With temperatures rising, folks everywhere will be wheeling out coolers, firing up grills and sending their youngest in the family on multiple aluminum foil runs. During the summer months, Black festivities wouldn’t be complete without the games that make family reunions and cookouts jump.
Even though we may all be familiar with the usual rules, woe be unto you if you think everyone plays them the same. Just to make sure there’s no problems at the spades table, and to give kids some extra game ideas to keep them out of grown–folk conversations, here’s a roundup of various summer games and the different ways we play ‘em.
1. Spades
Spades is the preeminent card game in Black America which relies on two, two person teams battling it out against one another in an attempt to win books. In this case, a book isn’t something you read; it’s the four cards the winner of a hand collects by having strategically played the highest card in a suit. How a team wins those books is a matter of much debate from one card table to the next.
Some people, remove the two of hearts and diamonds— never heard of it, before Googling the unofficial official rules. It is, however, a general consensus that the cards ranked by order of importance is Big Joker, Little Joker and the Two of Spades which is nicknamed “The Deuce.” It’s always good to make sure which joker is which; my aunt plays with a deck that has the larger joker labeled as the little one and vice versa. Either way, aces are the highest of any suit and spades are trump. A book is awarded to the highest spade played or the highest card in the suit during a hand.
Some people don’t allow you to lead with spades. Others allow them right out of the gate, in a sordid attempt to lure their opponents’ high cards away.
At the beginning of each hand, teams should write down how many books they think they’ll be able to score— that’s the “bid.” Depending on how it’s played, underbidding or overbidding could be cause for a penalty. To that, it’s important to be as strategic as possible.
In order to eliminate confusion, always ask about house rules before you start! Also understand, there will likely still be confusion.
Lastly, as the Virginia spades legend Belinda Monroe —also known as my mother— states, “The most important part of spades is the trash talk.” Like “CP” time, the different origins and styles of spades have no academic rationale behind it. It just simply is.
2. Slide / Numbers
#BlackBoyJoy ???????? @steelobrim
pic.twitter.com/h9UgcVeI75— Michael B. Jordan (@michaelb4jordan) June 3, 2019
Up until recently I was under the impression that everyone calls this game “Slide,” but apparently it’s also called “Numbers.” While no information could be gleaned on the motivation behind the different names, like most things, it’s probably a regional difference started by someone’s big sister. The game resembles Miss Mary Mack on extra sweet Kool-Aid, but instead of singing the Miss Mary Mack song, players attempt to count to ten while performing corresponding hand movements.
Any flubs or mis-claps will result in starting back at one, and the goal is to go as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Eye contact is usually encouraged though very awkward. Even though this is a non-competitive game, watch out for people who are heavy-handed as they will purposely, or accidentally, try to take your hands off.
3. Dominoes
YouTube | Delana Davis
Foundational rules of game play start with shuffling the dominoes face down. Players choose one tile and whoever has the highest domino goes first. The dominoes are then reshuffled and each player chooses seven tiles which will make up their “hand.” A seasoned bones player can hold all seven dominoes in their hands easily while ensuring that their opponent can’t sneak a peek. The rest of us mere mortals have to make-do with propping them up in front of us.
The first domino is the tile that the game will be built off of. Each player has to match an open end of a domino that’s already on the table. Aside from these rules, the alternate name of dominoes, “bones” comes from the fact that the earliest game tiles were made of bones or ivory. Similar to the name, dominoes has various ways it can be played. Arts administrator, museum educator and dominoes enthusiasts Nia I’man Smith described three of those ways.
“Scoring done in increments of five, a version where scoring doesn’t count until a player has scored ten— popular in Detroit— and the way children play by simply matching numbers,” Smith told Blavity.
Whatever version of the game you play, it requires the ability to count quickly and slam a tile down with style.
4. Uno
There was a huge controversy earlier this year when Mattel started talking out the side of their neck about how stacking, or placing a +4 card on a +4 card for instance, isn’t allowed. Of course, this went against everything we knew to be true and Uno’s alleged rules were revoked by Black twitter at large.
You really thought this would fly? Now pick up 6 and go— Threesup3 ???????? (@martinderis) May 5, 2019
Stacking aside, Uno always serves as a kid-friendly alternative to the drama at the spades table. The game simply consists of matching the number, color or action of cards that have been played before you. Want to put down a yellow, red and green three? Perfect! As long as you’re not trying to place it over a blue two.
A wildcard game is a golden ticket that can change colors anytime and the purpose of the game is to be the first competitor to have played all their cards. Careful, if you don’t scream “Uno” when down to your second-to-last card you’ll have to draw four cards and you could basically lose the game after being so close.
However, even the penalty for not yelling “Uno” varies.
5. Horseshoes
Either one-on-one or between two teams of two, this deep South favorite has players pitching a horseshoe to the opposite stake in an attempt to “ring” it or land the shoe as close as possible. Ringing a horseshoe wins you three points, and you’re rewarded one point if you’re the closest to the stake. Whatever portion of the lawn a horseshoe game is taking place on usually is enclosed by smoke, blues music and red cups.
However you choose to play your traditional family games, the beautiful part is the rules can always be adapted, changed or completely rewritten. We all know how Black folk like to change it up — just because.
