We have been having a domino tournament (best of 7 games per set) for the last two evenings, and the dots have gotten the better of us.
Some games have been so close with the winning margin of one or two points, whilst others have been abysmal, with someone picking up all the high numbers and not getting a chance to put them on the table (usually me, and not being able ‘to go’ for six turns in a row) .
To add some interest, our friend donated a ‘prize’ of a bag of chocolate mini eggs. I won that set on the final hand, 3 games to 2 and 2. We had 12 eggs each to celebrate.
After our evening meal of sweet and sour chicken, we decided to play cribbage.
I LOVE cribbage, and years ago Hubby found a game on the computer which I played often, beating the software on a 10:1 ratio or thereabouts.
Dad taught me to play, and most nights before bed, we would have a few games whilst Mum was trying to watch Coronation Street or counting the stitches of her knitting.
Fifteen two, fifteen four, two for a pair and three for a run drove her nuts.
As a kid, I used to lay the cards out in various sets and get to know the scores by sight.
I have never scored the maximum hand of 29, but have had 28 on several occasions.
The maximum is scored by having 3 fives and a jack in your hand, with the final five as the turnover card matching the suit of your jack (example as above).
Hubby calls me Queen of the Crib Board, and says I take no prisoners, but it’s nice to play with three instead of two as the outcome can be totally unexpected.
With five cards each and one floater for the ‘box’, we each discard one, leaving a hand of four.
Points are given for runs, pairs, fifteens, and for reaching ’31’ on the first round of the game, then individual hand scores are added up and recorded. The dealer gets the ‘box’ and thus an extra hand at the end of the round.
The scores today were close.
Our friend hit 121 first, but Hubby and I each had total scores of 119.
I won the second game, with Hubby and our friend both scoring 93.
Our friend won the final game, with me second at 119, and Hubby 111.
This last game was the longest, as we were scoring in only 2s and threes most hands.
We plan to go home tomorrow as our friend asked us to stay an extra day.
He had good news from the hospital, has another course of antibiotics, and is due to see the consultant again in Bath in five weeks after a change in his other medication.
pensitivity101 
My parents loved to play Cribbage, and taught us kids too.
I adore Cribbage and have played that game with my folks for years and years. I grew up with my folks having card parties. It was such a lovely calming thing to see a table of four or six adults enjoying bantering conversation over cards. And it carried over to me and one of my kids as well. I now have a running competition of Gin Rummy with my dad. It is the most wonderful time spent together. And now that my 16-year old son has learned to play, we find he’s developed some true card shark skills. He usually waits in the weeds and skunks us all in the end.
Cards are one of the greatest inventions!
Love the pictures of Maggie up top. 🙂
Glad you like the photos of Maggie (you may be the only person who’s noticed!)
I loved playing crib with my Dad. My grandfather used to play but didn’t know I could until the last but one day of my fortnight with him. Did he cheat or what!!!
Cards were always a favourite in our house when I was growing up, playing for pennies with Newmarket (Kings), Shoot, Chase the Ace and Pontoon. In later life, a partner used to invite his friends over for cards, and they’d have silly bets on blind hands. I used to win more hands than I lost, but when I won a guy’s rent money, I didn’t feel very comfortable about it.
One of the best fun games though was Auction Rummy, using two packs, and you were able to bid ‘out of turn’ for the top card on the discard pile. We used to gang up on my sister’s boyfriend, bidding for cards we knew he wanted so he had to buy with the maximum of 5 cards, until he had a fistful, and then we’d get out and he’d have to add them all up. Aces without 2s or 3s counted as 15, and picture cards are 10, so he had a hand score of almost two hundred once!