things to do today

[magicicada]

• complete mini temp assignment - at home. this one's a phone/computer job.
  
• get sylvia a sippy cup. my impromptu dixie cup experiment went well. we may skip the bottle stage entirely. i'm going to see if i can find a translucent blue cup as sylvia is utterly and completely fascinated by h_postmortemus's ice glass.
  
• hunt down job(s)
  
• amuse sylvia - all day long
  
• watch sylvia like a hawk to see if the mysterious blue spots change in any way.
  
• continue the planning for sylvia's big move into her own room. who am i kidding, she'll still sleep in our bed a lot, but at least we might get a bit more sleep in the morning while she does her groove thing in the mobile.
  
• plot (evil cackling optional) sheepshead, etc.
  

Comments

[bexfiles.livejournal.com]

um... when are you plotting sheepshead for?

just wondering

*looks innocent but ready to run away*

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

h_postmortemus and i are trying to get together a weekly/semiweekly game. you will, of course, be invited during your stay. failing that, we may be able to whip together something impromptu. i've also found a filler game for 3-4 people that sounds intriguing from cheapass games.

[andyhat.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I forgot to respond to your TUGA mail about sheepshead. I grew up in Milwaukee, so naturally, I play it. Though I've never heard of a version with clubs as trump; it's always been diamonds, jacks, and queens for me (which is consitent with the games.yahoo.com rules, as well). Except for those two Bavarian guys I played schafskopf with, whose version had the picker calling the suit that would be trump. That was weird, though, presumably, the most authentic version.

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

yes, i have slowly become aware that the version i was taught is not that known in all parts of the world. the odd thing is that i was taught by someone who had learned it from his german teacher (both of my friend and the teacher admittedly took way too many drugs). there was a pool of ~30 people at my high school who played it that way. since then, when i have taught people to play, i have used the rules i am familiar with (including point jenn, but no one follows that one :( ). maybe herr tuck just preferred clubs all the time *shrug*. in any case, are you interested? i have received email from one other couple and i have another friend who is usually frothing at the mouth about sheepshead from whom i am waiting to get a response. that should make 5 and like i said in my TUGA post, more than 5 is desirable.

[andyhat.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely interested, and I have another friend that could easily be persuaded to come as well. I'd suggest that it would probably be a good idea to switch to the more common diamonds-as-trump rule, just so new people can go practice on Yahoo between sessions if they want.

Then, of course, there's the question of how to pick partners: call an ace, or Jack of Diamonds. Or we could just leave that to house rules.

the partner issue

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

what we have done in the past is have jack of diamonds partner. if the picker has the jack of diamonds, they can (but do not have to) call the jack of hearts. if they have both, they can call an ace. this is generally considered to be a horrific situation because it doesn't usually work as well as using one of the jacks. in addition, if a picker wants to go alone, they would just call alone.

Re: the partner issue

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

argh. i would say house rules might be a good idea.

[andyhat.livejournal.com]

Growing up we always played call-an-ace, which is pretty brutal on pickers. I'd never heard of jack-of-diamonds until my brother got married, and her family uses the jack-of-diamonds rule (with call-an-ace if the picker has it). I generally prefer that now. And, of course, proving that there is no end to sheepshead variations, I've never heard of the jack-of-hearts option.

So, anyways, when do we get to play? :) I can only do weekends, as I'm currently working in Charlotte during the week, but I'm quite flexible on my weekend schedule.

sheepshead timings

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

i am sending you and the others who have expressed interest email so we can all coordinate.

[sylvar.livejournal.com]

Isn't Sylvia a little young for Sheepshead?

young card sharps

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

prequisite skills for sheepshead:

• familiarity with trump
  
• ability to distinguish different suits
  
• knowing difference between red and black
  
• know numbers and some letters
  
• able to hold cards upright
  
• basic communication skills for calling aces, etc
  
• able to count to 61
  
  
  yep, it'll be a few years.