Spite and Skip-Bo

In the Crans-Montana grocery store, I had a moment of inspiration and tossed Skip-Bo in the cart. "By the makers of Uno" it said on the package, so I went for it. Brought it back, and Annika and I started to play... but the instructions were in German, Dutch, Italian and French. Thank goodness for wireless and Wiki-How. And then I read the intro - "Based on Spite and Malice"... and the memories came rushing in.

When my parents were away, we often stayed with my mom's mom, Meme, a grandmother of a different sort. She wasn't at all interested in babies or toddlers, and really didn't have much time for us until we could play cards. Then the real fun started. As soon as my brother was asleep, Meme and I would sneak downstairs for our mixed drinks - vodka tonic for her, 7-up with lime for me (I think I was in college when it finally dawned on me that we weren't drinking the same thing), then back to the card table. We had running matches of S&M, and her card table was littered with scores from her matches - with her daughter Lou, with a few of my cousins, and with me. The matches were cutthroat, full of the spite and malice the name promised. I loved those times, and loved the game.

And Skip-Bo didn't disappoint - yes, the cards were a bit more colorful than Meme's standard 2-decks, but the game was the same. Annika and I didn't keep score, but so far, I'm winning, 2 games to 0. I'm sure it is the experience factor!