Nines

You'd think I had nothing better to do today since this is my third post, but I've been busy. I've even made a cake! We're taking a cream cheese blueberry pound cake to the New Year's Eve Fellowship tonight. Of course, after I got home from the grocery store, I thought of another cake I would've liked to have made, but it's a new idea and I don't want to use the congregation as guinea pigs...

A few weeks ago, our good friends Jay and Allison taught us a card game they had recently learned - Nines, or Nine Card Golf (no relation to Golf Solitaire). It was a blast! We taught my parents, my sister Melissa, and my cousin's husband Rusty last week. In fact, Billy and I played Nines with my parents for about 4 hours the day after Christmas! Since then, my parents have taught my other two sisters to play, and they're planning to teach some good friends of theirs to play tonight while they wait to ring in the new year. My sisters may even teach their friends at their New Year's Eve party (parties?). It's spreading like wildfire!

One thing we discussed while we were playing was how the game would work with just two people. We talked over different options and decided we'd have to try them to see what worked best.

Last night after the boys went to bed, Billy and I got out some decks of cards and started experimenting. The first few games were one grid each with one deck. It went too fast and wasn't as much fun as the game we had been playing.

Next we played one grid each with two decks. Better, but still not very challenging.

Our next variation was to play two grids each (using two decks), but to alternate our grids on each turn. That proved to be too confusing. Billy and I kept forgetting which one we were supposed to be playing. Finally I came up with the idea to lean one direction or the other, but it just didn't work well.

Next we tried playing with the same layout, but we could choose to play either grid. The trick was to make sure you played your two grids evenly and not end up with one uncovered and one with tons of hidden points. (Low score wins.) That round was the best! We now can play it with just two people and still be challenged by it. We call it "Double Nines".

We'll probably ring in the new year tonight playing Double Nines and watching the CSI marathon on Spike TV. Don't we lead exciting lives? ;o)

If you managed to make it through this post and still have no idea what I'm talking about, I applaud you. I probably would have quit after the first time I saw the word grid. For your reward, Billy and I will teach you how to play Nines (or Double Nines) next time we see you. All you need are two decks of cards (preferably the same size) and some paper for keeping score. Aren't you glad you stuck around?