My three games? Euchre, Oh, hell, and Yahtzee.
1) Euchre
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| Source: Wikipedia |
I love playing cards, and have ever since my brother taught me to play poker when I was a little kid. When I was in college at Ohio State, I learned to play Euchre. It's been my favorite game ever since.
Euchre is a trump game, and is played with four players, who pair off in sets of two. The highest card is the jack of the selected trump suit, called the right bower, and the second highest card is the jack of the same color, the left bower. All other cards are ranked according to face value. The hand above would be the perfect, unbeatable hand for a round with spades as trump.
I've never been particularly great at the game, but I've always loved it. While I usually end up with a hand full of 9s (the lowest card in Euchre,) nothing beats picking up your cards and seeing those jacks and aces.
2) Oh, hell
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| Source: publicdomainpictures.net |
I learned to play Oh, hell as a child, when I was about 12 years old. My mother's cousins were big card players, and I remember visiting them and learning to play Oh, hell. Even though I was only 12 and the other players were adults, I took to the game at once. It became a family joke as I was so serious about the game, I acted as if I was in Vegas playing high-stakes poker. Unfortunately, I didn't win, and my 12 year old self was not the least bit happy about that.
I don't take it seriously any more, but I still enjoy the game, which involves taking tricks. The object of the game is to bid the exact amount of tricks you think you will be able to take in each hand. I often play the game now with family members on holidays, and we always have a lot of laughs while playing.
3) Yahtzee
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| Source: Wikipedia |
This is another game I've loved since childhood, and the picture above brings back wonderful memories. This is the original Yahtzee game that was sold back in 1956, and the set my family had when I was a kid looked just like this. We would bring the game with us to Martha's Vineyard each summer, and play while we sat around the table after a day at the beach. I loved rolling the dice in the little wooden container, and keeping track of my score with the little golf-style pencils. I have no idea what happened to this set, but I'd love to find it again.
So those are my games. It was fun to pick these, and I want to say thanks again to Alex J Cavanaugh for hosting this blogfest!
