I’m new here, and although I haven’t introduced myself yet, I have an odd question!

Welcome! Have you tried contacting the American Society for the Blind? They may have some idea for you.

Eh, I have Apple too. I will ask some friends that have droids and let you know if I find anything.

Does he like music? Can you set up some music apps for him?

Does he like books? We have a fantastic local radio station here in uptown New Orleans on Magazine St. Just as many sighted people listen as blind. I listen to it all the time. It’s WRBH.org

They read all the national best sellers, local authors that are wonderful books about our city, fiction, non fiction, newspapers, our local paper and The Wall St. Journal, medical journals, magazines such as National Geographic, The New Yorker, Forbes, etc. Wonderful station. You can stream on their website. If you have a problem I will give you my email address and try to send you a link.

Best wishes to you and your dad.

My mom loved music and I played an app called Piano with Songs with her. You don’t have to be able to play the piano, the tablet turns into a large keyboard and the key to play turns color so he can just press the colored key. You can set the timing for fast or slow. Mom could play this on her own at first, but when she went completely blind I would guide her hand. We had a lot of fun with this. There’s a lot of modern songs on it but, but folk and patriotic songs too, and you can set a favorites list when you find ones he likes. Good luck with this. Moms vision loss was a challenge, since it’s not a common handicap at a NH. Thank God she loved to sing and she would always be singing something.

Mightn't it be time to ditch the hi-tec and go for the traditional games, which your father can feel as well as see? You can get large playing cards, wooden or plastic tic-tac-toe boards; or as a hand exercise (does he have one-sided weakness?) you could get pick-up sticks or whatever they're called where you live.

- in fact, you could have the best fun ever researching this!

Oh, I see - you don't live with or near him? Do you or does anyone else get to spend much time with him?

Whatever you choose for him, don't be disappointed if he doesn't join in as enthusiastically as you'd hoped. Fatigue affects the enjoyment we get from concentrating on these games; plus although you may fear boredom for him, he probably isn't nearly as bored as you think.

My dad is 89, very bad eyesight and dementia. We are both retired electricians. I’ve found that he enjoys sorting out all the bits and pieces of material, wirenuts, terminal ends etc, that are color coded along with all the bolts, screws and nuts we used in the trade. I bring small bins of the stuff and he’ll spend a couple hours messing with it. I always tell him what a big help it is for me. He’ll also sort change. He doesn’t remember so we can do this each day, it’s always brand new for dad.

Chinese checkers could be played by feel, if dexterity is enough to pick up the marbles.

I bought children's large size puzzles, with pieces about 3" and up.   If it's hard to match colors, matching notches might be possible.

Get in touch with his local library and get him registered for Library of Congress Services for the Blind - BARD. They will provide, free of charge, a small cassette type player that will work with the special cartridges they send with talking books. You could be reading the same book that he is listening to and then have something to talk about. And does he have the same depth of field issues if he is using a computer and using a cursor instead of touching the screen? There are inexpensive computers he could use with touchpads or with a mouse which may be better than a touch screen.

My dad has had limited sight (macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinal occulsion) for many years He lives in an assisted living apartment and except for getting medication management and his meals provided takes care of all of his other needs. I was lucky to have a friend who was a specialist in low vision to get me familiar with the services and aids available. There are special low-vision optometrists who can help you find ways to maximize your remaining sight. I highly recommend seeing one and they will help you select tools and equipment to make daily tasks easier.

Also, do a google search on "low vision products" and you'll get a lot of catalogs with items you might want to get for him. My dad has a talking watch that gives the day, date, time. In addition to my dad's huge and expensive magnifier/reader machine, smaller items that are useful are stick-on rubber buttons to help him find the correct buttons to push on the tv remote and a talking alarm clock. We've also found that an Amazon Echo/Alexa is wonderful for providing reminders, keeping up with a calendar, listening to music, getting news updates.

Limited sight presents a very special set of challenges as you age. Getting him used to using the tools that will help is critical before he loses too much memory. I can no longer introduce new equipment to my dad but he is good at using what he is familiar with so get your familiar and using things as soon as you can.