Card games and families

We played Euchre. Also played Euchre with a bunch of midwestern transplants in Seattle we met at a fried fish bar...

UIC? I went to school there... for the better part of a week, and temped at the african american cultural center there for a couple of months. I can see that place spawning endless card games.

Played a lot of cards in high school and college. I'd cut class in high school and just go get high and play cards. No great aspiration, but playing cards in the sun beat the hell out of going to class.

I was there for only a year, in between art schools. Many days I never went to class, just hung out in The Pit waiting to play bid. And yeah, I was probably high too. Playing cards did beat the hell out of going to class, that's for sure.

The couple of classes I went to there were both in some weird turreted building that was built to be a safe haven during riots. There were no stairs between the 1st and 2nd floors so that they could seal off the entire building at the drop of a hat. Very disturbing architecture, and I say that having gone to a place where some people lived in a windowless network of buildings that had been designed by an architect who'd won an award........ for designing prisons.



I'm pretty sure I acted in some weird room in the pit for an original one-acts play line-up (terrible, awful ****). Old food-stained red industrial carpet everywhere?

Yep. Red carpet in the booths, on the walls, everywhere.

We rarely played cards as a family group, but we often played cards one-on-one. My grandmother and I played casino. (She always got the good ten.) My father and I played a lot of gin rummy. He was almost unbeatable; I liked the challenge. We also played canasta. I was almost unbeatable; he didn't like the challenge.

I played card games with cousins. War mostly. And Monopoly.

After I reached the age of about 10, nobody wanted to play Scrabble with me.

My parents had a monthly poker game with friends. When they played at our place, I sometimes was allowed to participate--as long as I used my own money. Loved that. No drinkers in this group. But Saturday nights each game ended with a trip to the bakery for fresh-from-the-oven bagels accompanied by lox, cream cheese, white fish salad, chives, sturgeon, etc.

I miss playing cards. Miss the excitement. Miss the competition. Miss the togetherness.

I miss it too.

I remember my dad and his brothers playing cards at every occassion they were together.
The women joined in rarely...
Children were not welcome!

A few years back I tried to get them all together, to play some cards, though!
My dad is still playing, sometimes, when I am there on my own, we play till early morning.

All other uncles weren't interested.

They got old, I suppose!

Played poker quite a bit with my father's family when I was a kid (his mother, her sister and her sister's husband). That's how I learned how to count and it was a little confusing learning that the number after ten is not "jack". We played for money, too (small change).

Played Scrabble with my mother for years, still do when we're down there. I have only beaten her once. I recall she challenged one of my words, satay.

My mother believed in inculcating sportsmanship for all games. She also was sure and certain that bridge was an indispensible social skill.

When we complained about a hand we were told firmly, "You play the cards you're dealt."

I frequently here her voice in my head when I'm dealing with "unfair" situations. "You play the cards you're dealt."

I played Scrabble with my dad and grandma (his mom) from when I was a kid. They never let me win... if I won it was because I played better and that was that. The first day I beat my grandma was a fine day. My dad came later and we're still pretty evenly matched.

Played Hearts sometimes with that side of the family, too.

My mom's side of the family was mostly War.

Sounds excellent, nevermind the cards.



Beats the hell out of staring at the tube, don't it?



There's a lot to be learned playing poker, about math, about probability, about money management, about human behavior...



Indeed, no question, good lesson.

I've never found bridge to be a social necessity, but I do know the basics of the game, just in case. Don't know all the subtleties of bidding and signalling your partner that way. Our family evolved various signals to let on what you need during bidding, but since everybody knew everybody's signals you had to be careful about what you were letting your opponents know, too...



Kids got no breaks (in games) in our family, either. Nor should we have.

My grandmother, my father's mother, used to cheat to let us win in Chinese Checkers.

She didn't cheat particularly well and was genuinely outraged at our indignation when we challenged her conspicuous errors.


Goodness, gracious, me-oh-my, I'm in a moralistic frame of mood today.

Stand back, people. Give me room to rant.

I was home sick, and my father was playing checkers with me. I won! I won! Then I realized that he let me win. I was pissed. He apologized. The next time I won, I really won.

I've visited friends for Christas every year for over 30 years. The evening always ends with a game--usually Scattergories or Pictionary. The last few years, we switched to Texas hold 'em. Love dat. However, from a social/group perspective, the problem with Texas hold 'em is that when you're all in and lose, you're out. Socially not nice to have all these people uninvolved in the activity. From my perspective, as long as I'm not out, I don't care. Tough noogies.

Moms usually had at least two tables going at her parties so that more people could play.

I loathe card games, and associate them with old family gatherings where there was way too much drunkeness for my taste.

So whenever someone wants to play cards now, just seeing it or being around it can bring me down.

Cards - board games - thick room of cigarette smoke - lots of liquor - lots of shouting - someone usually getting too competitive and taking things too far.

Card games and board games are depressing as hell to me. I'd rather do something else, anything else.

Granted, there are people who a board game can be pleasant enough to play with, but still....they are boring, let's do something else.

Yeah, alot depends on who you're playing with. We used to play this game called Scruples and it had all these ethical dilemmas and the people around the table had to guess which of the other people would do what in each situation. We were playing one Christmas with assorted people who were at our house- my friend and her boyfriend- this single guy named Mitch who had nowhere else to go on Christmas and one of my best friends - again single- who had no one to spend Christmas with...

Well my god - Donna's boyfriend was getting sloshed and so was she- and he started putting all the bad **** on her- and they got into this huge fight and then Mitch got all hurt because no one was attributing anything (good or bad) to him and he felt left out - I tried to explain to him that it was because none of us really KNEW him, but that when we did- I'm sure we'd be able to attribute all sorts of things - good AND bad- to his character. That was like Christmas of 1993. I haven't played that game since.

And then there's monopoly. I used to play it with the guys in the prison I taught at as a break from the grind of learning to read as an adult. They were all wheelers and dealers and LOVED nothing more than an epic game of monopoly. I always had to be the banker- because I was the only one they trusted to be honest with the money.
So we were playing and the guy who usually won was losing, bigtime. He had mortgaged every property and had like two bucks left.
We went out on break and came back and he landed on a hotel on Mayfair or something. So I said, "Oh well, can't win 'em all" but he comes up with the money to pay. I said," Where'd that come from? L., I can't believe it - you're CHEATING!!!" He said, "No, Miss, I swear I'm not cheating." I said, "I'm the frigging BANKER- I know how much money everyone had- you're CHEATING." He would not admit it- though this other guy was looking all sheepish and wouldn't look me in the eye.(He told me later he traded Linval the money for two cigarettes) Finally, I said, "I can't play with a cheater," and quit the game.
And when I thought about it- I had a harder time accepting that he cheated the rest of us at monopoly than I had accepting his crime (which he never admitted either).