| Food for Thought |
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My daughter and I frequently play beggar-my-neighbour and are always trying to foil one another with extensions of the rules of play which we consider to be to our advantage. What is usually at stake is the issue of what card to throw out under what circumstances. One of the best examples is when you happen to be holding, say, the seven of hearts. You may then shout "seven sticks" and chuck down every hearts card you've got. Having more or less got to grips with the game I ask her, in an attempt to avoid misplaying all my trump cards and showing her my entire hand in the process, whether the final card of the same colour itself can be used as a covering card, like the ace, which reverses the direction of play, or the two, which forces the opponent to take two cards, or the eight, which dictates that the next player has to pass, so that you may instantly place another card on the pile if there are only two of you playing. That card would then have to be a seven of clubs, which opens up the opportunity to break the record number of cards thrown down in one fell swoop, and that means you've won. As she understands where I'm coming from and, more importantly, appreciates that a blunt refusal on her part would deny her the advantage if it crossed her path so that she doesn't have to worry that things might go against her, she usually consents. Which forces me to calculate myself silly to find out in what order I should cover ten consecutive cards each of which has some additional function or other so as to get rid of as many cards as possible in a legitimate manner. I'll show you, she chortles, and a confident rush of cards hits the table. More fool me for thinking that my astute byelaws would be to my advantage, as I so foolishly thought when I first broached the subject … |