We’re on schedule to get our new cribbage boards delivered today!
We played 9 card cribbage to 121 today and I got a 50-point hand! We both scored the complex hand, came up with 50 points, checked it with skunkeddotclub and it was correct! We played only 3 hands but the high scores led to a lot of time counting points. That’s why you’ll never see a 9-card cribbage tournament.
On the other hand, this might do something good for elder brain health.
Counting the 50 points for runs was the most difficult part. There were eight different 4 card runs and spreading them out in the offset way shown in the picture made it easier to count them (32 points worth). There was 12 points for 15 for 2s and 6 points for the pairs. Adding the points for the runs, 15s, and pairs made 50. The photos compare the wide 50 point spread between my two black pegs before and after the move.
Before pegging the 50 pointsAfter pegging the 50 points
Today is the day of the answers to the cribbage score quiz last Friday. We were playing 7 card cribbage and got interesting hands to score.
Hand A is 28: There are a dozen points worth of 15s for 2; there are 12 points worth of 3 card runs; and there are 4 points worth of pairs.
Hand B is also 28: There are ten points worth of 15s for 2; there are 12 points worth of 3 card runs; and there are 6 points worth of pairs.
There are short cuts to counting the runs, although it’s faster to use the short cuts for counting runs, it’s good practice to count the runs and pairs separately.
We’re improving at counting scores in 9 card cribbage. So far we’re only playing to 61 and we often finish a game in only a couple of hands.
We’re scheduled to get our two new cribbage boards from Canada tomorrow. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Today’s essay by Dr. Moffic was pretty interesting about the role of video gaming in health for men and women. Computer games were emphasized but it got me thinking about hands-on games that you might thing of as being more old-fashioned—like cribbage.
I wrote a post about cribbage already today, but there’s another angle on it that’s readily adaptable to considering its role in promoting mental health for both men and women.
That reminds me that until yesterday and today, I was on a major losing streak in cribbage with Sena. Cribbage wins and losses seem to occur in streaks and I was beginning to wonder if I’d lost my touch.
There’s a cribbage connection with the electronic gaming realm in that we also play the computer video cribbage game Cribbage Pro. There are three levels, Standard, Challenging, and Brutal (the toughest opponent). We always play Brutal, and often win. There’s a way to play internet cribbage on Cribbage Pro, but we don’t. I prefer playing live. I think the popular view of cribbage is that it’s an old guy’s game. I suspect people think it’s a card game old men play on their lunch hour at the factory.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s very popular with women and kids and my guess is that no matter what your gender preference is, there’s a greater diversity of cribbage players out there than anyone realizes.
Playing cribbage promotes and maintains brain health by requiring you to practice basic arithmetic by counting your scores and pegging. You lose a little of that in Cribbage Pro although you can turn on the feature allowing manual counting of scores.
And the American Cribbage Congress (ACC) accommodates internet cribbage tournaments. It’s very popular and competitive. By the way, expanding on my other post today about how to verify your luck in getting a 29 hand in cribbage, you can easily prove it on Cribbage Pro by taking a screen shot of it!
Computer games are fine, but I like to manually shuffle the cards for cribbage. Sena likes to use the shuffling machine—which is very loud but gets the job done. I’ve not yet found a way to “accidentally” lose the shuffling machine (Can’t imagine where it went; must have grown legs and walked downtown!).
We always help each other count our scores. The one time we tried muggins rule, which involves penalizing each other for missing scores by taking them from each other, we just couldn’t seem to get it straight. And it wasn’t as much fun.
There are local cribbage clubs that you could get involved in although they might be hard to find. The nearest one to us is several hours away.
I used to play computer games years ago (although not Nintendo), but nowadays I feel more like Agent K in Men in Black II as he’s trying to quickly learn how to steer a spacecraft using what looks like a PlayStation 2 controller (I used to have one of those).
after K turns on the auto pilot during the chase…
Agent K: It is not automatic pilot.
Agent J: He doesn’t work when we’re in hyperspeed.
Agent K: I could really use a steering wheel!
Agent J: We don’t have no damn steering wheel! This is what we got! [turns off auto pilot] Didn’t your mother ever give you a Gameboy?
The Iowa State Fair will again have the Cribbage Tournament this year! It’s on August 18 (the last day of the fair) from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m at the Oman Family Youth Inn. Registration begins at 10:00 a.m.
Hey, I found a great website for learning how to play cribbage with more than two players. In fact, you can learn how to play all kinds of games. If you already know how to play two-hander cribbage, you can learn the other common variations. Here’s the YouTube on the 3 player version.
I wrote this post yesterday because I didn’t know whether or not we’d have a power outage because of high winds (up to nearly 50 mph) predicted for the Arctic Blast this week.
When we’re not outside scooping our walkway and driveway, we’ll probably be playing cribbage or, God forbid, Scrabble (which I always lose).
We’ve heard about the renewed interest in board games, one of them being Scrabble. We recently found an old Scrabble game at Old Capitol Town Center (formerly Old Capitol Mall). It’s Super Scrabble and it was on sale for $50 at a hole-in-the-wall shop lacking an entrance sign. The high price is because it’s a collectible relic from the past, although a quick internet search revealed it was made in 2004—hardly an antique. You can find them on eBay for $30. On the other hand, you can find them going for as much as $179 at an on-line store called Mercari.
We’ll also probably take a break by munching on our Christmas cookies.
I’m all set for the freezing weather. I’ve got my thermal underwear out and sweats out, along with my heavy gloves.
The wind will probably make shoveling pointless at times. We’ll probably bag it and then I’ll practice the juggling behind the back trick—another pointless activity.
I’m learning to juggle—sort of. I bought a kit for juggling at Barnes and Noble the other day. It came with a manual, Learning to Juggle, and 3 juggling balls. The manual is published by Sterling Innovation in New York. So far, I can sort of juggle 2 balls. I don’t know when or if I’ll ever learn how to juggle 3 balls.
It was tough to find any juggling balls in stores. Some experts on YouTube recommended starting off juggling socks or hacky sack balls. The trouble with rolled up socks is that every time I threw and caught them, they tended to change shape just from my grabbing them. They quickly got flattened.
I couldn’t find any hacky sack balls except at Scheels. They were selling single hacky sack balls for $8 a ball.
I actually got started by trying to juggle with dryer balls. They were bouncy and could smart when they hit my hand—or my head.
Juggling is a great workout when you’re just learning because you spend so much time running after dropped balls. One expert suggests juggling over a bed or couch because they don’t drop so far. That sort of works.
It’s fun and absorbing. You can learn a lot about it from YouTube videos. It takes a lot of practice, although the author of the juggling manual says some people pick it up in a half-hour.
That’s funny, just about all I pick up most of the time are the balls I drop.
Part of my motivation to learn juggling is to also build on my one leg balance skill. For the last couple of months or so since my “Balancing Act” post, I’ve been working on my ankle wobble. I can now stand on either leg for 60 seconds.
I can barely “juggle” on one leg. I have a long way to go.
We finally filmed one of our Kings Cribbage games. It’s a hybrid of Scrabble and cribbage. It takes a lot longer to play it than a regular cribbage game, but about as long as a Scrabble game (about 45 minutes to an hour). The rules are included in the YouTube video, but you can also read them on the web.
You score by forming cribbage hands. The 6 can be used as either a 6 or a 9, but once it’s on the board, its value remains the same. Each player gets 5 tiles and no play on the board can be longer than 5 tiles.
You keep score with paper pencil and the player with the higher score at the end of the game wins, after subtracting the face value of any tiles he/she has left.
We played a game on our new Wisconsin cribbage board. We made some miscounts I’m sure, but it was because we had so much fun talking. We lived in Madison for a short time many years ago and managed to see quite a few sights in the south-central region of the state. And even after we moved back to Iowa, we made return trips to visit Wisconsin because there’s a lot to do there.
Madison itself is the capital of Wisconsin. One of my first impressions is that a number of fascinating people live there. I remember we were walking west on State Street, and I saw a guy walking in the middle of the street wearing a live rattlesnake coiled on his head. Sena missed that for some reason. He was moving carefully and slowly, probably to avoid rattling his headgear.
I don’t think the sculpture of Harry Dumpty is still standing in Madison, but for several years it was a distinctive bronze sculpture in front of the Madison Municipal Building just south of the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and East Doty Street. I can’t see it on Google Maps nowadays.
I never knew the sculpture was Harry Dumpty. It sat above a large concrete wall with an inscription on it which I just assumed was connected to the sculpture and probably still sits there although we couldn’t find it in 2012 when we returned for a visit:
“David James Schaefer, 1955-2004 was a phenomenal phenomenon. Though plagued by the progressive debilities of cerebral palsy, “Schaefer” was an uncomplaining and generous friend to many. Disability Rights Specialist for the City of Madison in three different settings, his death of a heart attack in September 2004 made a hole in our community which cannot ever be filled. Erected by the Friends of Schaefer at private expense.”
It turns out Harry Dumpty has no connection to David James Schaefer. In fact, Harry is one of several similar sculptures created by artist Brent George, who made him in 1997, saying he’s Humpty’s brother. If you look closely at the book sitting open next to Harry, it’s entitled “Harry Dumpty.” Brent George’s name is below it. Brent’s phone number is on the front of the wall. Evidently somebody called him and asked about the sculpture. Brent says there’s no connection between the sculpture and the inscription.
On the subject of art, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (on State Street) is a place to see. Although the art works are free to view on the web, they’re copyrighted and you can’t reproduce them without permission of the artists. However, at the time we were there in 2012 we saw Typewriter Eraser by Claes Oldenburg. I think it’s OK to share our picture of the giant one we saw in Washington, D.C. In 2015.
Typewriter Eraser in Washington, D.C.
One of the more relaxing times we had was having pizza for lunch at Paisan’s in Madison. We were outside and had that breathtaking view of Lake Monona, the breeze was coming off the water, cooling and refreshing—like the Moose Drool brown ale, which is not a Wisconsin brew; it’s made in Montana.
Wisconsin is known for its beer, among many other virtues. New Glarus Brewing Company is famous. I tried a few of the brews. One of them was Stone Soup. It had oil of clove in it and my lips got numb.
We took a dinner train ride at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom. It was great food and great company.
One of the more interesting stories about Monroe, Wisconsin is The Great Limburger Cheese War, which I mangled during the heat of the game. I first heard about it on a TV show; it seemed to me it was on Mysteries at the Museum, but when I googled it, I couldn’t find it.
We had a great time in Wisconsin. Maybe someday we’ll go back for a visit.
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