In a previous post I wrote about my father being an inveterate card sharp. He loved playing cards and was very good at just about any game. There was one game, though, that haunted him his entire life. That card game was Uno. Dad couldn’t accept that there really wasn’t any winning strategy to Uno. Sure there were a few things you could do to help yourself (play high cards first, get rid of wild cards, etc.), but it really came down to luck. He was convinced that there was some secret strategy that would let him dominate the rest of us.
Today, I’m going to tell you about the first time he ever played Uno and how it led to one of the greatest card meltdowns in Family History.
Before we start, I need to quickly go over the layout of our house. It plays a part in the following story. Basically our house looks like the letter C that has toppled on its side. A basic diagram is shown below.
The important items to note are that the kitchen where we played cards is on the extreme left. My parents’ bedroom is on the extreme right. There is a long hallway that connects them. There is also a door in the kitchen that leads to the back door where the garbage can is. Now that you know the basics, let’s get on with the story.
I can’t remember the exact date, but I know that my sister and I were young. I’m guessing I was in Jr. High and my sister was in elementary school. That would have made Dad be in his mid-30’s. Uno had finally found its way to the prairie and all of a sudden it was showing up everywhere. Mom, my sister and I thought it would be a great birthday gift for Dad.
Things started well. We had cake, gave Dad his new deck of cards and he seemed happy. While we cleared the table, Dad pored over the instructions. My sister and I told him it wasn’t necessary to read the instructions because it was super easy and we could teach him in 5 minutes. The card sharp wasn’t about to trust his brain damaged kids, though, and kept reading.
We started playing and Mom and Dad both quickly picked up the game. At first everyone was happy and enjoying themselves. Soon, a certain someone started getting frustrated because a) Uno is a dumb luck game and b) he was playing with three people who weren’t using any strategies that he could counter. The frustration was sort of funny to the rest of us because Dad was a pretty mild mannered guy in almost everything except cards. We viewed Dad’s fits of rage during card games with amusement because we knew he’d never escalate to any violence, so we could laugh in safety.
Then it happened.
During a game, Dad ran into one of those streaks where you get slammed over and over again. Where the person before you finally runs out of Wild Draw 4’s and plays a reverse, then when it comes around again, the new person before your turn starts playing Draw 2’s and other mean cards. Every time Dad was skipped, reversed or had to draw more cards, he got madder and madder. As the smoke started leaking out his ears, it got harder and harder not to laugh. We held our cards up to our faces to hide the smiles and smirks.
Finally, Mom was finally forced to draw a card. Dad’s eyes lit up because he was finally going to be able to play one of his cards and he had plenty of mean cards in his hand. Revenge was his! Then Mom drew a Draw 4 from the stack and played it. As she dropped it on the pile, a giggle escaped her lips. That was it for my sister and I. We collapsed in laughter.
Dad took a beat and then threw his hand of cards (and there were a lot of them) across the table at us. Then he jumped up and stormed out of the kitchen and STOMPED all the way to his bedroom. We heard him slam the door and plop down on the bed. Oh man, were we LAUGHING! Tears were pouring down our faces. Throwing the cards already put this into a Top 5 Meltdown list.
Then the bedroom door opened up. Dad came stomping back down the hall and into the kitchen. You’d think that this would have scared us enough that we’d stop laughing. Nope. It made us laugh harder.
Dad scooped up as many of the Uno cards as he could from the table. Holding them to his chest, he said “These are my birthday present, right? I can do whatever I want with them right? They’re mine right?” Then he stomped out the back door and threw them all into the garbage can outside.
If any of us could move, we would have called 911 because at that point we couldn’t even breathe because we were laughing so hard. Luckily Dad didn’t come back in and kill us. He just stomped back down the hallway to his room to sulk and pout some more. I don’t know how long it took us to stop laughing at his misfortune.
Dad had calmed down by the next morning and was very sheepish about his meltdown. We felt bad for him and didn’t tease him at all. Of course, as soon as he had left for work and the stores opened we went and bought another deck of Uno cards. I think we were smart enough to not show them to him until a month or so later. I don’t know how much longer it took us before we could tease him.
For the rest of his life, Dad had a terrible time at Uno. It was one of the few games where you had a better than average chance of beating him.
I hope that this post made you laugh. I am unsure how funny it is to outsiders, or how much of the humor relies on how out of character Dad’s tantrum was. I miss Dad and wish he was still around to pout after a game of Uno.
Damn that’s funny!
“was playing with three people who weren’t using any strategies that he could counter”
This is me vs my son, 7, vs risk. The kid makes wild moves, takes crazy risks and wins 3:4 times. I can’t counter him as he’s so unpredictable.
That was fun
I hate card games. Not hate, really, but have absolutely no interest in them.
I spent many hours playing Spades in the Army. Sometimes cards were the only activity available.
“Fucking boring without the cards.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh_ShjV3ihg
Our score book of 5 years of Spades in the AF would be an awesome bit of nostalgia…
Scribbled in several of those green log books was nights of fun and fury and deception.
OBE:
There’s a couple of board game groups that have a tradition of having the winner sign the inside of the box lid with a date and score. It’s become a bit more common with the release of legacy games (where you make changes to the cards, board, pieces, rules, etc. through/after game sessions).
TOG
YouTube wants me to sign in. Age verification. Lame.
Trainspotting, Begbie ranting briefly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Beqzc5OwYOc
My wife hated board games.
With a passion.
I can count on my fingers the times she has played them with the kids.
Not Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Clue?
None of them.
I play all the games
L,OL. As an accountant, the last thing I wanted to do in my leisure time was play any card game that required me to remember or manipulate numbers
Scrabble, on the other hand…
*lays down OXYPHENBUTAZONE*
*grins at TLPB*
My mom couldn’t spell to save her life.
I like you mom, kindred spirit right there.
My mom was the opposite. Killed at Scrabble.
I have Cyrillic Scrabble if you would like to play.
Well, I must be part of your family tree – because that was I was surely your dad’s son.
I’m laughing because my experience with Monopoly is similar. We always played with the house rule where you put all the taxes and such in the center, and landing on Free Parking wins you whatever is in that pot. Which makes the game go on and on because anyone who is losing terribly can suddenly win $2500. Once we were playing as kids, and my little sister was losing and got so pissed she flipped the board and stormed off. To this day we still bring that up.
Then I married Mrs. TOK. One game night someone insisted on Monopoly. Mrs. TOK HATES that game. Similar situation, the game went on and on, she was losing, and while she didn’t throw the board, she stormed off and never played again. I’m not even sure I’ve played since then.
Yeah, most people who hate Monopoly have never played it by the written rules, only house rules.
It’s not a great game by the written rules, but it’s not among the worst.
I played with house rules for use of armies to attack and defend property.
Monopoly/Risk crossover?
Wife played Monopoly once with the boys and me. She did a motherly thing and bought into the sad eyes of the oldest who was nearly broke. She lent $100 and in about 10 rounds he turned it around and bankrupted her.
She to this day will not play with him.
When the kids were small, the Baby Altar Boy would always sit next to Mrs. Holiness during Old Maid because he knew she would let him get away with murder.
She’d let him pull the cards away and reshuffle if he had Old Maid and Mrs. Holiness wasn’t going to choose it.
His siblings were not so forgiving.
Mrs OBE isnt innocent though. That woman will glance at your cards any chance she could get.
OBE:
Mrs. Holiness now needs cheaters to see her cards clearly. The problem is that about half the time she forgets to bring them, so she ends up holding her cards at arm’s length. The Altar Girl is not above looking at her cards at all.
My sister loved playing and cheating in Trouble vs me.
I
May have flipped the board a time or three.
I may, or may not, have done something similar with Settlers of Cataan. Also known as the dumbest game ever created.
I have *never* beaten my bro at Monopoly. It’s been a long time, but it was a thing growing up. Granted, he’s six years older, so I’m at a massive disadvantage. And he wouldn’t play mean. HOWEVER. He had a brilliantly played Inception-game with me, unspoken. If we were given money to spend, for example, we’d share it and he’d put out suggestions, revealing how we could maximize out dough. I always came out ahead, but he’d somehow end up getting what he wanted and then some.
He remains the one person who I can’t lie to. It’s totally a psychological infliction of my own making. He’s absolutely living rent-free in my own head. Being the youngest of two boys, growing up in the last latchkey generation with parents who left us to it. Tremendous disadvantage in any game or game theory with him.
My sister is 3.5 years older.
Not a good person to this day.
Are people really defending Trump still on the basis that what his enemies theoretically would have done if they could? Those emails – assuming they are authentic – are damning. The assuming they are authentic is your best bet if you are looking to defend Trump. They date from 2011 before Trump was even seriously political, doing little more than questioning Obama’s birth certificate but hardly a serious contender for the throne. They are private correspondence with no real reason to be leaked.
Weaponizing the Epstein files was incredibly dangerous for the people on the left or among Trump’s enemies who actually knew what they were doing. At least publicly.
The notion that Trump didn’t have some idea of what Epstein was up to when he was friendly with him is on its face absurd. The story that Trump kicked him off his properties over it is self-serving debunked BS that even Trump has publicly contradicted. They had a falling out over petty bullshit as Trump falling-outs seem to go.
A lot of people have egg on their face for trusting Trump. Doubling down on stupid isn’t going to really accomplish much here. It’s only going to get worse.
In a world where you can now fake video, why would I have any reason to believe the validity of some emails someone claims are from that guy?
No reason to believe any of it, therefore I don’t care.
Yeah, if this was really a thing that was damaging to Trump, why hadn’t the Democrats released it sometime during the previous 4 years? It just doesn’t add up.
You can question that and the selective leaking. But that’s not the tact taken in these very comments this morning.
Both parties have used the Epstein shit to score cheap political points at various times and both parties have killed efforts at actual transparency when push came to shove. Neither side wants this shit actually released which says everything. There are names of real powerful people in there on both sides and as much as some want to deny it, Epstein was likely an intelligence asset of an unscrupulous “ally.”
Trump’s refusal to keep his word here is very explainable in ways that neither the left nor his defenders will touch. This is a cover-up. To what degree it is a self-serving cover-up is anyone’s guess.
But if those emails were authentic, it says likely no small part is out of self preservation.
Because only implicating Trump without tarring Israel and the many other powerful names in those files was incredibly risky if not impossible. The people who actually have power knew this and still know it.
Do I KNOW that there’s smoking gun evidence against Trump? No. But there’s been plenty of smoke that would humiliate him for years now and it likely isn’t going to get any better. But the notion that they would have done it simply to take out Bad Orange Man is naive to me.
Because only implicating Trump without tarring Israel and the many other powerful names in those files was incredibly risky if not impossible. The people who actually have power knew this and still know it.
Ahh, now this take makes sense. The (((people))) who actually have power
Far more disheartening to me than Trump turning out to be exactly as economically illiterate as I feared is watching the right descend into the silliness of blaming Israel and Jews generally for everything wrong in America. I’m not even convinced it’s hatred, it is just magical thinking convinced that there must be a secret evil cabal behind everything.
I struggle to care anymore. Trump is a bad man? No shit. I wouldn’t have invited him to my house 30 years ago, let alone now.
The penchant for the right to worship leaders who actually stand up for themselves is sad and more than a little pathetic, but they’re the ones who will have some soul searching to do if this all comes unraveled. To me, he’s a hammer and we have a bunch of nails sticking out. I don’t much care how much rust is on the hammer.
Granted, he has been spending a lot of time putting hammer impressions into 2x4s lately and not many nails are being driven, so my patience is wearing thin.
80-20, as Gutfeld says.
As disgusting as the wannabe authoritarians of the right are, they still beat the David French wing of the right, every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
What’s damning about them?
That Dems are aligning with Epstien as they did with Cheney for one purpose?
Probably the part where Epstein says Trump spent hours with one of his girls who would have been underage at the time? Probably that one, yea.
I’m sure they were just having long talks on the NY real estate market, though.
Presumes the email is legitimate. I know, let’s ask Dan Rather!
I point out in the first comment above that the best course for Trump defenders is questioning the legitimacy of the emails, but claiming that they are nothing burgers is asinine.
The girl is Giuffre who testified that she never saw Trump do anything bad.
That girl was Guiffre who said a number of times that Trump did nothing wrong. In addition, Biden and Harris both had access to this information. Don’t think for a second they wouldn’t have used it as an October surprise if Trump was implicated. Trump is protecting others.
Again, this is not a court of law or a criminal trial. What the hell was Trump doing spending hours alone with a teenage girl who was “trafficked” by Epstein if nothing “bad?”
Coercion is a real thing and going after a sitting US president could be considered rather dangerous. I don’t know if she lied publicly, if she is definitively the girl Epstein is talking about, if she’s been threatened/pressured/coerced/bribed etc.
In what world do you think they can selectively leak damning info about Trump without raising all kinds of other questions as to what is in those files? Especially when they spent years trying to downplay what happened.
Biden/Harris aren’t pulling any strings or making that call. People far more intelligent and frankly dangerous than them make those decisions. And there are plenty of highly plausible reasons why they would decide that selectively leaking about one person in those files wasn’t worth the risk of having everything exposed to the public.
Hours over what time span? I’ve spent hours with the waitresses at my diner. Never banged any of them. Nor really wanted to. Well, except for the twins, but c’mon.
What the hell was Trump doing spending hours alone
Was that “alone” part in the emails, or did you just make that up because the propaganda worked on you?
In what world do you think they can selectively leak damning info about Trump without raising all kinds of other questions as to what is in those files?
This one? Isn’t that exactly what just happened? If there is something specific that is more damning why did they only release this vague email? And every question as to what is in those files has been raised non-stop since Epstein was charged and screamed about since his death.
You sound like the hacks who defended Hillary because she didn’t outright say “I’m corrupt and selling influence through my foundation” in her emails even though it was about a cunt hair short of saying just that.
Epstein said he spent hours with her at his house. Again, not a court of law. I don’t need to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I’m not arguing we have evidence to even charge him with anything. None of that is needed for a large majority to determine that he is most likely guilty of being an even bigger fucking creep than previously thought.
They spent years trying to keep this under wraps to prevent exactly what is happening from happening. Open investigations with too many parties involved that they can’t control. The fact is, what was leaked could have been leaked far sooner if what you guys argue is true and that Kamala and Biden before him had been allowed to weaponize this. There’s already enough there for a hell of an October surprise, and it wasn’t used.
On the contrary, they had their minions in the media basically shitting on the idea that there was really anything too important in the Epstein files and that those pushing for disclosure were just nutty Qanon conspiracy theorist types.
The stories are out there in the left wing media for anyone to Google.
But yes, now that the Democratic base smells blood and the information available has begun to circulate as more people with more connections and power ask questions that should have been asked years ago but weren’t, some shit is being selectively leaked. Because the people doing this leaking don’t know better or what can of worms they’re actually threatening to open for the powers that be.
Biden and Kamala almost certainly knew about these emails and made a conscious choice not to release them. And it wasn’t because they weren’t damaging to Trump.
I don’t see what’s particularly damning in those emails. Trump probably did know that Epstein was up to something. I think there’s even a quote from him somewhere saying Epstein likes them young. But I don’t think Trump participated, because I think the Dems would have released that long ago. It’s not impossible, but it’s unlikely.
Knowing something is up is a far cry from having irrefutable evidence of a crime.
Nothing in any email screams “hey Jeffy, lets go pork some girls” It is like that last bit of BS that came down the pike about the Epstein files; just because you can read all sorts of innuendo into this doesn’t mean it says I’m Guitly.
Again, if there was something there, D’s would have released it when they could have.
Just a point of reference – is this all post Trump kicking Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago?
I am not a court of law. I don’t need irrefutable proof of guilt to conclude he probably did shady shit given the circumstances. Nor do most voters or his supporters.
You want to claim the emails were faked? Go right ahead. There’s no evidence one way or the other on that front and probably never will be.
Claiming they show nothing is going to be a tough sell.
If anything is true it’s that Guiffre was in on whatever Epstein was up to.
Guilty conscience is likely why she offed herself.
A lot of people have egg on their face for trusting Trump.
As opposed to what? There are Trump worshippers out there who think he is a messianic figure, but I am not sure there are many here. He’s not libertarian, he’s not conservative, he has the morals of an alley cat, but he isn’t Hillary, he isn’t Kamala, and among his myriad random disjointed actions there have been several that may possibly buy us a few more years of pseudo liberty before one of the factions trying to lock us into their self serving version of ‘utopia’ wins out. The email they released is a nothingburger. You can mock me for thinking that all you want, but it doesn’t make the email say anything remotely specific about misconduct.
Oof I can be a sore loser so I can sympathize. But I suck at most card games so I get over it.
You should have played Killer Uno.
We have gotten Uno No Mercy recently. The consensus is that this version would have killed Dad if he was still around to play.
Speaking of epic meltdowns, this is too precious to not share
Some people bargain. I have had patients say, “Please God, If I get through this cancer scare, I’ll attend church more.” This stage can involve “if only” and “what if” statements: “If only I had left my house 10 minutes earlier, I wouldn’t have gotten into that car accident.” Many people now wonder, “What if I had spent more time volunteering for Democratic candidates?”
——-
But we also need to do more, particularly persuading friends, acquaintances and family members to vote, especially in swing states (historically, less than 50 percent of eligible voters participate in midterm elections).
We must also participate in voter registration drives, volunteer or donate to help candidates or pro-democracy organizations, volunteer as election workers, attend and speak at town hall meetings, contact elected representatives, combat disinformation, talk with differently-minded people, find common ground on specific issues and support local journalism.
By all means, pester and torment your friends and family with your delusional politics of fear and anguish. Accost random strangers with scary campfire stories about the monster what ate democracy in its bed. That’s the way to mental health and clarity.
They really do have themselves convinced they live in Nazi Germany.
To be fair, they’re going Nazi the next time they get power, even if they claim to be commies.
I think people, especially young people, want to fight evil. They want to be on the side of Good.
The problem is that there isn’t a lot of evil left. Racism, homophobia, etc, etc, are all shadows of the problems they once were. So what is an idealistic kid supposed to fight against?
They have to gin up silly things just so they have something sacred to defend.
By being completely in your head?
PS. Seek help
This is another instance of arrogance where they are clearly smarter than everyone else, and they are frustrated that the mouth-breathers in flyover country can’t see the obvious truth.
“What if I had spent more time volunteering for Democratic candidates?”
Because that is what puts you in God’s good graces? These people are nuts.
Nüsse?
We now live in a society when a significant fraction of the population is unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy.
I really do hate to black-pill, but I don’t see any way back from that.
This is what I struggle with. My parents and some friends are in that category. There is no talking to them without them getting upset. They tell me *I’M* the one who is brainwashed simply because I disagree. Yet there are some people I know who can still discuss politics even though we disagree, so is it me? Not hardly.
I don’t know how we come back from this either.
Candidly, there’s no fix so long as there’s infinite attention available via social media.
That obnoxious person who always brings up politics isn’t hit with the social consequences of being obnoxious. There are infinite people and bots ready to spar, ready to half listen. It’s a positive feedback loop.
There is no solution, only mitigation. Mitigation by getting the hell off the internet and tv and spending less time with terminally online people.
Here is wonderful example of that in action.
“By prioritizing the right investments in new clean power resources, we can reduce our carbon footprint, increase energy independence, and help families across the state save money. . . . ”
Your next governor, New Jersey. It is complete, delusional fantasy. I don’t know how to come back from it, either.
I did a post on that which I was excessively glib and drew some unpleasant reactions, but…
It is entirely possible to have a long, enjoyable and successful life based solely on other people having good opinion about you and what you do. My go-to example is Ann Althouse.
Social “reality” can be enough. It’s not surprising that reality-reality might be avoided.
Academia is to blame for all of this. Govt money, zero accountability for shitty ideas…I cant think of anything NOT broken in academia and it is all by design.
We dont have a fucking democracy. We were never supposed to have one and if we get one it should be killed with fire.
I recently complained that people are not taught proper economics, or any at all really and that trying to explain the simplest things to products of our govt education system is an exercise in futility.
Yesterday I explained to my 13 yo grandson what money is and how it should be managed. I usually get blank looks from adults. He got it right off of the bat. I saw it on his face.
Afterwards I asked him “Now, explain to me what money is.”
With the confidence of ‘I completely get it’ he said “A dollar is just a unit of measure. We use it to measure resources. If you are losing money it is because you are wasting resources.”
In a few months he will be 14 and he already has a leg up on 99% of the population. Better keep your eye on that kid.
“Yesterday I explained to my 13 yo grandson what money is”
I find this hard to do in class these days. Don’t spend a lot of time on economic history but do look at German hyperinflation and the 1970s. Trying to explain to 19yos that money has no intrinsic value is not easy.
Raven…by 19 it is too late.
persuading friends, acquaintances and family members to vote
exactly as we want them to vote, none of that deciding who to vote for on their own, because that could be bad.
Just once I want them to say the rest out loud.
I hope no one ever got him a copy of Fluxx. It’s pure random chance, I start with a gracious deferral when people ask me to play. I’d rather sit and do anything else rather than play Fluxx.
I have a couple editions that I play with the family. They like the Monty Python version.
I love Fluxx. A card game that prepares you for the real world of shifting sands and priorities . I have a bunch of versions. Monty Python is great. My favorite is the old Star Fluxx.
Shifting sands you say? Shifting priorities you say?
Preparation for the real world?
/flaunts multi-link privileges
Ha!
Another guy who makes the best version of Top Trumps (Card game, not related to Fluxx) is this:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/695235465/cryptid-trumps-cryptozoology-card-game
I sent a copy of the Cryptid Trumps to Richard as thanks for the pins. The guy makes astounding trump card variations.
I know Fluxx. I kinda like it.
Never heard of it.
Sounds like a game I might have a chance at.
Yeah, if this was really a thing that was damaging to Trump, why hadn’t the Democrats released it sometime during the previous 4 years? It just doesn’t add up.
Seriously. Why waste time on obscure accounting “crimes” if you can smear him with child molestation charges?
I struggle to care anymore. Trump is a bad man? No shit. I wouldn’t have invited him to my house 30 years ago, let alone now.
This. I had no high expectations for him. As long as he kept Thing One and Thing Two from winning the election any remotely non-stupid stuff was just icing on the pie.
I had won several games of Cattan with a friend group and the next game became screw Timeloose.
At one point I had multiple cities ready to start making me endgame resources but at every opportunity I got it killed by the robber.
FYI Mexican stations is a great domino game that is easy to learn and can be a lot of fun with a group.
Mexican Train? If so, yeah, that’s an awesome group game.
Mexican Train is one of our standards, We also play 5 Crowns, Zombie Dice, and Quirkle quite a bit.
Same game, that is what the people who introduced me to it called it.
I spent many hours playing Spades in the Army. Sometimes cards were the only activity available.
I had some friends in college who, it seemed, spent about ten hours a day playing “hearts”. There was always something better to do than that.
Hearts was the big family game on my mothers side. Usually with two decks.
Gin was the big one on my fathers side, mostly with the cheapest bottle.
One of the other Top 5 Meltdowns:
Mom and Dad were playing Casino when they were young and poor. There is actually a lot of strategy and card counting in Casino, so Dad is usually pretty good at it.
Mom was playing with her random style and clobbering Dad. Dad was wrong footed a couple times because Mom hadn’t played her cards in the “correct” manner.
After one of these episodes, he threw his cards and yelled “How can I win when you play so stupid!”. He then stormed off.
That utterance entered the family lore and was often used by others when they were having a tough time at the table.
Fantastic utterance. We would have gotten along great.
Don’t play 500 with my son.
He rage quit in the middle of game because his partner (his future wife) wasn’t playing correctly.
As he left, he said “If there were two of me, I’d never lose! But I keep getting stuck with you!!”
That’s amazing. And she still married him / will marry him?
Slumbrew:
Yes she did marry him. 2 years and counting.
She isn’t completely blameless. She gives as good as she gets in card games.
‘As he left, he said “If there were two of me, I’d never lose! But I keep getting stuck with you!!”’
I’ve seen the game of bridge bust up domestic tranquility a few times. I don’t know if anyone even plays it anymore.
I forgot to add that one of Dad’s “theories” of Uno was the Disadvantage Spot.
We found out about this theory when he accidentally blurted out after a deal that he was in trouble because he was in the Disadvantage Spot. We all looked at each other and asked for clarification.
According to Dad, the Disadvantage Spot is when you deal the cards. Since you dealt, you go last and thus have a disadvantage compared to the other spot.
Of course we mocked him. It is a good example of how he never stopped trying to crunch the numbers and come up with the Unified Theory of Uno.
Solo, which is based on Uno, does have some strategy. The main rule changes are identical cards (blue 6) can be played out of turn order by anyone, which also skips other players’ turns. The other one is that players start with a set amount of points, points are lost based on the number of cards in the hand at the end of the round, and the game ends either when a predetermined number of rounds ends or someone runs out of points. High score wins.
“How can I win when you play so stupid!”
Lots of low level chess players say something similar when they have learned an opening but it becomes useless about move 3.
Heck, Magnus Carlsen uses it to his advantage vs GMs, especially in blitz. He will play stupid openings, get his opponent entirely out of prep, that beat them, because he is freaking Magnus Carlsen.
Something plan something something punched in the nose.
How can I win when you play so stupid!
Pretty sure Phil Helmuth has screamed that a few times at poker tournaments.
“Pretty sure Phil Helmuth has screamed that a few times at poker tournaments.”
Probably more than a few times.
OK. I don’t know which one of you is responsible for this. I can’t accuse myself:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1413436288/tokyo-poo-divers-party-game
Makes sense that it is in German.
Euchre was our go-to in the service as with Spades and Hearts.
Amazing how good you can get with non-verbal table talking and ques with Spades and Euchre.
As for Hearts, it was Shoot the Moon or Sun or bust everygame nearly
OBE:
Yup those were what we played all the time in the Marines too. Euchre being the most popular.
They guys you had to watch out for were the Crispy Critters (the crash crews). They played so many hands of cards while sitting out in their truck at the end of the runway, that they had seen everything and were really good.
Ya us radar techs had a lot of time on our hands. The other thing we got good at was stacking a deck.
That led to many peers no longer inviting us over for poker.
Pitch games in my local college got to the point where a few people had to drop out because were in the lounge every day playing instead of in class.
OBE:
Considering a large amount of our group met through a magic shop (they were bringing people in by hosting M:TG nights back in the day), we routinely had to not let certain people shuffle or deal. When people would ask, they would demonstrate why we didn’t let them.
Some nerds and I played Euchre a lot during lunch or after school in HS.
Good Scrabble word.
I like that syndicated Scrabble game in the paper.
I learned to play Pinocle from my in laws. My family never really played much but rummy. They were very competitive and it became a good holiday tradition for us after the Easter and Christmas meals.
Turned into a ongoing competitive battle between my MIL and I vs my wife and FIL.
Basically my wife and any games… I once opened Scrabble with “cleavage” as the 2nd word. Board thrown across the room. Then a game of Sorry with a 4 year old nephew tauntingly saying “Sorry”! Board across the room and “time to go”. We lived 150 miles away from them and that wasn’t the original plan…
Doc Otto and his nephew
We saw this on TV and my Mom bought a game of Sorry because of it. We didn’t have a bell, but when we did lay a Sorry down on someone we would wiggle our fingers like we were ringing a bell and say “Sooooooory dingle, dingle, dingle”.
The results were much the same as happened to your nephew.
Our game now is Exploding Kittens or Speed.
Meth and dynamite?
Ya know…now that you put it that way….
I’ve come to realize I’m not very compeditive. And it’s not just because I lose at everything.
Speaking of competition, SSRG is running a USPSA RO course Jan 31-Feb 1.
If you’re thinking about getting into USPSA, I recommend it — it’s a great way of learning the actual rules as opposed to club lore.
You do have to retake the test every year, but the class itself is on and done. The test is impressively rigorous, but it’s open book.
Honestly, UCS, I am not either. The only games I really like are ones were I am essentially playing myself.
Except pool.
Egregiously sloppy and careless or intentionally misleading?
If liberal indoctrination really did happen in colleges and universities, it should be evident in voting patterns. It is not.
In the 2024 election, 49 percent of college-educated men voted for Kamala Harris, and 48 percent for Donald Trump (a virtual tie); 61 percent of college women voted for Harris and just 37 percent for Trump. However, most non-college educated women also favored Harris over Trump, 53 percent to 45 percent.
I guess we have 100% participation in our elections, just like North Korea.
Whoever this person is, he also wants us to know there is no such thing as institutional bias. I wonder if that’s what he says in the “White Supremacy in the United States” classes.
*Tom Mockaitis is a professor of history at DePaul University and the author of “Violent Extremists: Understanding the Domestic and International Terrorist Threat .”
It doesn’t get more unbiased than that.
Of course the number of D voters and the number of R voters is the best measure of ideological indoctrination. You know, because the Ds and Rs believe exactly the same as they did in 1865.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/exit-polls
Among whites, there was a 20-point swing between college graduates and non graduates.
The other stark difference, which will surprise nobody, is unmarried women. (Sorry, Ladyglibs.)
Colleges and universities are hardly the only places practicing “liberal” indoctrination.
I had to laugh, Jimbo. We played cards a lot, growing up. Never had the tantrums though.
I have never heard of Uno, too modern. We learned cribbage early on so the folks would have someone to play with. By the time I was 8 I was sitting in with the adults as a 4th, It was a great asset in Early Childhood math.
Army was always pinochle, sometimes for money but mostly for fun. In France, we had shift workers that could play on shift and games might last into the wee hours, since the only folks that needed to sleep were the following shift works. We lived on station and always had advance notice of visitors.
In VN small stakes (at least when I played) poker games with a time limit ’cause we all had to work early.
The last 30-40 years the only card playing was occasionally in Canada on an inclement weather day.
I haven’t played a game of cribbage in years. That was a childhood staple.
My son and his wife learned how to play cribbage, played for about a year and now have decided it is best for their marriage if they don’t play anymore.
Trump is a horrible human being, and he has the attention span of a gnat.
But he prevented Hilary from putting communists on SCOTS and stopped Commalalalala from doing the same.
Clearly the establishment was trying to take him out.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fetterman-hospitalized-over-fall-near-his-pennsylvania-home/
Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has been hospitalized after a fall near his home, which caused minor injuries to his face, his spokesman said in a statement posted on social media.
Fetterman fell to the ground after feeling light-headed, which was due to a ventricular fibrillation flare-up, the statement said. Ventricular fibrillation is a type of irregular heartbeat. Fetterman is remaining at the hospital for observation so doctors can “fine-tune” his medications.
My Mom is the least competitive person I’ve met, and she rarely raises her voice. Except when she plays spades. I think I was in elementary school and at a family event when she was playing spades with some of her siblings. We saw her lose it when she partnered with one of my uncles. I think he made a move that really pissed her off and in her Southern Delta Mississippi accent (the accent comes out when she’s pissed) yelled at him and tore him apart about why his decision was stupid and counterproductive. He of course got angry and it turned into a yelling match until my grandmother told them to stop and continue the game.
Heresy
What I find interesting is that his argument is logical and backed up with facts but reveals a real lack of understanding. Because he treats the climate as a solely technological challenge, Gates draws incorrect conclusions.
——-
There is a lot wrong with the memo, and most of it is hidden behind legitimate statements, data and examples of innovation. Arguably the most ridiculous generalization is the statement that “climate change will not end civilization.” This is a prediction framed as a truth.
No one person, not even Gates, can predict what will be the “end of civilization.” He does not have the ability to see the future. He also does not have a degree or background in climate science, but that’s a separate issue.
Climate change being framed as alarmism or “doomism,” as Gates put it, is nothing new. But it is incredibly frustrating
There are articles of faith to be considered. Get out of here with your pseudoscientific “facts” and “reason”. Everybody knows fossil fuels are killing the planet and everyone on it. The end is nigh.
If there’s any fortune telling to be done around here, the high priests will do it.
The gods are angry. Doom approaches. Sacrifices must be made.
Yada yada go fuck yourself. I am not giving you any money.
Does anyone play hidden identity games like The Resistance or Secret Hitler?
Secret Hitler?
He’s not that secret. He’s orange and he’s a bad man.
Those I don’t mind. I’ve got a fairly nice Werewolf set that’s gotten some use. Coup saw quite a bit of play as well. Saboteur is an interesting one where you may or may not have a traitor in the group.
Honestly, hidden potential traitors are about the only thing that gives me any interest in a co-op game. On the other hand, that usually makes those interested in co-op games lose interest.
I only learned about them tangentially because of their popularity in Japan.
I had no idea about popularity here or the west.
Current anime I’m watching.
Gnosia
This is a prediction framed as a truth.
Doesn’t that make “warming by 1.5 degrees (whatever that actually means) will destroy the planet” is a prediction framed as truth?
Seattle is playing the game of “we elected a bigger dumbass socialist than either Chicago or NYC”.
All of this is predictable. The normies fled from all of those places, and only the wackos remained. Of course only wackos will be elected. All three of those locations will surpass Detroit by any measure of destruction, within 10 years.
Did they finally find enough mail-in ballots after election day to stop counting?
Most of my memorable fuckups that have made it into Family Lore are when I’ve had a bit too much to drink.
We were playing a game where you could have up to 4 discard piles. I was stacking wild cards in one of the piles. I was pontificating about the need to have a “wild card party”. I meant to say “wild card pile”. Wild Card Parties are now standard nomenclature.
The other major screw up was playing 500. I had a great diamond hand and bid way up. Except that I was bidding hearts (they are both red, right?). So I won and when I tried to play a diamond as a trump, the rest of the family was “huh?”. Then they figured out I thought I was bidding diamonds, but was just wrong. That screw up cost us the game. I still get teased when I win a bid in 500 now about being sure what I’m saying.
Thanks for the story – brought a welcome smile and many happy memories of midwest card nights!
Trump was alone in a room with [redacted]!!!!!!
Generously assuming that to be true, so what? For all we know they were playing WAR for a nickel a throwdown.
I have to say I dislike the concept of Uno or any game with a specific deck. The beauty of a standard deck of cards is you can play endless games with one.
Uno is a purpose-built deck of a standard-deck game called “crazy eights.”
it is similar i suppose to Romanian macao
There was a card game that I knew for a few months that at that time/place was called “Mao.”
The gimmick of the game was that it had a convoluted set of rules, but you were never allowed to say what they were. You could still play it as a game, but really it was just an extended hazing ritual.
Was it called ‘Fizzbin” ? Or Calvincards?