Group gets together to try out new and lesser known card, board ...

Group gets together to try out new and lesser known card, board and dice games

By MICHAEL FORTUNA, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Two games that are worlds apart - poker and bingo - have joined forces to create a new game called Po-Ke-No.

During a session Monday afternoon at Chatham Recreation Center, the Crazy Fun and Games group played Po-Ke-No, a combination of poker and Keno (a bingo-like game) that uses card faces instead of numbers on the board.

Lil Davis brought her friend, Diane DiMiceli, to play with the group for the second time.

"I think the girls are all rarin' to go," DiMiceli said.

Some 18 women played the game, with the players divided into three tables of six.

At the beginning of each game, players drop coins into several boxes or cups placed on each table. Each container represents a specific card hand on the board, such as three of a kind or a flush.

One player draws a card from a deck, and each player checks to see if that card is on their board. If it is, they place a coin on that space.

If someone wins with a particular hand, they get the coins in that container.

But you have to keep your eyes on the board constantly.

"If you snooze, you lose, as they say," founder Mary Courtney said.

During DiMiceli's first session, she got to play the card game Mish Mash.

"I never heard of it," said DiMiceli, a Village of Chatham resident. "I had seen it listed, but didn't know how to play it."

She actually won during her first go-round.

"(But) it was just for the fun of it," she said. "(Winning) didn't make any difference. It's a nice social activity."

Davis, who lives in the Village of Chatham, has been coming to the weekly game session for the past six months.

Her first experience with Po-Ke-No happened last week.

"There are a lot of things to learn," Davis said. "There are 15 different things that preoccupy your mind. It's not a fast game at all."

Crazy Fun and Games has been around for five years. It started when Courtney sent a sign-up sheet around her neighborhood, looking for a couple of people to play games at her house in the Village of Calumet Grove.

"When (the list) came back, I had 17 names and addresses," Courtney said.

She later went to the Recreation Department to see about getting a room, and soon she was in business.

"It's a good way to get out," Courtney said. "We have an awful lot of fun."

Since its inception, the group has played such table, card or dice games as Triple Eight, Farkle, 31, Dummy Rummy, and "at least three different kinds of golf."

Courtney encourages people to bring in new games to teach to the others.

As for their favorite game, Dummy Rummy has taken the lead.

"The girls enjoy it," Courtney said. "It's fast."

Courtney has been a fan of card games for many years, especially during an eight-year span when she and her husband traveled in their RV.

"You play a lot of games," she said.

The Crazy Fun and Games group meets 3-5 p.m. Mondays at Chatham Recreation Center. For information, call Mary Courtney at 751-4240.

Michael Fortuna is a reporter with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9234, or michael.fortuna@thevillagesmedia.com