Sabba-video-game-phobia, or the fear of playing video games on the Sabbath.

After a nice lunch at my wife’s grandparents’ house a few Sundays ago, we were greatly discouraged from playing Sonic All-Stars Racing over a blue-tooth connection on our iOS devices in fear of being “irreverent” on the Sabbath.  Instead of committing the cardinal sin of playing video games on Sundays, we decided to honor the Mosaic law and pull out an old Parcheesi board.  With great respect to her wonderful grandparents, I do not understand what the difference is between playing a round of Parcheesi on a kitchen table and playing Sonic All-Stars Racing over a blue-tooth connection.  Both can provide entertainment to a familial group of four, but one is done through a technological medium and the other is done through a less sophisticated cardboard medium.  Neither game is inappropriate for the young whipper-snappers, and both games are equally capable of turning good people into terrible sports.  For those who do ban playing video games on the Sabbath, do some introspection and ponder the difference between a (G-rated) video game and a board game.  Both engage multiple players simultaneously, both encourage fun competition, and both are potentially great ways to spend time with family.  Both sound like great Sabbath-day activities to me.