Gin Rummy

My family plays Gin Rummy. When we get together, the 6 of us, we have gin rummy tournaments. I don’t remember my dad teaching me to play, which means he likely did it as soon as I could count. I taught John to play while we were in Ghana 8 years ago, and beat him handily for about 6 years. But somewhere along the way, he got a lot better and now there is healthy competition.

So we’ve decided to hold a cruise-long tournament. Instead of the traditional “play to 250 and start over”, though, each leg will be it’s own game. We play as often or as seldom as we’d like, with the score at the end of the pre-determined leg as the final score of that game. To keep the stakes high, I’ll track the final scores and winner’s retribution here.

1: Seattle (from quitting my job to leaving Shilshole)
John: 424
Becca: 279 (embarrassing, really. I chalk it up to being very distracted with a to-do list so we could leave)
Stakes: jump in at the next port.

2. Sucia Island to Cape Scott (the top of Vancouver Island)
John: 272
Becca: 336
Stakes: jump in at the next port. 
At the beginning of this competition, we did not set a penalty if the loser delayed in fulfilling the bet. John is a great procrastinator. This round ended at Cape Scott, which we rounded on September 3rd. He finally paid his debt at Lake Tahoe on October 8th. Now there’s a penalty.

3. Lake Tahoe to Cabo San Lucas (bottom of Baja Peninsula)
John: 463
Becca: 700
Stakes: with the warming water, it was time for a new bet. This time – the loser had to eat a whole lime in one sitting.