Svengoolie Movie: “An American Werewolf in London”

Svengoolie Intro: “Calling all stations! Clear the air lanes! Clear all air lanes for the big broadcast!”

Let me get this off my chest first. Sena and I watched the Svengoolie show the 1981 movie, “An American Werewolf in London” directed by John Landis last night and neither of us remember hearing Sam Cooke’s version of the song “Blue Moon” during the transformation scene when David Naughton (David Kessler) turns into a werewolf. We found other videos in which Cook’s smooth delivery of “Blue Moon” is clearly playing while David is morphing into a monster.

But neither one of us remembers hearing it on the Svengoolie show last night. Anyway, IMDB has a short paragraph which says director John Landis wanted the Sam Cooke version of “Blue Moon” playing during the transformation scene because he wanted to contrast the sadness of the song with the horror of the transformation. The composer, Elmer Bernstein, made an alternate music for the scene which never got used because Landis vetoed it.

That said, this is not going to be my usual tongue-in-cheek fake review with a lot of fibs and dad jokes. I should also mention that Sena watched the movie in a different room from mine because she doesn’t like the number of commercials on the Svengoolie show and switches channels a lot.

The movie is supposed to be a mix of comedy and horror and I liked that. Sena was a bit ambivalent about it but overall thought parts of it were pretty funny.

The movie opens with David Naughton (David Kessler) and Griffin Dunne (Jack Goodman) ignoring the advice of patrons at a tavern with the cheerful name The Slaughtered Lamb to stick to the road and avoid the moor. A werewolf attacks them, kills Jack but David is hospitalized with wounds. Jack appears to David periodically (each time more decayed) to tell him he needs to commit suicide in order to stop the werewolf bloodline so that Jack can die because he’s now undead.

Alex Price (Jenny Agutter) is David’s nurse in the hospital. She gets a crush on him and takes him home with her when he’s ready to leave. David’s doctor eventually gets the idea that he might be delusional about being a werewolf. David tries to convince Alex that he’s a werewolf by explaining the 1941 movie “The Wolfman.” The key is that he can be saved from his fate only by someone who loves him. Alex doesn’t get it—at first.

David’s transformation scene was pretty intense, which may be why neither of us actually heard Sam Cooke’s smooth delivery of the song “Blue Moon.” That might speak against Landis’s idea that a sad song might moderate the horror of David’s terrifying metamorphosis into a huge, demonic wolf. However, I did find out that the film’s composer, Elmer Bernstein, wanted to use a scary music. Landis wanted to use Cooke’s rendition of “Blue Moon” and prevailed. However, there’s a clip with Bernstein’s music, which is pretty intense. I didn’t much care for it, although Sena thought it fit better with the transformation.

There were actually three versions of the song “Blue Moon” in the movie: one by Bobby Vinton, one by Sam Cooke, and the third by The Marcels. Neither of us heard “Blue Moon” by Sam Cook. We couldn’t find evidence on the web that the Svengoolie version edited out the song. On the other hand, neither did we hear the sexually suggestive noises in the porno theater when David’s slaughtered victims give him helpful advice about how to commit suicide so that they can get out of limbo. Again, that’s because they’re undead and David has to kill himself in order for them to move on. Even his friend Jack, who was killed by the werewolf who attacked him and David early in the movie, supports this effort—although he scoffs at the idea of a silver bullet being the weapon of choice.

The link between the 1941 movie “The Wolfman” and “An American Werewolf in London” becomes clearer late in the film. Readers can figure it out.

There’s an Easter egg in this movie and it’s the Piccadilly Circus adult film theater marquee, “See You Next Wednesday.” This is a recurring gag in many films by John Landis. It’s a line from the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

“See You Next Wednesday” is a line from the 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” It is the last line spoken by Frank Poole’s father during Poole’s video message from his parents.

Sena and I both think the movie is pretty good and give it a Shrilling Chicken rating of 4.5/5.

Shrilling Chicken Rating 4.5/5

“Life is Beautiful”

We heard the song “Life is Beautiful” by Keb’ Mo’ last night on the Big Mo Blues Show. It was released 20 years ago. Big Mo said it helped him get through a difficult time. We think the song is beautiful and so do hundreds of other people on the YouTube video posted 16 years ago.

Keb’ Mo’ also did a very fine cover of Bill Withers’ song “Lean on Me” a few years ago in tribute to Withers who was his friend and mentor.

It’s not worth debating whether this song is classifiable as Blues—it doesn’t matter. I think it’s notable that of the many songs I heard on the KCCK Big Mo Blues Show last night, the list of the songs he posted early this morning after the broadcast was very short. He posted only a few, and we’re glad he listed this one.

Most would agree that “Life is Beautiful” is a fine example of contemporary acoustic blues. Compared to what we might usually hear in music labeled as the blues you might think it’s the opposite—almost “too happy” and soul-soothing to be the blues. Blues isn’t always about badness in life.

We Heard a Barred Owl Last Night

We both heard a barred owl last night. This was a line of thunderstorms rolled through the area. Sena thought it was in the front yard, but there are no trees out there and it’s more likely it was in the back yard.

I searched my photo files and couldn’t find one of a barred owl, although I remarked on seeing one about 11 years ago. It was on top of a street sign and I found an old blog post about it that I wrote about on the same day. I’ll repost it below.

I found a YouTube of a barred owl making typical calls. It might have been calling for a mate. Most articles will point out that this sounds like “Who cooks for you?”

I did a google search about barred owls. When a barred owl visits you, it could mean you’re in a transition in your life. About the time I saw it in 2015, I was a couple of years away from entering the phased retirement transition of my career as a consultation-liaison psychiatrist at University of Iowa Health Care.

I’ve been retired for six years now. I wonder why a barred owl would be visiting now?

Barred Owl Visit Post 2015:

So, the other day as my wife and I were out driving we saw this owl sitting on top of a street sign on the intersection not far from our house.

He looked straight at me. I remember thinking, “Where were you when the voles were gorging on our lawn?”

I’ve never seen an owl up that close, especially roosting on a street sign at a crossroads.  Of course, it got me to musing on the crossroads in which we often find ourselves at different times in our careers and at pivotal moments in our lives.

There are big and little stages, the minor and major crossroads we navigate every day and at other transitions: childhood, adolescence, college, medical school, residency, graduation, marriage, divorce, and the birth of children, the death of parents, retirement, and our own approaching death.

Recently I got a funny and thought-provoking essay about this from a former resident who is now an attending herself staffing a psychiatry consultation service at a big university hospital in Cleveland. The title of Dr. Jeanne Lackamp’s perspective article is “The Stages of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.” In it she describes the stages, the crossroads if you will, of the psychiatric resident in a large general hospital from the perspective of an experienced teacher [1].

I was going to say she does it with the wisdom of a wise owl, but then I thought of the owl sitting on the street sign, whose wisdom I doubted. The owl’s eyesight is keen but there was nothing but concrete on the roads leading away from its perch.

There aren’t any voles out there.

Anyway, short excerpts (which I hope are considered fair use) from Dr. Lackamp’s stages are:

Anticipation: “As though hypomanic, you will eagerly accept the CL challenge….” This is it—Your Big Chance.”

Initiation: “Coping with patient death will become real…and will make you feel sad.” You will wonder how you can possibly do multiple months of this.”

Mastery: “Cockiness may backfire…errors still occur.”  “…you feel confident that No One Else could have done better given the circumstances.” “This feeling lasts; until it does not.”

Anger: “Anger will manifest in several ways…” “…it will be tempting to start second-guessing your life choice of going into medicine in general, and Psychiatry in specific.” “Sleep will be rare now too…”

Acceptance: “…you will know what you are doing—but more importantly you will realize that what you know is not everything. “…you will know that you have endured something intense and were changed by it.”

I thought of this as I listened to one of our current senior residents talk about her approaching crossroads. She’ll be a consulting psychiatrist at a private hospital.

She’s excited about it and also wanted to know that her old teacher (which is me, the wise old owl) will be available for collaboration if she needs it.

I suddenly have this craving for voles.

Reference:

  1. Lackamp, J. M. (2015). “The stages of consultation-liaison psychiatry.” Acad Psychiatry 39(2): 217-219.

Our 1st Game on Our New Cribbage Board

Hey, we played our first game on our brand-new jumbo cribbage board from Michaud Toys in Canada! It looks great! The numbers are easy to see and it seems easier to peg on.

We also got two new batteries for our Nikon camera and it supports recording an entire game which keeps us from fretting over how much time we play while filming.

You might notice we used what we call a “short cut” in counting runs when scoring hands. See this nifty article on how to do that!

The Case of the Loose SD Memory Card Switch

This is not an April Fools joke, just to let you know. I just returned the second of two SD memory cards for our Nikon camera this morning. I returned the first one about a week ago. I got refunds. These cards are expensive and can set you back a hundred bucks or more.

They both had the same problem—a loose locking switch on the card which is supposed to control whether the card is in a locked or unlocked position. If it’s locked, it’s impossible to upload photos and video from the camera to your computer.

The two SD cards were made by different companies, so the problem is not restricted to a specific manufacturer.

The sales staff said he’d never heard of the problem. I was incredulous. I looked on the web for evidence that this has been going on for years (which I told him). I found a page dated 2006 about the issue.

While it’s possible to accidentally push the switch from unlocked to locked, it shouldn’t do that just by sticking the card in the SD memory card reader in the computer tower or in a handy external SD card reader if the slot on the tower goes dead—which happened to me a couple of years ago (see my post “The SD Card Caper”).

The switch is very small, as you can see in the pictures. In the pictures, the switch is shown in the unlocked position. If it slides into the locked position, you won’t be able to download your pictures except by copying them. It’s annoying to be unable to delete them. This could be embarrassing if somebody gets a hold of the card and decides to post the pictures of you and a certain somebody in a compromising position at the office Christmas party in the company newsletter.

sd card front
sd card side
sd card back

People talk about gluing or using scotch tape to keep the switch in the unlocked position. It can be a problem on older cards, but it shouldn’t happen in brand new cards.

I could have made this an April Fool’s post by making up a story about trying to use superglue to fix a loose SD card switch. But people talk seriously about doing things like that. OK, maybe not superglue, but some kind of glue, possibly Elmer’s.

There might be a way to get around the crazy switch technology by somehow making an SD card that could converse with its owner. Remember those old 1980s era Chrysler New Yorkers that had a built in Electric Voice Alert (EVA) system which made the cars talk? Of course you don’t. That was in the 1980s. We had one. Our car was prone to saying things that sounded a lot like a dad jokes, like “A door is ajar.” It also said “Don’t forget your keys” and “Your washer fluid is low.”

But if the manufacturers could make the SD card communicate with you in simple language about locking and unlocking itself, it would make the gadgets a lot easier to manage. On the other hand, they would need to work on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make sure you and the card are on the same page.

Hal; unlock the card.

Don’t forget your keys.

Darn it! No, Hal; unlock the card!

When is a door not a door? When it is ajar! Har! (sound of hand slapping a knee).

Unlock the card, Hal, PLEASE!

Your libido is low.

OK, Hal, last time; I want you to unlock the card now!

Place the body in the trunk of the car.

On second thought, maybe you should try scotch tape.

WordPress Promoting and Nudging Bloggers to Opt-in to Artificial Intelligence

I got a nudge yesterday reminding me I could choose to opt-in to a free Artificial Intelligence (AI) helper to essentially allow it to assist me in doing certain tasks. There’s a YouTube presentation about it featuring a nice guy named Jamie (see below).

While the suggestion sounds like it wouldn’t necessarily automatically allow AI to do the actual creating of a blog post, I’m suspicious that it might move in that direction. The term for this new thing is “Vibe Coding.” It’s not clear what that means. A commenter on the YouTube has a cheeky remark about the term.

I found a website that clarifies the term to some extent. The general idea is that you tell in plain, non-technical language to AI what you want to do when you want to do something with your website that would normally require you to know something about coding. Then, AI does all the coding. It all sounds great until you get down to toward the bottom of the page. Then you hear about the limitations of this approach:

“While it has many benefits, relying entirely on AI to create software is not without risks.

  • Hallucinations: AI can confidently write code that looks correct but fails to run or uses non-existent libraries.
  • Maintenance difficulty: If you don’t understand the code the AI wrote, fixing a bug that the AI cannot resolve can become a major roadblock.
  • Security risks: AI might generate code with vulnerabilities if not prompted to follow security best practices. It’s important to choose a vibe coding tool that has advanced security practices and infrastructure.”

There’s a YouTube presentation by a polite guy named Jamie (who I think is a real person) which drew some comments. One of them is my favorite which is just a long string of words like “terrible” and so on, which are obviously adjectives expressing how bad an idea Vibe Posting is. Jamie replies with a question: “Is your comment about the use of AI within WordPress?”

Well, yeah. Sena still says that AI “should be dislodged!”

I remember reading about the WordPress AI assistant a while back and there was a long disclaimer saying that if a blogger used it, WordPress would not be liable for any legal trouble you might incur by doing so.

Current Kratom and Psilocybin Legislative Action in Iowa

I just saw an excellent post from Dr. George Dawson, MD, DFAPA on Kratom. His emphasis that the risk for harm from this substance should be “…remembered at every policy debate.” I agree. This reminds me of what happened in the Iowa Legislature this term at the second funnel regarding substances with the potential for harms to users. Two drugs survived the second funnel: the Kratom bill House File 2133 and the Psilocybin bill House File 978, copied from the Iowa Capital Dispatch story published by Robin Opsahl, Brooklyn Draisey, and Cami Koons on March 20, 2026:

“Kratom:House File 2133 would designate kratom products – a substance currently legal for sale and possession in Iowa which produces a stimulant effect at low doses, and acts as a sedative at high doses – as a Schedule I hallucinogenic substance. People found in possession of kratom would be subject to a serious misdemeanor charge for their first offense, an aggravated misdemeanor for their second and a Class D felony charge for subsequent offenses. The bill passed the House and was placed on the unfinished business calendar in the Senate.

Psilocybin: The Senate Health and Human Services Committee amended and passed House File 978  Thursday, a bill that would allow for the legal, medical use of psilocybin in clinical environments with psychiatric support that have been approved by the state. Products with psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms,” and operators providing treatment involving psilocybin, would be regulated by the state through the Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board, which would be expanded to include four members with expertise in psilocybin treatment. The program created through this legislation would be limited to individuals seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, but the board could seek legislative approval for using psilocybin in treatment for other mental health issues as more research becomes available.

I don’t know exactly what “unfinished business” means with respect to the Kratom bill. All I know at this stage is that it has not yet been signed into law by Governor Reynolds. I’ll have a couple of remarks about the Psilocybin bill later.

Kratom is currently legal in Iowa. A couple of years ago while we were driving on Highway 1 through Iowa City, I saw a big sign on a small store saying it was for sale. As of 12/02/2025, the FDA has issued an opinion:

“There are no prescription or over-the-counter drug products containing kratom or its known alkaloids that are legally on the market in the U.S. If a new drug application (NDA) is submitted for kratom (or one of its components) to treat a specific medical condition, FDA will review the scientific data to determine if a drug product containing kratom (or its components) is safe and effective to treat that specific medical condition. Consistent with FDA’s practice with unapproved substances, until the agency scientists can evaluate the safety and effectiveness of kratom (or its components) in the treatment of any medical conditions, FDA will continue to warn the public against the use of kratom for medical treatment. The agency will also continue to monitor emerging data trends to better understand the substance and its components.”

The web articles I found on Kratom indicate that it’s not controlled under the Controlled Substances Act, but the DEA says it’s a “drug of concern” and warns against its use according to a web article posted on March 11, 2026 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

When I posted on my blog about Kratom after I saw the road sign advertising its sale at what appeared to be what we used to call a “head shop.” I tried to find more information about the substance. At that time, I found an article that saying when the DEA tried to place it on Schedule I in 2016, the American Kratom Association prevented it simply by protesting it (which may or may not be true). An historical overview of Kratom’s legal status in Iowa is here.

Kratom: Summary of State Laws

Kratom 101: What You Need to Know

As for the Iowa bill on Psilocybin, this post is getting a little long and I’ll try to keep my remarks brief. There was a news story about the bill which identified psilocybin as also being known as “magic mushrooms.” It also mentioned that it might be helpful for some people who struggle with PTSD and that last year, Governor Reynolds vetoed a bill that would have allowed distribution of the drug.

I found one of my old blog posts (“Maybe We Need a Dose of Humor) which was partly about psilocybin. I mentioned Dr. Henry Nasrallah’s article on how it might reduce the “visceral hatred” that is prominent in American politics:

In the current political zeitgeist, could psychedelics such as psilocybin reduce or even eliminate political extremism and visceral hatred on all sides? It would be remarkable research to carry out to heal a politically divided populace. The dogma of untreatable personality disorders or hopelessly entrenched political extremism is on the chopping block, and psychedelics offer hope to splinter those beliefs by concurrently remodeling brain tissue (neuroplasticity) and rectifying the mindset (psychoplasticity); September issue of Current Psychiatry, by the journal’s editor, Henry A. Nasrallah, MD (From neuroplasticity to psychoplasticity: Psilocybin may reverse personality disorders and political fanaticism. Current Psychiatry. 2022 September, 21(9): 4-6 | doi: 10.12788/cp.0283).

I found another one of my blog posts about psychedelic-assisted therapy from a couple of years ago.

The remarks from a former colleague were politely negative about the quality of the research in question in the Lykos study mentioned in my post which cited the Psychiatric Times article about the study. Dr. Jess G. Fiedorowicz, MD, PhD formerly was formerly on staff at University of Iowa Health Care. He’s now the Chief of Mental Health at The Ottawa Hospital where he’s also Professor and Senior Research Chair in Adult Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ontario. His remarks in the transcript are typical for his erudition and expertise as a clinician scientist.

And that segues into the University of Iowa Dept. of Psychiatry study on psilocybin for alcohol use disorder. There’s a podcast that mentions it with a link to an article. The department is currently recruiting according to clinicaltrials.gov:

“Psilocybin vs Ketamine for Alcohol Use Disorder: This study will collect data that measures the effects of a psychedelic intervention on patients struggling with alcohol use disorder (AUD). The study design will be a double blind, randomized, active-comparator trial with two study arms. Subjects randomized to Arm 1 (n=40) will receive individual psychotherapy sessions plus a 30 mg dose of psilocybin. Arm 2 subjects (n=40) will receive individual psychotherapy sessions and a 0.75 mg/kg dose of ketamine.”

However, the Iowa legislature’s bill supporting psilocybin is, for now, geared toward treatment of PTSD.

I think the Kratom bill goes in the right direction and I’m not so sure about the psilocybin bill.

Svengoolie Show Movie: “House on Haunted Hill”

Svengoolie Intro: “Calling all stations! Clear the air lanes! Clear all air lanes for the big broadcast!”

Right after Sena and finished the marathon Cribbage Rumble game last night, we watched the Svengoolie show 1959 movie, “House on Haunted Hill,” just like she said during the video. We’ve never seen the movie before, but Sena figured out whodunit pretty early.

I wanted to watch it because one of the stars played the part of a psychiatrist, Alan Marshall (Dr. Trent Long). Vincent Price played the heavy, a wealthy, sinister, and jealous husband, Vincent Price (Frederick Loren). Carol Ohmart plays his wife, Annabelle Loren.

Frederick arranges for 5 people who desperately need the $10,000 he offers each one if they survive the night in a haunted house full of ghosts and neurotic cribbage players.

The house itself is kind of a character, even though I don’t normally think of Frank Lloyd Wright as an architect who specialized in building haunted houses. It’s called the Ennis House and it’s in Los Angeles. It was also featured in the movie “Blade Runner.” It was built from precast, interlocked concrete blocks. It’s been bought and sold many times and I think it’s still owned by cannabis entrepreneurs. It’s perfect for the movie. The photo of the house demonstrates what happens to a place owned by pot salesmen.

By the way, Frank Lloyd Wright also designed several homes buildings in the downtown and Rock Glen areas of my hometown, Mason City, Iowa. I don’t think any of them are haunted.

The group of five money-hungry people includes, besides the psychiatrist, Dr. David Trent, played by Alan Marshal; Wilson Pritchard, a loser who believes in ghosts and booze, played by Elisha Cook Jr.; Lance Schroeder, played by Richard Long; the hysteric, Nora Manning, played by Carolyn Craig; and Ruth Bridges, played by Julie Mitchum. Special mention must go to the house caretakers: husband (Jonas, played by Howard Hoffman) and his mobile wife. She looks lie a zombie and she looked like she was riding a segway with her arms outstretched, apparently in order to stop herself from falling on what’s left of her face if she pitches forward off her segway (which is somehow delivered through a wormhole portal from 45 years in the future). Her name, of course, is Mrs. Slydes.

Annabelle and Frederick Loren are very unhappy with each other and she’s a little nervous about him because his last three wives all died under suspicious circumstances. Frederick is very jealous and thinks she’s unfaithful.

Dr. Trent is as physically imposing and dark as Frederick. He suggests that Nora take a sedative after she has several hysterical outbursts including seeing commonplace objects like severed heads in odd places—like her overnight bag.

Things ramp up in a hurry after Annabelle is discovered hanging and apparently dead. How she got that way is a mystery. It’s less mysterious in the scene in which her corpse is lying in bed and the close up shows her carotid pulse is clearly pulsating—which no one bothers to mention.

There’s scene in which a skeleton chases a very alive Annabelle around who screams her head off. Sena says strings were clearly visible attached to the skeleton. I didn’t see them, but the skeleton seemed to be as drunk as Pritchard, and clearly would never have passed a sobriety test.

The very generous Frederick Loren distributes guns to everybody which prompts Pritchard to insist they would be useless against ghosts, which in turn prompts Frederick to pistol whip him. Everyone just assumes that they all know how to handle a gun, even when Nora holds her pistol upside down and backward. Dr. Trent offers her a Valium, which she refuses and then kicks him in the groin, to which he responds by offering Freudian interpretations involving cigars. Mrs. Slydes then pops out of a sliding door in a wall on her souped-up segway and knocks everyone down as though they were bowling pins.

There’s not much to say that wouldn’t at least skirt the edge of being a spoiler. Sena calls Vincent Price “Vinny,” likes his acting and would give the movie a Shrilling Chicken Rating of 5/5. I would give it a 4/5, so we had to play rock, paper, scissors. I won so the rating is 4/5.

Shrilling Chicken Rating 4/5

Let’s Rumble in Cribbage!

Well, by some miracle we got through a Cribbage Rumble game yesterday and we recorded the whole 75-minute event for posterity. We reviewed it several times and it looked pretty good this morning although we were so delirious by the time we finished the marathon, there might be a few bloopers. I also reviewed our house rules and the updated version is below.

This took much longer to play than our first two cribbage wars games we played on the Ebonwood board and which are on my YouTube channel (@JamesAmosMD). We finished those in an hour. This one took 75 minutes.

One question that arose was what does a player in the Blue Time Trap do if his opponent lands in the Blue Penalty Box? I think AI was the only one who explicitly states what happens and it’s below:

According to AI which is the only source for guidance. Although it gives the Crib Wars rules as a reference, I couldn’t find it in the actual pdf source on the web. Anyway, what AI says happens if your opponent lands in the Blue Penalty Box while you’re in the Blue Time Trap:

“Yes, if you are in a blue time trap, you can absolutely use the 20-point forward movement gained from your opponent landing in a blue penalty zone to move forward and potentially exit the trap faster. The rules state that the opponent of the player landing in the penalty box moves 20 holes forward, which takes precedence over your current trapped status.

Key Rules for this Scenario:

  • Opponent Penalty: In a two-player game, when your opponent lands in a blue penalty box, you, as the opponent, advance 20 holes.
  • Time Trap Escape: When in a blue time trap, you must follow the blue path. Advancing 20 holes via your opponent’s penalty helps you reach the end of that blue path faster.
  • Interaction: The forward movement from the penalty is added to your current position, allowing you to move through or past the time trap’s designated path.”

Note: According to Ebonwood rules, an award of 20 points cannot place a player into a new penalty box or time trap; if it would, you skip to the first hole beyond it.

But since neither one of us ever hit the penalty box, that scenario never happened.

A few words about our new Cribbage Rumble game are in order. First of all, the handsome Cribbage Rumble board is made by Michaud Toys in Ontario, Canada. It’s a slimmer design than our handsome Ebonwood cribbage board, but the basic zones are the same. It’s interesting that Michaud originally called the game Cribbage Wars about a year ago and later changed the name to Cribbage Rumble. On the other hand, when we got the board, it came with a special card with a set of rules for “Cribbage Wars.” The Ebonwood board (made in Wisconsin) cost $210 when we bought it in 2025. The Michaud Toys board cost about $90.

Interesting historical notes: Crib Wars was first invented by a couple of guys from Ontario, Canada. Norm Ackland and Robert J. Prettie patented Crib Wars in 2000. Norm was also an Elvis Tribute Artist (ETA). The terminology for the name of the game is a little confusing. Ackland and Prettie made the first Crib Wars game. There’s also Cribbage Wars, marketed by Ebonwood. They are the same game with the same rules. Cribbage Rumble is also the same game as the first two.

Our updated House Rules for Cribbage Rumble (same as Crib Wars and Cribbage Wars):

There’s no Muggers Alley on either the Ebonwood board or the Michaud Toys board and we never play muggins. Below are my updated descriptions of the colored zones, which we discuss and demonstrate during the video.

Red Skips: There are 3 of these. The rule says if you land on the first red box you should slide to the next red box which gets you 20 holes further along the board. The red box just means the set of 3 holes highlighted with a red color. You get from the first one to the next one by just moving the peg 20 holes. You’ll land in the 2nd set of holes marked in red. This is a boon in the first Red Skip area. However, if you pay attention to the directional arrows in the path guiding you, it looks like they accelerate you toward two of the Blue Time Traps.

Blue Time Traps: There are 4 of these and there will be three blue lines, meaning the blue color covers all three holes and all three peg tracks (3 holes along the track and 3 holes across the track). If you land in a set of three holes highlighted in blue, you end up moving to a blue area of holes that actually set you behind several holes. You have to play your way out of them. Players note that you can end up in repetitious cycling back to the traps largely because of how often you can get one or two points at a time while scoring. In fact, some say that if their opponent gets close to a Blue Time Trap they may purposely lead with a five card (something you would rarely if ever do in a standard cribbage game). That could trap the opponent into playing a ten card or a 5 card, which might risk them moving only a couple of holes right back into the Blue Time Trap. The same thing could happen with falling into the Blue Penalty Boxes. If you land in a Blue Time Trap and your opponent lands in a Blue Penalty Box, you can get out of the trap by moving forward 20 holes, which gets you out of the trap faster.

Blue Penalty Boxes: There are three of them. You fall into one of these by moving your peg into one of the single blue hole lines, meaning one blue track across the three peg tracks. This is a disaster because you immediately have to move back 20 holes and fold your hand and your crib while your opponent moves forward 20 holes, finishes pegging and counts their hand and crib (if they have the crib). Asking AI is the only way I could find out how to learn how to peg moving back and forward 20 holes. The player who lands in the penalty box moves their front peg back 20 holes starting from the penalty box. You don’t move the rear peg. If your front peg lands behind the rear peg, it becomes the new rear peg. The player who doesn’t land in the penalty box moves their front peg forward 20 holes. The player who lands in the penalty box immediately folds their hand and crib.

Green Advances: There are two of them. If you land in a green hole, you take short cut path. The long one saves you from moving toward the Blue Time Trap in the left lower quadrant. You don’t avoid the potential other trap above. If you take the normal track instead you end up moving toward the lower left quadrant Blue Time Trap—but you have a chance at getting into the short Green Advance track before you get there which loops back away from it and you end up going in the direction of the upper Blue Time Trap.

You think you’re in the clear after that? You’re not because there is a sadistically placed Blue Penalty Box in the next to the last hole before the Finish Line!