Not that we’re competitive, but….

Liz and Tim came for dinner last night. Andrew grilled some soft shell crabs for appetizers and we had some nice olives and cheese. And wine, of course. After some catching up and lively conversation, we sat down for the main course, crab cakes, asparagus and risotto. It was delicious.

Then, as planned, we were ready to play some games! One of my favorite games is Quiddler. Liz and Tim brought a Skittles Table so we were going to play that first. First of all, I must say that this was a huge thing to bring. It’s not like bringing a deck of cards. It was as big as the one in that picture to the right. Really. And it even had a stand. And they packed it in the car and brought it over! I have a lot more to say about this game. But most important is that it’s loud. Really loud. So when the kids came downstairs to complain that we were keeping them up, we decided to play a game of Quiddler first. Once they were asleep, we could get rowdy. (photo credit and where to buy at the end of this post!)

Okay, back to talking about this Skittles thing. I love Skittles, the candy. I had to tell you that. In reality, I like almost all candies. Except I’m not fond of coconut.

When I think of Skittles, I think of 1) the candy, 2) Little Kiddles dolls but don’t ask me why. I thought I remembered a Skiddles doll, but I don’t even know if that is true, and 3) the game I remember as Skittles… like a tabletop bowling game. I even had that game when I was a child. But I digress.

So Quiddler was over & I lost badly. I usually do very well, but this was clearly not my night. But the Skittles game looked easy and I knew I could recover from being the Big Loser. So….

First I need to tell you that online, I found this game and it has many different names: Table à Toupie or Toptafel or Racketeer or Devil amongst the Tinkers or Jeu de Roi. The game is the predecessor to that 9 pin game and is more than a century old. The board top is made with several small rooms laid out and skittles (like small bowling pins) are positioned amongst the rooms and a top is then sent spinning from one end of the table in an effort to topple as many of the skittles as possible. Each skittle scores (or sometimes deducts) differing numbers of points. Some say that winning is largely a matter of luck. (I say it sure helps to know how to spin the top!)

It was time. Andrew and I got a quick lesson and the game began. I was teamed with Liz, Andrew with Tim. Wow. Not easy. I would say I wasn’t very good at it, but that would be the understatement of 2006.

But it was fun and we laughed. A lot. I’m not sure if the laughter was directed at me or not, but no matter. I had fun.

Game 2. Andrew and I were a team. Now this was really comical. We sucked. Not a little. Trust me.

But that’s okay. Next time we have game night, I want to be in charge of choosing the game. And I call jacks.

(You can buy the game from Mastergames where they sell a version of the game that has been produced by the talented craftsmen and students of Berea, Kentucky for more than 70 years.)