Dinner & a couple games

[dagibbs]

Despite the storm, I was able to get together with beable and ironphoenix for dinner and a couple games. We had intended to eat at the Mee Xim, but found it was closed (weather?), so retreated to a Chinese restaurant just across the street. (The Secret Treasure or something like that.) We were underwhelmed by the restaurant -- one dish was good, but the other two just mediocre. We played a game of Set while waiting for food (I was well ahead when food arrived), then a game of Louis XIV after dinner (I won) and then Skat (old German card game, ironphoenix won). I liked Louis XIV, though I'm not sure if I like it enough to own it. I'm also not sure how I managed to win -- things seem to go badly for me at times, yet I came out will in the end. I must not have noticed when things went badly for the others, perhaps, though I did notice ironphoenix have a bad round. Skat is an interesting 3-player trick-taking game, with moderately complex rules. If I was looking for a game to play while waiting for the 4th to show up for bridge, it would be a good choice.

Comments

[gabriel-le.livejournal.com]

Skat can also be played 4 players. I played a few times when I was overseas (though my German barely taught me the rules before launching into much geekery about strategy. I was not a happy bunny).

Many Skat games were features in my "The Tin Drum" book I was reading about Germany pre and post WWII.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Hm... would it be 2 vs 2 for 4 player? Or 1 vs 3?

I'd probably prefer Bridge then, though.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

As I've seen it, 4-player skat is basically the same as 3-player, but the dealer doesn't play in the hand. Is there another worthwhile variant?

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Thanks again for hosting; it was a good time!

By the way, the version of skat I was teaching you is, as far as I know, the version played in the German community in Sudbury. Other regional variations may exist.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Given that it's a folk game, other variations almost definitely exist.

[beable]

I quite enjoyed Louis XIV.