The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page 14 NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Wednesday, September 25,1965 Nation The name of the game is 4Monotony' By John Peterson United Press International WEST DES MOINES, Iowa - In one Iowan's game of life, passing "GO" doesn't earn $200, but it does get you two more kids and five gro­ cery coupons. West Des Moines homemaker Brenda Turner has invented the game of "Monotony," a humorous, but not entirely fanciful, look at a suburban housewife's drive through a typical workday. Turner came up with what she calls the "bored game" during a dreary winter day two years ago. After a successful test marketing last Christmas in Washington, D.C., she began selling "Monotony" na­ tionwide this summer. The parallels to Parker Brothers "Monopoly" game are obvious, but Turner insists Monotony is a unique game. Besides, she says, a judge has already ruled that "Monopoly" is in the public domain and can be parodied. But instead of stockpiling property and money, Monotony players col­ lect dust balls, husbands, pets, kids and grocery sacks. When the play­ ers decide to stop, the one with the largest number of those items gets to wear the coveted victory symbol -- a spoon-throiigh-the-head hat in the style of Steve Martin. "You can't keep your dignity and play this game," Turner said. During a typical day in Monoto­ ny's suburbia, players tool around the board in compact hatchbacks and can buy "properties" such as Overdraft Ave. Bank, Acne Hill Ju­ nior .High, Our Lady of the Mops Church and Drive-In Burp Burgers -- the "Boardwalk" of Monotony. There are hazards. Pl<tfsr& £aft land on supermarket spaces and be forced to buy groceries; plumbing and appliance repairs pop up and a trip to the hospital means the mater­ nity ward and more kids -- deter­ mined by a roll of the dice. And then there's the "duties" and "obligation" cards, such as the one that reads, "Your cat just threw up on your new sofa, acquire three pets." Or, a case worker discovers you don't beat your son as he report­ ed -- give half of your children to the player on your left -- and a neighbor gets a facelift -- forfeit one husband. "It's a spoof on housewives, I hope people take it that way," Turner said. "I've been in the trenches my­ self. I've acquired three daughters. I've set up the 'Kool-Aid' stands and I've run to the grocery store in the middle of a blizzard." Turner continues the spoof even on the game box. The cover is a checkerboard pattern from her fa­ vorite cook book and, like her own cook book, it has a stovetop bum and coffee stains, plus a grimy handprint and a stick figure. "Women can relate to all this. It's very playable," Turner said. The instructions do include a warning: "Monotony should not be played for extended time periods or during pre-menstrual days. Beginners should start slowly and only play one or two games at first, until their central nervous system can handle the extra tedium. Once their tedium tolerance is built up they can try MARATHON MONOTONY." People can be allergic to the cold BOSTON (UPI) -- People can be allergic to cats, chocolate, clothes and a million other substances and now doctors have found that a few people are allergic to the cold. When some people, and it is not clear how many, are exposed to the cold they develop a skin rash or, occasionally, asthma-like symp­ toms. If not treated, the condition can be fatal. Researchers reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine say they have found higher than normal levels of a chemical in the blood when certain people are exposed to the cold. The chemical is called platelet activating factor, orPAF. The researchers conducted their studies by dunking the arms of peo­ ple believed to have the disease, called cold urticaria, into buckets of ice water. They found that the arms of these people swelled and devel­ oped welts. The also found higher than normal levels of PAF in the blood after the dunking. Researchers at the National Jew­ ish Hospital in Denver are now studying how PAF is related to the functioning of the immune system. LOOKING FOR SOMETHING? CHECK THE CLASSIFIEDS % \ ' Couple plans family TV progi Brenda __ West "Des inspired her game for ly of her routine as a housewife in tines, Iowa, combined with her creative energy to produce "Monotony," which she calls "a bored Ives.'* By Esther Pessin United Press International _ NEW YORK -- Joan Lunden and her husband Michael Krauss believe in family programming -- programs by their family about their family for other families. Lunden, the co-host of ABC-TV's Good Morning America, and Krauss, who runs a video production company, do programs about par­ enting, based on their" own experi­ ences as mother and father to two daughters. They discuss everything from toi­ let training to explaining death to youngsters on 60-second spots on ABC called Mother's Minutes and an award-winning half-hour program on cable TV, Mother's Day,. They are produced*, by Krauss' company, Michael Krauss Produc tion Co., of Stamford, Conn. They star his wife. He and his daughters play supporting roles. . - "They (the shows) are an exten­ sion of myself," Krauss says. "Part of me was stimulated when I be­ came a parent... I'm communicat­ ing being a parent." Making the programs a family project was the best way to get their message across, he says. "We're on a mission," says Krauss, a curly-haired, mustachioed man in his "forties," who sprinkles his conversations with stories about his daughters, sometimes imitating their voices. "I hate being on TV," he says. "It's a sacrifice, but I do it for the cause. The children do it for the cause. It's the best way to present the information." Adds Lunden, "One of the things 1 do that makes me so special is that I share my family. What people see a celebrity sharing a little of them­ selves, they'll click in more than if experts said the same things." Lunden's first pregnancy was one of the most talked about events on daytime television in I960. She was four months pregnant when she took the job as co-host of Good Morning America five years ago and worked until she had the baby. The whole idea for1 utes, which airs betwi p.m. (Mi ABC, and which is on at noon on] borne of Lunden's "Between all the we got, the general chael being a TV pi at all the interest, for information, but! show? There's the there's a show on can think of, where'! parenting'?" ; I IffYS other's Min- noon and 1 »r's Day, ifetime, was icy. of letters •••X a thirst »re's the cooking; you show on "FALL" into Bird Barn's end of Summer Sale and "PICK" yourself up a bird! --Special- 10%off Handfcd-tamo •Cockatiels all colors Reg. *50.00-70.00 •Lovebirds ill colors Reg. ,30.00-*50.00 I--Specla Pair of Zebra Finches ftCage *29.99 •Most Cages on Sak •Kaytee Fortified S«fcd Wt Boy I Board Birds BIRD B ARN INC. 18520 Kishwaukee VaHey Rod, Woodstock, It. 815-568-7500,815-568-7050- 5 Miles West of Woodstock | Ti-SK 10-5; Sun. 1-5; Qowd Mwfr J *° US ** WW T«adW* tY* % ! Student Name P 333- h? \~'i imblifi*) 'IK :<> < 0»:' Send them News from McHenry County each day with a Special College Subscription 9 months only 46.34 lie*** Kno* a° . 79 \0 ?\ )f iii )r r 4 10 9" iff lJJ ) 10 t£ 'K Jfi rf T 31 - in ^ or J- 31 it * 10 -? v B }) )! (1 \ET °S *"~A SO Y\ V°u' _ <i\tt t®* . ,n<j a iVxe*0 Mail Today I Name of College • I Street Address . lORTHWEST HEWSPAPERS Zip- Please make check payable In the amount of 46.34 and mail to your local newspaper. I Crystal Lake Herald 7803 Pyott Rd. • I Crystal Lake, 60014 McHenry Plaindealer 3812 W. Elm St. McHenry, 60050 Daily Sentinel Cardunal Free Press J 109 S. Jefterson 7803 Pyott Rd. |i Woodstock, III. Crystal Lake, III. 60098 60014 |