Why the 1940s Nostalgia of A Christmas Story Still Works Today

“Ah, there it is,” the adult Ralphie intones in the opening scene of the holiday staple A Christmas Story. “My old house. How could I ever forget it?” Narrator Jean Shepherd, the author whose stories inspired the film, imbues the lines with innocent warmth. Matched with the sumptuous version of “Deck the Halls” that opens […]

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This article is presented by Bicycle Cards.

The king of all holidays is arguably Christmas. It’s a giving time. It’s a time for being with family. It’s a time for favorite old movies. But most of all, it’s a time about time. We spend more time with our families during this holiday than most of all the other ones put together. And so the question is how should you spend that time well?

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You’ve decorated the tree together, maybe even sang some songs. There’s plenty of egg nog left, and you’ve got a great playlist going. Guess what it’s time for? A great pack of cards. If you’re making cocktails, there’s some cocktail recipe playing cards, which can work great if you need to lighten up with certain relatives. But if you’ve got that great deck of cards, you can start to play some games that are more than just the basics. You can play some games that actually take some time to complete. Good games. Fun games. Games that will really pass the time well.

Here are three extremely cool and classic games you try out this holiday season, most of which you haven’t thought about in a while. Dig in. These ones take a second to pick up, but the rewards are a really great time in while the snow falls outside.

Thirty-One

This game is ancient. Not quite as old as Christmas itself, but close. Most variants of this game are known as Cribbage or Blackjack. It may sound unfamiliar now, but you’ll remember how this goes pretty quickly.

The Goal

You want to get yourself a hand that adds-up to “31.” You can play the “21” version of this, which is more common at casinos, but “31” is more friendly. For the purposes of adding, aces are worth “11.” (Which is probably different from what you’re used to.)

The Setup

Everybody gets three face-down cards, and then, three face-up cards. You can call the three face-up cards the “widow.” Everybody can see these cards, and in one variation, you can decide to trade these cards with other players.

How to Play and How to Win

You want to be the first person to get to 31 without going over. Failing that, you want to be able to have the highest rank hand in a “showdown.” The best way to play this game is by betting, so use some poker chips, candy canes, or whatever. Everybody antes up an equal amount and then you go around, taking turns, swapping out your cards, hoping that what you have will beat the other players. Keep in mind, you’re basing this guess off of the “widow” cards you can see, rather than the hidden cards.

You can then take turns betting, or a player can “knockm” which is the moment they reveal they’ve already hit 31. That person automatically wins the pot. Otherwise, it’s a test of hand versus hand. If you’ve got the higher ranked hand, you can beat your opponent, if not, you’re out. The last player standing (or the first person to 31) wins.

Six Card Golf

Don’t be thrown off by the name of this game. It’s not really like golf at all. The only similarity is that there’s nine rounds (or deals). You can call these “holes” like in golf. We won’t judge.

The Goal

You want to end up with the lowest value of cards. Yes, this is the point of this game, to have low-ranking cards.

The Setup

Everybody gets six cards dealt to them from the deck. The rest of the cards are then put face down, one top card is flipped over. Each player then has to organize their cards in two rows of three cards each. Everybody flips two cards face up. The rest of the cards are hidden.

How to Play and How to Win

After the setup, you go nine rounds. This is how the rounds go: You can draw cards from the main deck or the discard pile. You can swap new cards with cards you already have, which will go in the discard pile. What you’re trying to do is get rid of high-ranking cards, and bring down your overall score.

This goes on for nine rounds, and at the end of those nine rounds, the person with the lowest total, wins. Jacks and Queens count as ten, but in this game Kings are worth ZERO, which is, of course, the best card to have in this case. You can also get a zero by having two matching cards, that basically cancel each other out. Otherwise, aces through ten are worth one point to 10 points.

Spoons

As the name of the game suggests, you’re gonna need more than just a pack of cards. You’re also going to need several actual spoons. These are used for keeping score, which will all make sense shortly. Oh, also, please remember how to spell!

The Goal

LIke the basketball game Horse, you don’t want to get all the letters that spell “Spoon.” If you do get all those letters, you’re out.

The Setup

Put a bunch of spoons in the center of a table. Then, using a standard deck, deal four cards to each player. After this, it’s going to go nuts.

How to Play and How to Win

You’re trying to get four-of-a-kind. The way this works is the dealer takes a card from top of the deck and then either keeps it, or not. But, then, that person passes the card they don’t want to the person on their right. You get the idea, the next person can keep this card or not, always trying to get four-of-a-kind.

The first person to get four-of-a-kind grabs a spoon from the center of the table. When this happens, everybody else can grab a spoon. However, if you don’t get a spoon you get a letter. Once you get all the letters that spell S-P-O-O-N you’re out. Play goes on like this until there’s one person with a spoon who hasn’t not spelled-out S-P-O-O-N.

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