Board Games and Card Games

I grew up in a card playing/board game playing family. I've realized that you either are or are not a game player... it's probably a 50/50 chance of marrying someone who grew up with the same tradition. I distinctly remember Sunday Night Game nights (before Hasbro or Mattel thought to market them); and I remember long running Rummy 500 games with my father in the summertime during college. It's what we did.
Now, I'm not talking "Hungry, Hungry Hippo" or "Candy Land" and "Chutes and Ladders." No chance that we'd have the games of just 'luck' in our house... although I did manage to sneak in "Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City" and "Sweet Valley High." From my earliest memory, we were playing: Uno, Jumble, Yahtzee, Monopoly, Othello, Mastermind, Rummikub, Chinese Checkers, Chess, Pente, Waterworks, Connect Four, Perfection, Mille Bornes, Trivial Pursuit and Parchessi, to name a few. Card games were Rummy 500, Gin, Spades, Hearts and progressed into 42 with dominoes. And I'm completely aware that you may not have heard of all of the board games... neither had my husband. Of course, Solitaire in a dozen different ways was always the option too... Idiot's Delight was a time killer favorite... cards were always packed for vacations, road trips, etc.
New games have come into our family: Phase 10, Sudoku, Mexican Train, Chickenfoot, Pitch, Sequence and Apples to Apples. I'm grateful to game companies who can continue to dream up new and inventive ways to play a game. And I'm glad to see they are games that my husband is willing to try, play and win! But here in lies the twist...
Game playing with just 2 people isn't so much fun. Yes, Othello, Chess, Checkers, Mastermind and a few others work perfectly with two people... but Uno, Phase 10, Spades, Hearts, and domino games work much better with 3-4+ people. You need them for friendly competition and a better strategic game...
Which leads me in to my most recent 'laugh till your belly hurts' reflection.
My sister blew into town this past weekend, enroute to her base. We had brought out the card shuffler (for my husband's entertainment) and the Phase 10 25th Anniversary card set for an afternoon of low-key entertainment and friendly competition. We'd gotten through one game and were starting another, when a friend dropped in... with a few hours to kill before his next appointment. We invited him to join in our game... gave him the brief and important rules, and started a new round. Steven and I were thrilled... we hadn't had 2 guests over in ages to play games.
Halfway through the game, it looked a bit like this... Courtney had the lead early on; but had given it up; Steven was quietly progressing through his phases, not paying attention to anyone else's game... Steph was in the lead, in points and phases and Erik was in dead last in all categories... he was sitting in the defense position to Steph... so, he quickly had to decide: Defense or offense. Was this game about keeping Steph from winning or giving himself a boost in the rankings? He choose defense which lead into the most hysterical attempt to sabotage Steph and in the meantime, inadvertently sabotaged his own hand from ANY chance of going out... he was holding all of the yellow cards, and in the meantime, didn't have a chance of getting his 4 of a kind as necessary. In the end of that hand, Steven, Mr. Methodical; went out... and Erik and I got stuck with obscene amounts of points... I hadn't really cared what I was doing... it was much more fun watching the sabotage play out and laughing till the gut just hurt.
Steven and Stephani are 1st borns: "Must Win."
Erik and I are the babies... "Just want someone to play with. Don't care about winning."