You haven’t lived until you’ve played Stratego with U Thant. Since he died when I was five, I also haven’t played Stratego with U Thant.
I recently played Taboo with Jen, Debbie, and Mg; Stratego with Samuel; and Rummikub with everyone. You and I even played a game or two. I won. At least that’s how I remember it.
Here’s my top 10 game list:
1. Poker. Few things beat a good game of poker. But be sure to play for money—no money, and nothing’s at stake. Coming up $10 ahead at the end of the night never felt so good.
2. Forty-Five. My grandparents used to play this Irish card game in Chicago in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. The winning two-person team would take home a bottle of whiskey and a chicken. When I was a kid, my sister Michele and my grandma would play against my grandpa and me. Grandpa drove grandma nuts with his constant cheating, which cracked Michele and me up.
3. Scrabble. Vocabulary is fun. No foolin’. Get the lazy Susan version for easy twirling.
4. Balderdash. I first played this game with Aimee, Diana, and Diana’s family, and we had a blast. Everyone makes up definitions for a word, tosses those definitions in a pile with the correct definition, and guesses which definition is the correct one. So creative. So funny. So fun.
5. Hearts. Follow suit. Make good use of your penalty cards. Saddle the point leader with the Queen of Spades. Work on your poker face so’s no one knows you’re shooting the moon.
6. Taboo. How do you get your partner to say lumber without using the clues wood, saw, log, timber, or tree? Sing “I’m a something-jack, and I’m okay. I sleep all night, and I work all day.” Works in theory, but sadly it didn’t work for Jen and me.
7. Trivial Pursuit. Know who U Thant is or which of the 48 contiguous U.S. states has the fewest people? I do. But then I’m chock full of useless information. This game’s perfect for celebrating your not-so-secret inner dork.
8. Stratego. I learned how to play this game on Sunday. And by “learn,” I mean Samuel and I slammed through the instructions then made up rules as we went. The game’s sort of like chess only more awesome. Mainly because I won. And because I don’t know how to play chess. And because I would have won if I had played Stratego with U Thant due to the made-up rules.
9. Sequence. It’s like rummy, only with chips and a board. The goal is to make sequences of 5 chips. It’s a quick, frustrating game. What do you mean I just lost? Let’s go best of three.
10. Cribbage. A fab two- or three-person game. My fiance John and I used to play a million years ago. You score points with runs of three or more cards, pairs, triples, flushes, or 15-point card combos.
How about you? If you played Stratego with U Thant, could you beat him?
