Kids in the 1940’s usually played children’s card games like Old Maid and Go Fish, and I suppose today’s children still do.
My father and grandfather, however, loved to play the old German card game Skat so much that they taught my brother and me how to play as soon as we were old enough to sit ar a card table.
Skat being a little bit like the American card game, Bridge, was really very difficult for me, and I did not enjoy playing it. To make things worse, my mother and my aunts taught me how to play Auction Bridge, their favorite card game. Although it was a tad easier than Skat, playing Auction Bridge with my mother and aunts was not my idea of a good time.
These early childhood experiences soured me on all card games, so that in later life I made an effort to avoid playing any type of card games.
In early adulthood I had no opportunities to play cards of any kind until I began teaching at Wharton County Junior College, where my teaching colleagues loved to play Contract Bridge. It was somewhat different from Auction Bridge, and I looked upon it as a waste of time. I think my friends were glad I dropped out of their group, though the beer and fellowship were good.
Finally I have discovered a card game I really enjoy playing, though part of the fun is due to the friends we play with. Hand and Foot. Pastor Wayne and Ann.
Fast forward beyond my teaching years and beyond my preaching years to home-bound retirement. Ann, the wife of one of my pastor colleagues, Rev. Wayne Schueller, suggested to my wife that we get together, share a meal together, and play some Hand and Foot. Because they were good friends and fun to be with, I reluctantly agreed to try an evening of Hand and Foot and good food. I had heavy doubts about playing a card game!
Wow! It turned out to be a card game I really enjoyed. It is a game employing a great amount of variety. Each player has a hand of twelve cards and a foot of twelve cards, with multiple decks used. One challenge is getting into your foot. Another challenge is accumulating both “natural” and “unnatural” books, the naturals can be enhanced with red 3’s. Wild cards play a major role, and so do 7’s.
Another interesting aspect of the game is that winning requires both luck and skill. In Skat and Bridge, skill is much more important than luck. In Skat, if you don’t know how to play well with clever maneuvers, luck will not help you. In Hand and Foot, you have a chance of winning even when you play poorly. I like taking a chance on the luck of the draw!
Since the men in my family were better card players than the women, I always assumed there was male superiority in winning at card games. Until the pastors’ wives again and again beat the pastors at hand and foot. By a large score. Until most recently, when Pastor Wayne and I triumphed! We won big.
Ray Spitzenberger is a retired WCJC teacher, a retired LCMS pastor, and author of three books, It Must Be the Noodles, Open Prairies, and Tanka Schoen.