A few nights ago, Nik and I decided to play a game of Crummy Rummy. Crummy Rummy is a version of standard Gin or Rummy, but no 3-of-a-kind – only straights. I abandoned traditional rummy when I was in high school and we had a travelling game of rummy that included, at times, up to eighteen people sitting around the table, playing rummy. To accommodate that many people, we used as many as three decks, and played with five, seven, or nine, depending on the number of players playing. The fewer players, the larger the individual hand. The simplification of the rules were simply to make it easy for us to sit around and talk, rather than focus on the game. While some of the group took it more seriously than others, all of us played for fun.
At the core of the group were Pat Nagy, my friend from drama, his young wife (they had to get married when she was 15), and myself. We often spent two or three nights a week, in various groups, to play the stupid game that could go on, for hours.
Cork, Nik, and I would often play Crummy Rummy, for many of the same reasons – less competitive, less stressful, and more casual. We almost always kept score, and would agree on the point value to win, before starting.
Occasionally, Nik and I agree to play, for the hand, not for the score. The one with the most winning hands, out of a predetermined number of hands, wins. Fair, and no one has to do math.
Of the hundreds of times, I have played this silly simplified version of this classic game, two games stand out. One of those is, at this writing, the most recent game we played. I’ll tell you about that, in a minute, but first the original memorable game.
As I said, Patrick and I were at the center of the circle around which this crummy rummy game, that lasted more than a year. As I mentioned, he and his first wife were married early in my senior year. Pat and I were in the same class, his wife was a sophomore, at the time.
Initially, they lived with his parents, but that didn’t last long. After a few months, they managed to save enough for the ultimate first apartment – small, old, and not that clean. My mother and I helped out with the scrubbing of the stove and some of the other stuff to get it clean enough to house the baby, and I often joined them for dinner or an evening – and every time, even if it was just the three of us, we played Crummy Rummy.
One afternoon – it was probably during lunch, because I don’t think this was an episode of he and I ditching class – we had to make a stop at their apartment. I know we had to pick something up, and we had to get back to school – I just don’t remember the details.
Just as we were getting ready to head out the door, Patrick spotted a deck of cards at the tiny little, classic, fifties Formica table, in their itsy-bitsy kitchen. He pointed to the deck, and said, “One hand?”
I replied, “One hand.”
Patrick shuffled and dealt us each nine cards.
I tend to pick up my cards and arrange them as they’re being dealt, unless the dealer asks me to leave them on the table, so as the cards came to my side, I picked them up. I had to keep my poker face, because as I loaded the cards into a fan in my hand, I realized that many of my cards played. When Patrick put down the first card in the discard pile, it played in my hand and I was able to lay down 10 cards, with no discard.
I began laughing uncontrollably, thinking there was no way in the world I could lose this hand, as it was likely that what I would draw on my next term would not play, and I would discard, and the game would be over.
While I’m laughing uncontrollably, Patrick, who had looked at what was lying in front of me, in horror, began working on his hand.
Within mere seconds, he drew a card, laid down nine cards which either played directly or on what I had played, and he had a discard – ending the game.
I had ten cards.
Patrick had nine cards.
Most of mine were number cards (5pts).
Most of Patrick’s were face cards (10pts).
I lost, but I didn’t care. What was the possibility of a hand of (even crummy) rummy resulting in just one turn per player.
That was the most insane experience I ever had, playing cards – until this past Saturday.
Nik and I were watching tele and I just couldn’t stomach sitting there a minute longer, and he suggested we play a game of cards. That was the best suggestion for a long time, and I jumped at the chance to do something different for a while.
I shuffled, and shuffled, and shuffled the cards. Nik cut the deck, and I offered to let him deal the first hand (he doesn’t like to shuffle, as he really hasn’t mastered it, and I get that). Since it was just the two of us, we agreed to nine cards, each.
We had had several turns, when I picked up about a dozen cards (three in the stack played). With what I picked up and what was already in my hand, I ended up with one of those hands where just about anything I drew would play, so I knew I was doing pretty well.
Luckily, Nik didn’t go out early. Although I had a lot on the table, I had even more in my hand, and I worried that he would stiff me with the cards I held.
Ultimately, we both did quite well. There was enough down that, as I though, just about anything drawn would play, or would play shortly. As we continued, the deck got smaller and smaller, and it looked like it was going to be one of those rare games (probably happened to me thrice) where you play through the entire deck of cards.
Soon, I went out with no discard (game continues).
Nik drew and was able to play, some more, but still held cards.
I drew – it played.
I think we went through three more turns before it ended. By that time, he was out with no discard, so we just kept picking cards and (almost always) laying them down, somewhere because they played.
When I finally had a discard, we began counting our cards. Now, remember, we usually pick a final score, but this time, we were simply going for best out of five. So, instead of shooting for five hundred (our usual starting end point), we were just going to count wins.
However, we did count our points to verify the winner.
Nik had one hundred and fifteen points.
I had two hundred and fifteen points.
We decided to just end it there, and call it, because how to do you follow that up.
That’s two. I wonder how many years it will be before I play another game of Crummy Rummy unlike any other.
I’m sure that will be worth remembering.
At the core of the group were Pat Nagy, my friend from drama, his young wife (they had to get married when she was 15), and myself. We often spent two or three nights a week, in various groups, to play the stupid game that could go on, for hours.
Cork, Nik, and I would often play Crummy Rummy, for many of the same reasons – less competitive, less stressful, and more casual. We almost always kept score, and would agree on the point value to win, before starting.
Occasionally, Nik and I agree to play, for the hand, not for the score. The one with the most winning hands, out of a predetermined number of hands, wins. Fair, and no one has to do math.
Of the hundreds of times, I have played this silly simplified version of this classic game, two games stand out. One of those is, at this writing, the most recent game we played. I’ll tell you about that, in a minute, but first the original memorable game.
As I said, Patrick and I were at the center of the circle around which this crummy rummy game, that lasted more than a year. As I mentioned, he and his first wife were married early in my senior year. Pat and I were in the same class, his wife was a sophomore, at the time.
Initially, they lived with his parents, but that didn’t last long. After a few months, they managed to save enough for the ultimate first apartment – small, old, and not that clean. My mother and I helped out with the scrubbing of the stove and some of the other stuff to get it clean enough to house the baby, and I often joined them for dinner or an evening – and every time, even if it was just the three of us, we played Crummy Rummy.
One afternoon – it was probably during lunch, because I don’t think this was an episode of he and I ditching class – we had to make a stop at their apartment. I know we had to pick something up, and we had to get back to school – I just don’t remember the details.
Just as we were getting ready to head out the door, Patrick spotted a deck of cards at the tiny little, classic, fifties Formica table, in their itsy-bitsy kitchen. He pointed to the deck, and said, “One hand?”
I replied, “One hand.”
Patrick shuffled and dealt us each nine cards.
I tend to pick up my cards and arrange them as they’re being dealt, unless the dealer asks me to leave them on the table, so as the cards came to my side, I picked them up. I had to keep my poker face, because as I loaded the cards into a fan in my hand, I realized that many of my cards played. When Patrick put down the first card in the discard pile, it played in my hand and I was able to lay down 10 cards, with no discard.
I began laughing uncontrollably, thinking there was no way in the world I could lose this hand, as it was likely that what I would draw on my next term would not play, and I would discard, and the game would be over.
While I’m laughing uncontrollably, Patrick, who had looked at what was lying in front of me, in horror, began working on his hand.
Within mere seconds, he drew a card, laid down nine cards which either played directly or on what I had played, and he had a discard – ending the game.
I had ten cards.
Patrick had nine cards.
Most of mine were number cards (5pts).
Most of Patrick’s were face cards (10pts).
I lost, but I didn’t care. What was the possibility of a hand of (even crummy) rummy resulting in just one turn per player.
That was the most insane experience I ever had, playing cards – until this past Saturday.
Nik and I were watching tele and I just couldn’t stomach sitting there a minute longer, and he suggested we play a game of cards. That was the best suggestion for a long time, and I jumped at the chance to do something different for a while.
I shuffled, and shuffled, and shuffled the cards. Nik cut the deck, and I offered to let him deal the first hand (he doesn’t like to shuffle, as he really hasn’t mastered it, and I get that). Since it was just the two of us, we agreed to nine cards, each.
We had had several turns, when I picked up about a dozen cards (three in the stack played). With what I picked up and what was already in my hand, I ended up with one of those hands where just about anything I drew would play, so I knew I was doing pretty well.
Luckily, Nik didn’t go out early. Although I had a lot on the table, I had even more in my hand, and I worried that he would stiff me with the cards I held.
Ultimately, we both did quite well. There was enough down that, as I though, just about anything drawn would play, or would play shortly. As we continued, the deck got smaller and smaller, and it looked like it was going to be one of those rare games (probably happened to me thrice) where you play through the entire deck of cards.
Soon, I went out with no discard (game continues).
Nik drew and was able to play, some more, but still held cards.
I drew – it played.
I think we went through three more turns before it ended. By that time, he was out with no discard, so we just kept picking cards and (almost always) laying them down, somewhere because they played.
When I finally had a discard, we began counting our cards. Now, remember, we usually pick a final score, but this time, we were simply going for best out of five. So, instead of shooting for five hundred (our usual starting end point), we were just going to count wins.
However, we did count our points to verify the winner.
Nik had one hundred and fifteen points.
I had two hundred and fifteen points.
We decided to just end it there, and call it, because how to do you follow that up.
That’s two. I wonder how many years it will be before I play another game of Crummy Rummy unlike any other.
I’m sure that will be worth remembering.
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