The Power of Play

Competition, companionship and a few lessons from Pickle Ball

Young people like to play. Old people like to play. And they all like to win, especially the oldies. Case in point: Pickle Ball. That sport has not exploded in popularity all over the world because doctors and medical experts said, “Hey people! Here is a way to stay physically fit and reap the health benefits of outdoor and social activity.”

Oh no no no.

Pickle ball has exploded because it offered older people a way to get back on the field of play and, with comparatively little movement, physical risk or strength, take aim and pound the crap out of an opponent. When people who had not contemplated running around the block in years, discovered that wielding a pickle paddle with some fire and savvy tactics allowed them to absolutely annihilate not only their peers, but also fiddle-fit opponents half, a third, a quarter their age, the sport took off.

The magic of pickle ball goes beyond being accessible to mature players regardless of previous athletic pedigree. At a more basic level, it enlists the competitive spirit and the desire to play—two things that endure long past the body’s physical prime.

Embracing the magical power of Pickle Ball

We know this is true. Yet, as seniors move into more restricted environments, creating or preserving a sense of play slips far down the priority list. For obvious reasons, there need to be more guardrails in senior living scenarios. Risks need to be minimized and hazards removed.  Too often, however, that leads to a dull beige existence, where boredom and inactivity reign. Add play, and this changes on a dime.

I saw it myself with Nina. Even after Alzheimer’s had stolen much of her animation, her eyes lit up and her brain turned on at any competitive opportunity, as when her physical therapist gamified her exercise goals. Her closest relationships were with the caregivers who engaged with her using humor. Their repartee had an undertone of mutual teasing and shared secrets—a rejuvenating playfulness.

A couple of weeks ago here we talked about Artie, the robotic cat I gave my mom to keep her company in her first assisted living apartment. After writing that post I contacted the inspiration behind Artie, Ted Fischer. As the co-founder and CEO of Ageless Innovation Fischer’s mission is to bring the Power of Play to seniors. In fact he did a brilliant Tedx Talk on it in 2020.

THE SCIENCE OF PLAY

We talked about the many studies—like this one about robotic pets and this one about playing board games—that show the myriad health benefits of play and fun, and how his company has gone about developing more ways for seniors to engage with play. After the cat they developed a dog, and then a bird. That latest pet came at the behest of Rita, a woman in her 90’s who had recently started using a walker.  Her family was getting upset with her because she forgot it all over the house. (The majority of falls with people who use walkers happen because they forget their walkers.)

Rita pitched him on the idea in person. “There is nothing fun about this” she said, pointing to her walker. “It doesn’t engage me.” With that in mind, the “Walker Squawker” was born. It is an animatronic bird (cardinal or bluebird) that perches on the front of a walker, responds to touch with a coo and to movement with a birdsongy tune. At rest, it chirps a reminder of its whereabouts. I thought back to the bright koosh balls draped on Nina’s walker, and all the walker decorations I have seen as efforts to endear this unwanted accessory. A singing bird? Way bettah!

OLD GAMES WITH NEW TWISTS

Next, the company set about creating and re-creating games. Their first two games—Past and Present Pairs and Timeline—launched in 2022. Both are matching games based on Reminiscence Therapy, so called because calling up past events makes people feel more connected, happy and communicative. The illustrated cards, say of a rotary phone and a cell phone, inevitably prompt memories that lead to conversations. “As people start playing these games, especially intergenerationally, you start to get the stories,” explains Fischer.

One problem of keeping the spirit of play alive in seniors is that as people’s physical and/or cognitive capabilities change, even familiar games or activities can feel intimidating and isolating. The company kept this in mind when they set about adapting popular board games. Trivial Pursuit Generations is a version of the classic game featuring cards with specific questions aimed at each of five generations. You play as either a Greatest, Boomer, Gen X, Millennial or Gen Z. For example: The question/answer to a fitness craze question link Jack Lalanne with calisthenics, Billy Blanks to Tae Bo and Beto Perez to Zumba.

They similarly tweaked the Game of Life, melding both humor and play, as Fischer explains: “For instance, you pick up a card that says you lose your job. If you're the Greatest generation, it says, ‘you beat the streets, you interviewed 50 times you got a new job —collect $200,000 from the bank. If you're a millennial, it says you took a year off to find yourself and you pay the bank $5,000.’ We pick on every generation equally.” They created a version of Scrabble with larger, 3D higher contrast pieces that are easier to see and grab, and two hybrid versions, Scrabble Bingo and Scrabble Pass, that can be played in much less time—another request by the target audience.  The overarching idea was to make them more user-friendly to seniors while also engaging multiple generations.

IN IT TO WIN IT

Also, and importantly, the games are competitive. “One of the things that we learned very, very quickly, is that older adults want to win,” says Fischer. He describes playing Scrabble Pass with a sweet 82-year old woman who learned very quickly how to sabotage his hand.

That gets us back to the magic of both Pickle Ball and Reminiscence Therapy: Few seniors relate to the “everyone gets a trophy” mentality. They relate to games with stakes, with winners and losers—and it’s all in good fun.

In partnership with AARP, Ageless Innovation created the Reach Out and Play initiative the encourages people to join or host multi-generational game nights. It’s a reminder that play is for everyone—not just for kids; and, that there are people out there working hard to make sure people of all ages can play forever.

Get the full scoop on Reach out and Play, with a new old game or with whatever you’ve got in your closet Right Here.

Up Next: “At least you can write about it.” This revelation from Nina stuck with me, and became some of my own advice. We’ll talk about why.

Down the road: I’ve heard from a lot of you about the struggle to find purposeful activities to occupy people with dementia. I’m building a list of resources—including some success stories and some fails. Got suggestions? Bloopers? I’d love to hear them.