I want to spend a couple of posts talking about some of the fun toys and games we’ve been playing with lately.
Until this week I had never even heard of Rummoli, but let me say, it is awesome:
Did you know that Rummoli is a Canadian game? I am suitably impressed by this fact.
“Rummoli is a family card game for 2 to 8 people. This Canadian board game, first marketed in 1940 by the Copp Clark Publishing Company of Toronto, requires a Rummoli board, a deck of playing cards (52 cards, no jokers), and chips or coins to play. The game is usually played for fun, or for small stakes (e.g. Canadian cent). Rummoli is similar to Michigan Rummy.” – Wikipedia
Apparently it is also called Tripoley.
So last night we pulled out a deck of brand new Tim Burton playing cards and a giant bag of Reece’s Pieces we bought at the Carlingwood Mall Bulk Barn a couple weeks ago just for this purpose.
Sidebar: We had bought the candy and were shopping around when suddenly we realized the CANDY WAS GONE. We backtracked, worrying the whole time, secretly scrutinizing the crowds for guilty-looking people with chocolate on their faces and orange smudges on their fingers. We figured that NO ONE IN THIS ENTIRE WORLD would turn in a large bag of candy (eight bucks worth if you must know) and it was with very heavy hearts that we went into One Last Store – a shoe store – before giving up and going home empty handed. And guess what, it was there. Uneaten! My faith in humanity was restored.
Thank you Dear People, for not eating our candy.
Anyway, back to Rummoli. It is a very easy game to play once you get the hang of it. It also seems to be a very gentle introduction to poker, which we are working up to because I think poker playing is a good skill to have. It’s counting, it’s strategy, it’s luck, it’s bluffing, it’s good sportsmanship… and I don’t think they teach card-handling skills (like shuffling, holding cards, dealing) in school anymore. Do they? ;)
You can probably buy a Rummoli board anywhere that sells games, but it’d be easy to make your own using a large piece of bristol board. (You can see what it looks like here.) The board is really just a place to lay your bets, a.k.a Reece’s Pieces.
Instructions are here, but if you’re like me your head will spin a little and you won’t quite be able to figure it out until you play it. I really suggest you do.
Our kids picked it up very quickly and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. We started with 75 pieces of candy each, but next time we will start with less because everyone gets to eat their winnings afterwards and it was a bit much. :)
What about you? Have you ever played Rummoli? If so, what do you play with? Money, chips, raisins? :)
