From Dragonfly: RummiKub

As a child, my family would gather at my grandparents home every Friday night. The menu was always chicken, and the conversation was usually around the family business (which no longer exists). My sister and I were the only grandchildren; my mom's brother and sister neither married until they were over 40 and never had any children. I was the "baby" growing up, which really got old by the time I was older and they still called me the "baby." It was always my family to dinner, and my uncle and aunt if they were around. My aunt was a traveler and my favorite days was when she was sharing her stories, that had nothing to do with the family business. Otherwise, I was mostly bored, as my sister never wanted to play with me, and there were no kids my age in the neighborhood.

For fun, I'd sometimes kick a tennis ball around a paved circle in the back, trying hard not to land the ball on the grass. It was a game my uncle had developed and once he and my sister were no longer interested in playing it, I would still go out back and kick the ball around the half mile or so circle. Sometimes I would find myself in the spare room, playing "war" or something with the marble chess set, or putting dimes in their antique slot machine (yes, my gambling started at a very young age, but the most we'd win on that slot machine was about 10 dimes...).

Once in a while, my grandma would go to the closet and out would come the game RummiKub. She had a set where the top slid off and the tiles were the same size as Mahjong's tiles, and the numbers and colors were perfect to read. My mom, sister, grandma and I would sit around the dinner table and play. The game says 8-adult, but I am pretty sure I started playing well before 8 years old. We'd play the game for hours, stopping only for dessert, which consisted usually of pound cake or homemade Mandel bread, and perhaps some ice cream.

My Friday nights growing up were fairly boring, except in those instances where I was included in a game. Nevertheless, I still looked forward to them. I loved being able to listen in on adult conversations and loved being around my grandparents. Being there every Friday night, I was able to get very close to my maternal grandparents and we always had a close bond. It never occurred to me that we were there on Friday night as part of the Jewish Sabbath, as we did not light candles, except on major holidays, or if candles were on the table, my grandma would light them without much fanfare. It was just our Friday night ritual, and something that my family always did.

Well, we actually stopped going to my grandparents just before I turned to a teen. Life had taken over by then. My sister was in high school and had "plans," my parents were fighting, my grandparents traveled a lot more and spent some of the year in the south, my aunt lived too far away to make the travel too often, and somehow, Friday nights just became like any other day of the week. I've always been fond of that ritual of a family night, though, although I have failed to replicate it in any way as an adult. Now, I live too far from my parents for a weekly gathering and we are all too social for a regular night indoors together. It's too bad.

What brings all this up is the game RummiKub. Looking through the list of games at indoor rec yesterday, I saw the game on the list and asked for it. Someone had out the newer box of the game, so Lola and I were given the older box. The tiles barely had their numbers or colors and we had to really squint to figure out if it was supposed to be a "blue two" or a "black" one. Numbers were often written over in pencil. This was definitely not my grandmother's set. There was no sliding of the top, it was a game in a cardboard square box and everything inside was plastic. We played it anyway, and the game came back to me as if I had just played it yesterday. Of course, a copy of the rules didn't hurt when I had the questions, "do I need to put two of my own tiles down if I take that joker??" Answer, "yep." So I taught Lola the game and we enjoyed a round before it was time to head back to our units.

Earlier today, we headed back to indoor rec (it's raining outside and a Saturday), and played again. I'd forgotten how much logic was needed to "manipulate" the tiles on the table and how much fun it was when you successfully did so and got rid of tiles in your tray. Luckily, the newer box of the game was available, and although still plastic, the pieces could easily be read for color and number. We played four rounds of the game.

It's nice that a game could get me to think back to some happy thoughts of my childhood. I miss my grandpa, who passed away about 14 years ago, and my grandma now lives in a home to help her for her advanced Alzheimer's. She wouldn't even recognize me anymore. Always the actress, though, she'd fake know me to my face and ask someone behind my back who I am.  She would have no memory of playing RummiKub or our Friday nights, but the next time I see her, I'm going to tell her about how much I liked that we did that when I was young. Even if she can't remember, she'll enjoy the story and smile, and perhaps cry (as she does a lot these days), while I tell her a good story.