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| Image via ArtsyTime.com |
I didn't get in to the poker rage when that went around, but I did enjoy a mean game of gin or rummy in high school. My favorite game, though, was one I played with my grandfather and favorite aunt and uncle when I was ten: Euchre.
Euchre (pronounced YOU-ker) is sort of a mini pinochle with two teams of two, but played with a standard deck. Numbered cards from 2-8 are excluded and the Jokers are played. My grandfather and I were nearly undefeatable (not a word, but should be), which was just a bit irritating for the other adults. I recall my uncle chiding me for playing my high cards early. "But, that's how we win," I smiled. I knew that I would trump early and my grandfather would trump later, thus making us triumphant.
Another favorite is Russian Bank, taught to me by Melissa Joy Manning. I've only played it with her, and have to have her explain it to me again whenever we start dealing. This game is for two people and must be played with two standard decks of different backs (for separating later). I happen to have a wonderful double deck from the Four Seasons Hotel, one red and one blue procured for just this game. Russian Bank is best played with champagne and/or Oreos from Japan. (Have we ever discussed my profound love of Japanese Oreos? One day, we must.) The game is kind of like a complicated, competitive Solitaire in which you try to unload your cards before your opponent. And, it's quite fun.
And let's not underestimate the joy of a good game of Go Fish. It's so much fun to watch little ones (and some big ones, too), plot with their eyes rising just above the fan of the cards only to hear a very serious, "Got any fours?" Card games are a great way to not only pass time, but share it. And, as Los Angeles braces for a wet, long weekend, perhaps a good deal of good hands are in the cards. Take some time this weekend to break out a deck.
It is so enchanting to play a card game with friends. So much of yourself and of your friends come out; both the personal dynamics and of the friendship itself.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is SO INEXPENSIVE!
My fav? Crazy 8's.
I'd love to learn pinochle, which you'd think with all the playing my parents did I would have, and have card parties for all the reasons you described above.
ReplyDeleteI still have a love of playing Solitaire in analog. Back when I was dating an Italian during film school, I returned from a trip to Yosemite with a group of friend and told him that I would start playing Solitaire, then another friend would chime in, then another and another until all five of us were playing Team Solitaire. He looked at me quizzically throughout the story until he understood it was a card game. Solitair-ee (phonetic) in Italian means, um, self-gratification. Poor man was imagining quite a scene.