X-Box as a prep item?

[GreekMan]

really...
for the neighboors' kids that is.

If you have power it may be a way to organize the community post disaster.

the downside of course is that everyoen is gonna be in your home!

[Vulcan]

Wouldn't be a horrible idea for MUCH younger children. But honestly 10 years and up need to focus on helping as opposed to playing IMO.

[thefuzz1290]

Wouldn't be a horrible idea for MUCH younger children. But honestly 10 years and up need to focus on helping as opposed to playing IMO.

They should be, but the more we push the age of being a "kid" back....heck, 23 year old college football players are called "kids".....the less of a help they are when they're younger.

I wouldn't, for the same reason you stated...you'd be inidated with children ages 10-18 (or older) wanting to play video games instead of clean up.

[Dawgus]

 If I was running in generator power, the last thing even remotely considered would be a tv and game system. While we don't have young kids (ours are 26 and 28); we keep board games on hand for such things.

[livinitup0]

If theres a ton of stuff to do then maybe not....but if its the other 90% of disasters you're going to be bored. I dont see a problem with it as long as it doesnt drain too much reserve power. Boredom sucks.
that being said if I didnt play it myself I wouldnt get it just for the neighbors kids.

[Shaunypoo]

that being said if I didnt play it myself I wouldnt get it just for the neighbors kids.

+1.  This could be said about most of what we own.  I already have a game system as well, but it has almost no value in this scenario other than as a diversion.  I would not remotely consider it a prep item that was worth spending any money on until you have every single other prep you can imagine taken care of.

[Adam B.]

I saw a news article somewhere where a guy set up an outdoor movie watching party for his neighborhood (probably on this forum). I thought that was cool. I guess it all depends on the situation.

I know that in a power-out situation my first priority is keeping the food cold and keeping the house warm. Otherwise, yeah… Entertainment helps A LOT.

This is coming from someone who lived through blizzards and ice storms where nobody had power for 2 weeks — one of which my grandfather found a family stranded in a car buried up to the side-windows, pulled out a family and let them stay with us for a week.

I was a young kid at the time, and having a generator and TV helps keep kids from being afraid — but having 5 feet of snow in the backyard to play in also helps -- who wouldn't want to play "real life" Empire Strikes Back ice planet Hoth battle as a kid???

I mean BACK THEN when kids used to play outside of course.

[GreekMan]

I saw a news article somewhere where a guy set up an outdoor movie watching party for his neighborhood (probably on this forum). I thought that was cool. I guess it all depends on the situation.

wow!t hsi is The morale booster. let alone the peson that does this will be termed "movie grandpa" by the neighboors...

I would appreciate if you coudl find a link for it...

[Alan Georges]

When the day's work is done, everyone needs a diversion, something to take their mind off the disaster outside, the day's sights that can't be un-seen, and the smells that still seep in.  If teenagers can't find that diversion, they'll make sure to drive you batshit crazy.  They can be sensible and responsible only so many hours a day.  In a disaster, I'd rather have teenagers glued to an X-Box after dark than trying to sneak out to find something to do.

[Adam B.]

I would appreciate if you coudl find a link for it...

If you look for the Sandy related posts on the forum you will probably find it. If I stumble upon it I'll post a link.

I picked up an old LCD projector on craigslist a year ago for $50 and spent an afternoon making a 4' X 6' movie screen out of a 12 foot galvanized steel pipe cut in half, 4 eye bolts, a large sheet of blackout cloth purchased on clearance (just magical timing on that one) at JoAnn Fabrics, some gorilla glue duct tape, 2 tent stakes, and various lengths of rope to tie it down and hang it from a tree in my backyard.

It is kind of a pain to set up the "backyard theater" (takes a half-hour or so) and I have been very busy this year, and never broke it out once this summer — but for about $100 it was a VERY FUN thing for the family and friends to enjoy.

I am going to use a capped PVC tube to transport the screen for use on camping trips, but I have yet to experiment to see if my vehicle can power the projector with the power inverter I have. I assume it will not work. My laptop and speakers can run for a long time on a battery so I am not worried about that part of it.

I keep thinking it would be fun to play video games on it, but I am not much of a video gamer anymore (I purposely keep them out of my house to avoid addiction and laziness, except for the Wii, because I really don't LIKE the Wii as a system so I don't get hooked on those games).

If it wasn't so COLD OUT in late January / early February it would be a fun thing to break out when the Steelers go to the Super Bowl.

[Shaunypoo]

If it wasn't so COLD OUT in late January / early February it would be a fun thing to break out when the Steelers go to the Super Bowl.

[Adam B.]

That's OK — Jack has my back on this one!!!

[livinitup0]

"If it wasn't so COLD OUT in late January / early February it would be a fun thing to break out when the Steelers go to the Super Bowl."

PFFFF


COLTSTRONG!!!!

[johnauck]

I don't think an X-Box would be high priority, it needs a television screen and mains power, and some games need Internet access, and it is bulky. Of course it depends if power is still on, may be you are snowed in or stuck at home during an epidemic, then it would be great to have some electronic entertainment. I would not go out and buy one thinking that it is an essential 'survival' item.


In my bug out kit I put in an old GameBoy handheld with a handful of games, it takes 2 AA rechargable batteries. Its so small and hardly used that it may as well live in the bug out kit. Again I would not go out specifically to buy a handheld gaming console (or two) to put in the BOB.


regards

john

[osubuckeye4]

I guess it depends on ones definition of prep?

I mean, I wouldn't consider a gaming device as an essential item to get one through a catrastrophic situation. I think the odds of survival with and without an X-Box are going to be equal?

At the same time, in a lot of emergency situtions diversions can be nice so I could see where an X-Box or Playstation might be brought out to increase spirits.

[smurf hunter]

Where I live (greater Seattle region), power outages usually happen during winter ice/wind storms.

That usually means no one wants to hang outdoors.  It also means we can transfer refrigerator contents into a cooler and store it on the back porch.  When it's 40F or cooler outside, I see no reason to fire up a genset to keep the milk from spoiling.

Assuming I had the fuel to spare, I think this would be a big morale boost for children.

Of course, during SHTF your mileage may vary, but I'm speaking from experience when we've lost power for 3 days at a time.