Rummy (with a Harry Potter deck of cards)

Our options for board games that we own but haven't played yet are really dwindling by this point. But there are all kinds of games that can be played with a deck of cards! And we have a really cool Gryffindor deck that we've hardly ever used. So Sam decided we should settle on a card game instead of a board game for Game Night tonight. 

It took a little bit to decide, since we needed a game that three people can play and that doesn't have super-complicated rules (both to keep from overwhelming Finn, and because we don't have unlimited time to play), but we didn't want to go with one of the more childish games that we've played before, like Go Fish or Memory. I suggested Hearts or Spades, then remembered that Spades has to be played in pairs (not great for 3 people), and Sam thought Hearts sounded too elaborate. We finally settled on Rummy.

We got off to a bad start, since neither Sam nor I could remember the rules, and we were too impatient to thoroughly Google it, so after a too-brief online review we jumped in. But so many things seemed off. We were discarding before we were drawing, the discard pile wasn't face up . . . it was just all kinds of wrong. 

Halfway through, we paused to read the Wikipedia entry for Rummy and ended up with a clearer idea of how to play. We restarted the game and it went much more smoothly after that--and it was much more fun. 

A quick rundown of the rules: Deal 7 cards to each player. Take the top card from the remaining pile of cards ("stock") and lay it face up; this becomes the discard pile. When it's your turn, choose either the face-up card from the discard pile or the face-down one that's on the stock pile. (You can take multiple cards from the discard pile, but having extra cards not only makes it harder for you to win--it also gives your opponent more points when s/he wins.) At the end of your turn, you must leave one of your cards face-up on the discard pile. The aim is to make two melds (three or four of a kind, or three or four cards in one suit that are in sequence). Whoever makes two melds first wins, and you score points by counting up the value of the cards remaining in your opponents' hands. 

Verdict? We're obviously going to keep this deck of cards (the face card art is so cool! And cards are so versatile) and we'll probably play Rummy again at some point, if not on a regular basis.