.

Your favorite part of the game is the rowing, land sighting and treasure seeking. You like pulling imaginary gold coins out of the trunk.

You also like Pirate talk.  Throughout the game, I say classic expressions like “Pieces of eight!”  and “Shiver me timbers!” You look at me with an expression that’s a mix between “That’s incredible” and “Are you insane?”  I opt for the former reaction in my mind.

‘For Camden, it’s always the battle.  He often gets so carried away he switches teams, joins the bad pirates and starts fighting us!  When that happens, you and I have to high-tail it back to the ship as we duck from fast moving Nerf missiles headed our way.

Back at sea, we drift, fish and eat plastic food from your refrigerator play area (which is often the same location as buried treasure, so it works out really well). You always bring up little observations and suggestions like “your foot is in the water” or “that’s silly.”  I stand corrected most of the time.

Sometimes Camden will appear out of nowhere (where on earth was he?), walk across the carpet (which is WATER in the Pirate game for goodness sakes) and climb back on the ship, nonchalantly acting like he never joined the bad pirates.  We always forgive him without saying a word.

But the free-spirited, low-key, relaxing ocean drifting you and I were enjoying soon transforms into a new battle when Camden spots bad pirates on the open sea. We’re battling again, but he’s on our side.

It’s dangerous work Ainsley, but we love it.

Who needs a board game when we have our imagination.  AAARRR!!