Crazy 8s

 Most of my homeroom had other things to do this morning: a couple were absent, others had SOL remediation, running club, math help. I invited the few kids who were left to play cards with me. "What games do you know?" I asked. 

"Uhhh," one student hesitated, "Spoons?"

I had taught a larger group that game a little earlier in the year, but to me, Spoons is the word search of card games-- an empty exercise, lacking any challenge or necessary skills. It is easy to teach, though, and kids love it.

"What about Crazy 8s?" I suggested. "Do you know that one?"

They did not, but the fact that Uno is based on Crazy 8s made it another relatively easy to teach game. We began with a shuffle and a deal, and I watched with interest as kids arranged their cards in several ways both in and out of their hands. "You hold all 8 cards so that only you can see them," I explained, and we were off.

As we played, it became clear that determining suits and face cards was another challenge, as was noticing when they picked up an eight. Even so, we played on. The student to my right was very into the game, but she was too candid in her verbal processing. "Oh no!" she cried when the suit was changed to spades. "I only have two cards left and they're both hearts!"

"I don't think you want to tell us that," the kid on the other side of her said, changing it to diamonds. Still we played on; I modeling the best demeanor and strategy I could, often asking if they had the same number or an 8 in their fistful of cards when they expressed dismay at not having the same suit at their turn.

At last someone, not me, won. "That was fun!" everyone agreed. "Can we play again?" 

Fortunately, the next game was a lot smoother, a little more like the thousands of hands of Crazy 8s I played with my brother and sister and neighbors and cousins and friends when I was growing up.