Open Thread: Card Games

Hosted by card players in Ecuador

"I spent a year just practicing how to shuffle."

She tossed the line off so casually.  We were at a church youth group lock-in, she was about a year or so older than me, and she was cool - my definition of cool at least, which included "as much of a misfit among these other youth group kids as I am, but aloof and unruffled rather than awkward and shy."  We played card games all night, me and her and one of her guy friends, while the other girls gossiped and did each other's hair, and I wanted to be her.

So I too spent several years, not just learning how to do a perfect waterfall shuffle, but learning how to play and (more importantly) how to teach other people how to play a wide variety of card games.  For a good portion of high school and college, I always had a pack of cards on me somewhere.  Something about having a pack of cards to pull out pretty much guaranteed that you wouldn't be bored, and that you could find at least one person to hang out with.

Today, most of the games I play are much more dorky and complicated (and usually involve multi-sided dice), but there's still something purely enjoyable about a good card game.

Open thread!  Did you ever go through a stage where you wanted to play card games every day?  Are you still in that stage?  Do you like "serious" gambling-type games like poker and blackjack, more social games like Spades, or goofy stuff like Spoons?  Do you know any good games you can tell us about in the comments?
 ~ Kristycat

Monday Reminder!  While I have fun coming up with pretty pictures and/or interesting “prompt” questions for open threads, you aren’t limited to those!  These threads are open - go wild, talk about whatever moves you!  (Just remember that this is still a safe space, please!)  

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!