The Games We Play

Careening down the road in our tour bus for an indeterminate amount of hours is a dangerous game.  We experience extreme highs and lows and our sanity levels fluctuate to disjointed extremes.  One of the first things you have to learn traveling is how to survive.  There are several ways to effectively stave off impending doom, which we have become quite adept at over the years.  One of these is Schoolwork, but even the draw to attain a greater understanding of the world around us gets old eventually and then...there are games.

   We've picked up hundreds of games from around the world, some more complex than others but we'd like to share a few of our favorites with you.  Most of these games require no more than a deck of cards and a small square of space.  These could save your life on your next road trip.
   In the great time-honored tradition of melodrama we will do a top 10 count down.  (For people who don't watch much TV this is quite a leap!)

In 10th place is Canasta!  Taught to us by our friend Carmen from Spain and then re-taught by our cousins in Nebraska, Canasta is a fun and highly complicated game.  Best played after a cup of coffee.

9th is Cribbage!  Although it requires a board it is a great game for the road because most of the cards stay in your hand and the board won't lose it's pieces.  Taught to us by our good friend Shawn in Indiana.

8th is Rummy 500.  We played this game almost every day on the Euro rail during our tour of Europe.  Best if you have a table :)

7th is, aptly, 7-up!  This is one of Dad's favorite games because of its simplicity and easy teardown-ability.  It's a great game to play at a restaurant when you're waiting for your food.  It is easiest to play on a stationary surface.

6th is Euchre.  A Michigan favorite it could easily be qualified as the 'state game'.  We grew up playing this game because my dad is from Michigan!

5th is Norwegian.  This game was taught to us by our Norwegian relatives, they called it American because the point of the game is to take all the points for yourself, but they were so good at it that we changed the name in their honor :)

4th is Dummy Rummy!  We learned to play this game recently from our new friends/adopted family Gilles and Annette in Canada.  It's a great game and easy to play on the road.

3rd is President.  Known by more unsavory names this game is a blast and best played with no mercy.  Taught to us by a waitress in Canada, it requires you to change seats every round in order of winner to loser and is sure to confuse your wait staff.

In 2nd place is Hand and Foot!  Taught to us in Nebraska by a Chemistry teacher from Florida, it requires 4 decks of cards and a lot of space.  It is a blast to play and was a close contestant for first in our countdown.

And finally, the game that has won our hearts and taken up all of our free time, taught to us in Wyoming by our good friend/family Carole.  THE top game is...

Banana-grams!

Similiar to scrabble this game comes in a cute 'banana peel' case and is as addictive as it is vocabulary building.
(All of these games and their orders were decided by loud popular vote.)

If you have any questions about any of the games we've mentioned or other creative ways to survive a long trip, drop us a comment!