Spoons

I was reading Cousin Cindy's post and was reminded of one of the best games of all times. We used to play at at our Grandma and Grandpa Kasters. One holiday we were barred from playing anymore but not because the kids were getting wild, it was our Uncles who were out of control. The jist of the game is to pass cards around the table, picking one up at a time and discarding any cards you don't need. You want to collect four of any one suit. When you get your matching four you want to reach into the center of the table and take a spoon, preferably without anyone noticing. Once the others see you take a spoon, it is fair game and you want to grab one before everyone else. The last person to notice or the slowest to grab is out of luck because there is always one less spoon than there are players. It was always funny to see how long it would take people to notice a spoon was gone. Well, this particular year, the cousins were playing and remained civilized, but when the Uncles joined in...they went ape shit. The were grabbing spoons with such force that they would go flying everywhere...and they would dive on the floor after them, wrestling for control of the last spoon. Well, after a little while, Grandma and the Aunts had had enough...someone was bound to get hurt. It was fun while it lasted.

Anyway, here are some directions incase you want to play. Just don't substitute forks or knives...you will end up in the emergency room.

For this game, in addition to cards and people, you need a collection of spoons, with one fewer spoon than the number of players. The spoons are placed in the center of the circle of players and the cards are shuffled and dealt out to the players so that everyone has four cards.
All players simultaneously place one unwanted card face down to their left, and then pick up the card that the player to their right has placed.A player who collects four of a kind takes one of the spoons. As soon as a spoon has been taken, all the other players are entitled to take a spoon each, even if they do not have four of a kind. Since there is one spoon fewer than the number of players, one player will be left without a spoon. This player is the loser of this deal.
A series of deals can be played in which the loser, or a player who has lost three times, is eliminated from the game. Each time a player is eliminated you must remove one spoon from the game; if playing without a stock you also remove one set of four equal cards from the pack.