Games
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I'm constantly on the look out for what I call End of the Evening Games. What I'm actually looking for is End of the Evening Activities. On my typical game night, we'll knock out one or two games of real weight and then kind of wrap up the evening with some quick, mindless games that half-buzzed participants can talk over. Here are a few of the staples around my table.
Don't L.L.A.M.A.
A semi-mindless Reiner Knizia game? Pretty much. Play a card of the same number or one higher as the one in the center of the table. If you can't or don't want to play a card, draw one. Off key Singing of “Da-Da-Da-Duh Llama Time!” when you play a Llama is required (I'm sorry Hammer, please don't hurt me). I snagged some Dollar store glass beads of two different colors for scoring because picking up tiddly winks is hard. If any game in my collection needed sleeved, it's this one but, of course, I didn't. I'm constantly on the look out for another copy of this game to replace the sticky cards in my original copy...but, you know, not looking hard enough to just order a copy online.
Rummy 500
Pulling out a deck of cards and creating melds or runs is super simple. It only requires the amount of thought you choose to put into it. The rules kind of float around the collective unconsciousness of humans but feel free to argue if you are allowed to go “around the corner” with melds. The 500 required to win is also a flexible end to the game, you can call it at any time and give it to whoever is currently winning. It does have the “downside” of needing someone to write down the scores.
Golf
This one is interesting because every time we say we're going to play Golf, everyone has a version they have played with different rules or number of cards. The version we play is that you have four cards in a row in front of each player. Before you start, you look at the two “end” cards. You goal is to get the lowest score. J/Q/10 are worth 10 points. Number cards are worth their value. K are worth 0. and Ace is one point. Jacks and Queens have a “Power” when you discard them. Jacks “To you” means the next player can look at any one of their cards. Queens “To Me” means the person who discards it can look at one of their own cards. Once you are satisfied with your hand, you “knock” and everyone else has one more chance to improve their hand. We play 9 rounds because “Golf” and we sometimes even use the “optional” rule that if you knock and don't have the lowest score, you get a penalty. That is for that smart ass who is losing and tries to stick everyone with a ton of points by knocking right away if they their two known cards are low. Still, you need someone sober enough to keep score.
Dice 10,000
If you have a deck of cards, you are likely to have six dice laying around for Dice 10,000. Again, this one has a bunch of different variants and is somewhat like Farkle. We play a version where you must have 500 points to “get on the board” (a.k.a. You need at least 500 points to start scoring) and you must get exactly 10,000 to win. (If you score would go over, you just pass the dice to the next player. Google “Dice 10,000 -ai” (to get rid of those oh-so-wrong AI generated answers) and pick the rules you like. Once more, you will need someone to add up scores in a semi-coherent way.
As I said at the beginning of this article, I'm always on the lookout for new end of the evening “more activity than game.” releases...preferably with little to no math skills required. If you have any suggestions, please comment on this article so I can check them out.
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