The Low-Tech Times

Staff at the Low-Tech Times have unanimously selected Cracker Barrel as the best restaurant chain in the U.S.  The restaurant chain serves up fine southern foods, including traditional breakfasts, country dinner plates, and delicious desserts.  Favorites include the chicken fried chicken, hashbrown casserole, carrots, and green beans.  Any of their desserts are also highly recommended.

In addition to excellent food at reasonable prices, Cracker Barrel also features old-fashioned games in their stores.  Peg games are available at the tables for entertainment while you wait to be served.  They also sell classic slinkys and travel bingo games.  Growing up in the good old days before people started putting DVD players in cars, I remember having travel bingo on long car trips.

If interested, Amazon.com sells some similar old-fashioned toys:

In this age of computers, video games, and too much television, it’s nice to spend an evening enjoying a classic board game. Last weekend, my wife and I had a good time playing Scrabble. She won.

The Low-Tech Times highly recommends Scrabble.  In addition to a new, rotating Deluxe Turntable Scrabble game, Amazon.com offers Classic Scrabble and the Official Scrabble Player’s Dictionary. The dictionary can be very helpful for resolving “is that a word?” issues.

There’s no denying it; an alarming number of kids and teenagers these days are addicted  to video games and there are a number of real concerns about today’s video games. If you want to purchase video games for your child, I recommend choosing a classic system for the following reasons:

1.) VIOLENCE—Today’s games (e.g. Grand Theft Auto) are violent compared with classic games (e.g. Pac-Man).

2.) TIME—A single play of a current game (e.g. Halo 3) can take several hours. Classic games (e.g. Galaga), on the other hand, typically do not take nearly as long. Shorter-play games may lead to more time spent doing other activities, like doing chores or playing outside.

3.) COST—Today’s video game systems (e.g. Xbox-360, Playstation 3, Wii) cost well more than $300. Individual modern games typically run for $50-60. Alternatively, you can purchase a classic system, including built-in games, for as little as $15.

Check out the links below to purchase inexpensive classic game systems that plug directly into a TV: