Games Galore

Posted on by Thor

Over the Christmas Holidays there wasn’t much need to go outside in the cold in Iowa. Instead we played endless card and board games. This sketch is of a late night game of Quelf which is an unpredictable party game that gives random a new name! You might be asked to answer hilarious trivia, perform ridiculous stunts, or obey silly rules. The game inspires creativity, wit and sense of humor in ways you’ve never imagined. Pam had to answer questions using nothing but song lyrics. Destiny at one point was crawling on the floor. Some questions had to be answered within 30 seconds which was timed with an hourglass.

Card games were also predominate. Euchre and Canasta seem to be the games of choice. I started to catch on to the rules of Canasta, but euchre is very fast paced and I never caught on to all the rules or strategies. Another board game we played quite a bit was Parcheesi. In this game you move your players, (bulls, bears, camels or elephants), around the board and try to be the first to get all your players home. There is some strategy with blocking and knocking other players back. It was fun to play. I won my first game but lost the other two.

Board Games over the Christmas Holdiay.

Posted on by Thor

The Schwartz family has a beautiful farmhouse and land in Maquoketa, Iowa. Overnight, the entire landscape was dusted with an inch or so of snow.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all delicious home cooked meals.  The temperatures outside dropped to negative nine degrees by the end of the week.  With temperatures so low, we all stayed in all day either relaxing under a quilt on the couch or playing games on the dining room table.  Board and card games were played as the little ones ran around playing their own imaginary games.  The youngest had gotten an electronic ice cream cart that had a recorded track that taught numbers by requesting certain numbers of scoops and syrups.  The little sisters fought over that cart relentlessly until they discovered that the large cardboard box that the present came in was a much more interesting toy to crawl in and out of.  It could be a car, tunnel or time machine, the possibilities were endless.

By the end of the day, I had my fill of board games, and I settled in on the living room couch to sketch the Schwartz family playing a game called “Watch Ya Mouth” which was hilarious to watch. The game involves putting a plastic guard in your moth which spreads your lips wide making it impossible to pronounce Ps, Bs, and Ms.  The goal is for one player to say a phrase on a card and for their teammate to guess what is being said.  If you have a small mouth you are at a disadvantage.  Pam and I had played before and we were pretty good at understanding each other.  What happens for most players is that they laugh so much that they never even get the phrase out.

Another board game that we played was “Quelf.”  It involved answering hilarious trivia, performing ridiculous stunts, or obeying silly rules. Players had to use creativity, wit, and sense of humor to progress around the board. One stunt I had to perform involved recreating as many yoga poses as I could in 30 seconds.  Since I had done yoga in the past, I had an advantage.  Another stunt involved me becoming a boomerang and saying, “wha, wha” as I walked around the home and back to the board.  Players could request that I perform the stunt again, and wouldn’t you know, every player insisted I perform that stunt again and again.  I was exhausted from laughing so had.  I should have taken the penalty points.  The most popular game was a card game called “Euchre.” It uses a regular deck of playing cards with only the cards from nine and up used.  Jacks are the most powerful cards and could change suite.  The rules are pretty complex, but I started to catch on over the course of the holiday.   Games began shortly after breakfast and went on all day, sometimes until 3 AM.  Needless to say, Christmas at the Schwartz homestead is an adventure. 

Fluffing the Christmas Tree.

Posted on by Thor

For Thanksgiving, Pam Schwartz and I traveled to her
parent’s home in Iowa.
Thanksgiving in the Schwartz home involves 25 or more relatives playing games
and having a huge Thanksgiving meal. Kids of all sizes run about and everyone
talks at the same time. After the big meal, everyone plays board and card games
at the kitchen table. The card game Canasta can last until three in the
morning. As I am writing this, a board game of Malarky has just begun. Everyone
has to come up with answers to little known facts, including reeling a story about why an octopus is thrown on the ice
during a playoff hockey league game. Three answers were made up and one answer was
correct.

The day after Thanksgiving, the Christmas tree is set up.
The family used to cut their own live tree but that tradition ended when two
mice were smuggled into the house within it. The artificial tree was
tightly bound and wrapped in a green drop cloth. Pam untied the multiple knots
and then set up the compressed mess of branches. Each branch had to be spread
and then fluffed so that all the needles were spread out. When tree was first
set up the trunk which is wrapped in a garland didn’t look very convincing, but
by the time Pam had the whole tree fluffed out, it looked reasonably real. She
also set up all the lights and hung tinsel. She has a very specific technique
in her tinsel hanging. Individual strands were hung creating an airy cascading
effect.

There is a family tradition that the tree came with strands of
Christmas lights already pre-hung, but one year Pam couldn’t take down the tree
because of her scheduled flight out of state. Her dad took down the tree that year and instead of remembering that the top two pieces of the tree don’t come apart, he ended up cutting off the strings
of lights in annoyance. It should be noted that he actively denies this family accusation.

Every year Pam’s eyes swell the next morning from the dust and the make of the tree branches. That doesn’t stop her from taking care of this
traditional chore. The rest of the family sits on the couch and watches or wander throughout the house with other decorations. A new
angel went on top of the tree this year since Pam destroyed the previous one attempting to retrofit it to a different light bulb. The new one has translucent violet and green
illuminated wings that sparkle.