Poke-N-Screw

So this morning I was getting some beauty sleep and a new card game came to me. When I awoke I made some minor adjustments. It is called Poke-n-Screw. Gas Monkey and I both enjoyed playing it, so here are the rules.

First, one person shuffles. The other person picks one card out from the deck, flips it over and sets it aside. What ever number is on the card will instigate the Super Screw (more about this later). The dealer then deals all the cards out to each person playing. Each person keeps their pile face down in front of them.

The play (very simple): Each person plays one card from the top of their pile face up in the middle, consecutively, one person plays a card, and then the next person plays their card, continuously. The point of the game is to get all the cards. Each player must look for any of the following:

Poke: Any combination of cards in a row that add up to fifteen (Aces count as 1, and 10 and above counts as 10)
N: Two cards of the same number played on top of each other
Screw: 3 cards played consecutively all of different suits

Anytime one of these combinations is played, the first person to say the type gets the entire middle pile.

Super Screw: Whenever a card with the special number is played the game halts. A poker hand ensues. Each player draws 5 cards from their hand. They then discard up to 3 cards into the middle pile. Each player draws the necessary number of cards to add up to 5 from the OTHER person's deck. Then, one player begins the bid, and the other player has the opportunity to meet the bid or raise it (Just like poker). You bid with cards. The winner of the poker hand takes ALL the cards from the middle pile, including the cards from both player's poker hands and those discarded.

The first person to get all the cards wins.

Special rules:
1. The first person to say the correct word (poke, n, or screw) first takes the pile.
2. If somebody plays a card on a combination before the combination is called, nobody takes the pile and play continues.
3. If one player has five or less cards left, and the a Super Screw is in play, that person cannot discard any cards, and can only draw the necessary amount of cards up to 3. That is their poker hand. Out of respect to the losing opponent, no bids are made. You cannot raise your opponent above the number of cards they have in their pile.

That's it. It sounds somewhat complicated, but it requires thinking actively and quickly, and even if you are losing you can redeem yourself by the Super Screw.

When you win you get to say "Poke-n-Screw You!"

Anybody who plays this be sure to give me your opinion and any ideas for improvement. All in all, I'm surprised I had a logical dream.

Congrats Gas Monkey

Gas Monkey accepted an award today for Colorado's 2010 Sustainability Champion Award as a part of a team (Workplace Conservation Committee for the Denver Zoo). He accepted the award in front of a couple thousand people. Here is the article (you have to click to the second page to see the Denver Zoo).

http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/2010-sustainability-champion-awards/page-2/

Paul's not in the article, but he instigated the program and accepted the award. Yay!

Stopping to Smell the Flowers

About a week ago Gas Monkey was so sweet and bought me a bouquet of flowers . . . using an after Valentine's Day sale of course. It was a pretty arrangement with purple daisy type flowers, and a couple of lilies that had not bloomed yet. A few days ago the lilies bloomed, and since they were gorgeous I took them out and put them in a separate glass. They are very powerful smelling. In case you are not acquainted with lilies, they have very strong pollen, that continuously falls off, and has a propensity to stain. I warned Gas Monkey not to get too close when smelling them, so he wouldn't look stupid. Unfortunately I could not relay this message to Carson, and here is the result.


Now her face is stained yellow and orange. And I'm sure she is wondering what that strange smell is that follows her everywhere. In fact, I think the pollen has acted as catnip, because now she is acting crazy. Silly girl.