"I don't know yet," she said, as she continued to deal the seven players around the table more and more cards. "But the ante is a dime."
"OK, that's enough," she continued when each player had four cards. She then proceeded to put the rest of the deck in the middle of the table, and flipped up four cards so they each were face-up and surrounding the deck.
"We're betting on Kings in the Corner?" I ask bewildered, since everyone else who had dealt had chosen a poker game, whether it be straight poker, Texas Hold 'Em, Blind Baseball or Follow the Queen.
"No, I'm making this game up," she said, seriously, turning to my uncle, who was on her left. "OK, David, you either can pick one of these cards that are face-up, or a mystery card from the deck to complete your five-card hand. What do you want to do?"
"Wait, wait," I interjected. "You mean this isn't an actual game? You're just making up the rules as you go along?"
"Yes," groaned the group in unison, as if it were a point that they had already argued, lost, and accepted as the norm whenever it was my mom's deal.
"Seriously?" I asked the group, which, in addition to my mom, consisted of three aunts, an uncle, and a cousin. "You guys are just going to let her do that? OK, so when it's my turn to deal, I can just make whatever cards I have in my hand wild cards so I end up with five aces?"
"No, you have to tell us the rules before you look at your cards," my cousin, John, said. "Otherwise, that would just be ridiculous."
"Oh, and this isn't?" I responded, watching my mom try to explain her game to the group as she was creating it, adding more and more "rules" as each player took their turn.
"It's more fun this way," John said. "We should put this up on YouTube."
"Um, that's OK. I'd rather keep this in the room," I said, shaking my head as my mom seemingly arbitrarily declared one of my aunts the winner of the $0.90 pot.
After playing two rounds of actual poker - thank God - it was my Aunt Linda's turn to deal.
"What game should I choose?" she asked my Uncle Chris, who was hovering around the table watching us toss around our nickles, dimes, and quarters.
"You should play Penny Drop!" he said. "Here, let me deal."
"Penny Drop?" I asked, glancing at my Uncle David. "I don't think I know that one."
"It's because it's a game he made up," he replied, as my Uncle Chris dealt everyone five cards and then laid the rest of the deck either face up or face down in rows in the middle of the table.
"Another made-up game?!?!" I exclaimed, dumbfounded. "Are you kidding? You guys are acting like there aren't enough versions of poker to keep us entertained for a few hours!"
Yet my half-hearted protests were drowned out by my uncle, as he explained the rules of Penny Drop. Basically, you choose up to three cards from your hand that you want to exchange to get the best poker hand that you can. But to be able to exchange each card, you have to drop a penny from a height of at least a foot onto the cards in the middle of the table. Whatever card the penny lands on is the one you have to exchange your card with. If the penny lands on the space between the cards, you have no choice but to keep the card you wanted to exchange. After a brief argument as to how high a foot above the table was - which was settled after my cousin Becca brought out the measuring tape - everyone took their turn dropping a penny using their own tactic to try to make it land on the card of their choice, whether that was putting some spin on it, dropping it flat, or catching the card they wanted with a penny bounce.
After narrowly snagging a queen that completed my straight after a short debate as to whether the penny was truly touching the card by the slightest hair, I ended up winning a pot worth at least several dollars, and ended the night $2.35 richer.
OK, fine. Penny Drop is something I can at least accept as a "legitimate" poker game, but only on family game night. At least that one has rules that aren't created up until the end, right mom?
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