Weekend Gaming

Rachel is still away for one more week, and my apt is still rented out for one more week. That means I am still going to friends and neighbors for shabbat. Tal was with me this shabbat, along with a friend of hers.

Fri night was at friends who have resisted my enticements into the new games. However, they had a game that someone had given them a long time ago that they couldn't figure out how to play. I agreed to look at it. Turns out to be Rat-a-Tat Cat by Gamewright.

The rules are simple. You have 4 cards face down in front of you, and you only know two when you start the round. Each turn you pick and discard, possibly replacing one of the cards in front of you with the picked card. When you feel like it, you call Gin. According to the real rules, each player then has one more turn, and you all reveal. Add total of cards to score. Low is good. Rinse, lather, repeat.

Blah, I said, without even playing. There is no risk or reward for calling Gin, so once you are ahead, you will probable stay ahead. I decided that if the caller is correct, everyone else gets a 10 point penalty, and if not, then they get a 10 point penalty. I know, you're not supposed to change game rules before you play at least once, but this one seemed too simple not to call.

There are also a few other cards: Peek, Swap, Draw Two. They do what you expect, and if they are in your 4 cards when Gin is called, you have to replace them with random cards from the deck.

I played a round to show them how to play, and then Tal and her friend played several more times.

After this, I taught everyone how to play Opposites, a basic word game where each player has to say an opposite of the previous word, with no repetitions. E.g. light - dark - bright - stupid - smart - dull - sharp - etc...

There is a game involved - time, elimination, etc., but we just went through the exercise.

Sat lunch Tal and her friend played cards, some sort of slap the cards game.

Then in the afternoon, I ended up with ten guests (a surprise - I was expecting three) including kids. Not enough room at the table, so I taught some how to play Dvonn, which was a hit. Simultaneously, Tal went off and taught a few of them My Game Prototype #1, which was a bigger hit. Eventually I heard Tal's friend teaching one of the other kids who had been playing Dvonn. That's a third generation player for my game, already. Makes me happy.

Yehuda