dominoes, Monday, games, Game Night, S. A. Young

Good Morning and Happy Monday!

How was your weekend? Perhaps you were one of the over 160 million people in the world who watched the Super Bowl last night. (160 million is a mere drop in the bucket when compared to the more than a billion people who watched at least part of the World Cup series in 2014, and yet there was arguably three times the hype for last night’s grid-iron extravaganza.) In any case, I was not among them.

I did do something fun this weekend, though. I learned a new game. Actually, the game isn’t new at all. It’s been around since the 13th century and the Yuan Dynasty of China. It was new to me, however. I’m referring to Dominoes. Apparently, much like soccer*, this is a game played by millions and millions of people all over this planet, but in America, not so much.

The only time I ever thought about dominoes, if I thought about them at all, was when a feat of engineering, patience and rock-steady hands, like the one below, made the evening news.

Occasionally one could catch a glimpse of old men playing in a park in a scene from a movie or a photo in National Geographic.

dominoes, Monday, games, Game Night, S. A. Young, National Geographic

Of course, there’s the classic song by Van Morrison (Monday’s earworm – you’re welcome)

And the late Tony Scott’s last film, Domino, about the late daughter of actor Laurence Harvey, who looked absolutely nothing like Keira Knightley (Ya know, I’d give the whole bounty hunter thing a go if it came with Edgar Ramirez)

But I digress.

On Saturday, eight of us got together for a “Game Night”.  Someone had offered to bring “Twister”, but that idea was quickly nixed. The devil on your shoulder may tell you that you can do everything you did at 20, but the angel with the common sense on the other still occasionally wins the day.

Instead, we played “Cards Against Humanity”, which I’ve mentioned before and is hilarious, especially after a few adult bevvies, and tried a round of Trivial Pursuit (2000’s edition). Quite honestly, I don’t like the way they’ve changed the rules for that one, in an effort to speed up the game.

The highlight of the evening for me?  I learned to play “Chicken Foot” which is a variation of another variation of Dominoes called “Mexican Train”, both of which are popular in Hispanic cultures. If you’re interested in the rules, the internet has you covered.

dominoes, Monday, games, Game Night, S. A. Young, Chicken Foot

Some may see playing Dominoes on a Saturday night as the next step on the way to Bingo Night in the church basement, but it didn’t feel that way. We may not be up for Twister anymore, but you haven’t lived until you’ve heard a Puerto Rican and a Cubano smack talking over the tiles, no trip to the emergency room for a dislocated hip required.

So what did you do for fun?

 

*The world calls it football, but Americans have to have their own word for it because they’ve co-opted football for a game that isn’t played with feet. That bugs me – always has, always will.