The reality of surviving a disaster sometimes means very long, very boring hours (if not days) (if not WEEKS) of patiently waiting out the danger. It might be a hurricane or flood waters, it might be an ice storm, snow and power outage, it might be rioting, civil unrest and marauding bands of scavengers, it might be waiting for radiation levels to subside, it might be days and nights trapped in the wreckage of a car or aircraft until a rescue team arrives. For these and a thousand other more horrible scenarios that I can imagine, there is a small but nevertheless important consideration called morale. Keeping up a positive mental attitude especially when you are alone or isolated, cold, hungry, injured, or still far away from help can be critical. Even the simplest creature comforts become magnified in such situations... a working radio, a campfire/fireplace, a light, an extra blanket, a piece of chocolate, and.... fighting boredom with diversion and entertainment.
I don't know why the human mind works like this, perhaps it's because we evolved as social animals, but in general we all eventually need some type of stimulation, otherwise, we get bored. If we are alone, we get lonely or "stir crazy". If we are in groups, we get "cabin fever". There are usually plenty of tasks to do around a "survival" shelter, shelter improvement, fuel gathering, hunting/foraging, cooking, filtering water, generating electricity, inventory, tool making, tool maintenance, radio monitoring and transmitting, latrine/sanitation, personal hygiene, and security among them. Even assigning seemingly menial cleaning tasks, like keeping things somewhat orderly and tidy will not only benefit morale overall, but may have other subtle hidden benefits, like suppressing the spread of germs/disease, avoiding unnecessary irritation of your shelter-mates by being a good neighbour, preventing unnecessary injury from stumbling over things in the dark, or maybe something like quickly being able to find and access a flare gun as soon as a plane is sighted. A logical, equitable division of labour and a reasonable schedule and routine will do much to keep people occupied and content. But eventually, there is going to be some down time, extra time, a time when friendly conversation starts to run down and you are left with a bunch of people in close quarters trying to coexist.
So as "dramatic" as it sounds, that is why I consider having something entertaining, like a deck of cards or a harmonica, something simple and small, in one's BOB an important piece of survival equipment. It's really a matter of preference but consider things like books, storytelling, jokes, magic, poetry, trivia, puzzles, Mad-Libs, 1-minute Mysteries, colouring books/crayons, music, games (like marbles, jacks, chess, Risk, Clue, Monopoly, checkers, go, Othello, dominoes, backgammon, Mancala), toys (like re-usable construction toys, Nerf), and physical activities that practice skills (like self-derense, darts, sling, rock and knife throwing). And don't forget "Calvin Ball" which is great fun.
In my BOB, my travel carry-on luggage, and in my disaster supply tubs, I have several games. Most simply, I have a durable deck of plastic (waterproof) playing cards. I also bought through the years about 10 different sets of various card sets that have pictures or info on them on survival, geography, great works of art, trivia, brain games, etc. My favourite travel recreation is a mini-chess computer (with tiny secure pieces that can be packed up when on the move). One can play against the computer or against an opponent. I have convenient travel versions of Scrabble, Backgammon, and Go.I also have an old GameBoy with a large assortment of games, but I tend to favour the puzzle games for repeat playability and amusement. I also like "quest" type games that can be played for hours... i.e. Final Fantasy, Zelda, Gauntlet. My caveat about electronic games is that they do expend precious batteries, they can usually only be played individually and the noise tends to annoy others after a while. And annoying the wrong person when you've spent 6 days stuck in a stuffy single room, hearing each other's same voices, breathing each other's smells, learning very real intimate idisyncrasies of each shelter mate, being hungry, cold, possibly sleep deprived, worried or scared, can lead to homicidal results (it's happened countless times throughout history).
Just having some paper and something to write or draw with can provide the means to improvise many entertainments if that is all you have i.e. a deck of cards, a chess set, checkers, can all be crudely fabricated. Once when I was couped up in a cabin while it rained at summer camp, our cabin guide improvised this cool game of Risk that he just made out of a map of California, a marker pen, some index cards, dice, and various coloured/shaped M&Ms and Rice Chex. It was cool and fun because it was made from scratch, and I learned much about California geography too. I still remember that game over 30 years later... LOL.
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