Gin Rummy

Gin Rummy

Gin Rummy (or simply Gin) is one of the most popular two-handed card games. It not only can be played for money but is fun to play in its own right. All 52 cards are used. Suits, however, do not play a role in the game. Face cards are worth 10 points each; numbered cards are worth their face value; and Aces are worth one point each. One common variation, however, is to allow Aces to be either high or low. Usually when this is done, Aces are worth 15 points instead of one. The object is to get rid of the cards in your hand by creating sets of three or more cards that can be “melded.” Timing is important, though – the sets are played differently depending on who melds his or her cards first. The sets can be formed in two ways:

• Series: Three or more cards form a series in sequential order, such as a 4-5-6-7 or a 10-I-Q.
• Matching Sets: This is when cards are put in groups of the same value, such as an 8-8- or an A-A-A-A.

To play the game, 10 cards are dealt to each of two players and the remainder of the deck is placed in a pile between them. The dealer turns over the top card from this pile and places it face up to begin a discard pile. The second player then has the option of taking this card and switching it with one of the cards in his hand or passing and giving the dealer the same option. If the dealer also passes, the second player takes the card that is on the top of the pile – so that momentarily there are 11 cards in his hand. One of the 11 cards is then placed face up on top of the discard pile.

The dealer must then either take the card that has been discarded or the next card from the deck. This continues until a player decides to end the round of play, by melding his or her cards to reveal the hand.

Beautiful girls. Photo by Elena

Here’s where it gets complicated. The first player to meld or “knock” must have fewer than 10 points in hand that are not part of sets. For example, after several rounds of drawing cards, a player might knock with the following hand: 5-5-5 (a set), 8-9-10-J (another set), and A,2,2,K (not a set). This player can discard the King and then meld with the set of 5s, the 8 through Jack sequence, and five points (A+2+2).

The second player then must meld his or her cards, too. In doing so, the second player has the added advantage of being able to play cards off the first player’s hand.

For example, the second player might have the following hand: 2-3-4, 9-9-9, 4,5,8,Q. The 2 through 4 sequence and the 9s would be played in their own right. However, the Q could also be played off the 8 through Jack sequence of the first player, as would the 5 with the three 5s. This would leave the second player with only 12 unused points (4+8). The player who knocked would earn the difference between the two hands, or seven points (12-5).

If a player knocks and then is beat (or underscored), then the second player gets an additional 25 points for the feat. If a player melds an entire hand, with no extra cards, then he is entitles to say “gin” and obtains an extra 25 points. The winner of each round deals the next hand.

The game continues until one player reaches 100 points (or any pre-determined score). To play for money, players typically bet a certain sum per point. For example, a final score of 105 to 80 would result in 25 points to the winner.

Chess

Chess

As many of you already know, chess is a wonderful strategy game played by two players. Chess is also very popular as a computer game, although it is quite hard to beat the computer at chess, especially if the strength of the computer game is set at its maximum. Many chess clubs and tournaments exist across the world. Also, there is an international chess tournament in which national champions compete for the title of International chess Grandmaster.

Chess is a game of strategy and is believed to be linked to mathematical ability. If you are good at mathematics, you will likely be good at chess and vice versa. Many strategy books exist on the subject.

The rules of chess are easy to remember. Each piece has a different way in which it can move across the board and capture the opponent’s pieces. White always moves first. The Queen is the strongest piece, followed by the rooks and then the bishops and knights, and finally the pawns, which are weakest pieces of the set. However, only a pawn can be promoted to Queen, once it reaches the opponents end of the board. The objective of the game is to checkmate the opponent’s King. The King, similar to the Queen, can move in all directions, but unlike the Queen, can only do so for one square at a time. The two Kings cannot stand side by side, which is why it is possible to also use the King to checkmate an opponent. Perhaps the easiest way to checkmate an opponent is using the Queen and one or two Rooks.

Castling early on in the game is considered good strategy. You can castle King side or Queen side, King side being usually considered stronger. Often, it is advised to move one pawn (the last one) one square forward for the King to a have a space to move to in order to avoid a checkmate by the opponent placing a Rook or the Queen at the end of the “corridor”.

To be a good chess player, a lot of practice is needed and reading chess strategy books also helps. Professional chess games are usually timed, so there is an interplay between time spent on thinking and predicting move combinations. Similarly, for example on Mac computers, the inbuilt chess game has settings that have speed at one extreme of the continuum and strength at the other. We hope this article was helpful and/or informative and we wish you enjoyable games!

(Image in public domain, source: pixabay.com).

Where Kings and Queens Reign

The mind fields of chess

When it comes to drama, intrigue, and byzantine rules, few games can match chess, which is thought to date back to sixth-century India or China. Odds are you won’t become the next Bobby Fisher, who at age 15 was the youngest international grand master in history, but here are the rules that will take you to the endgame: capturing the enemy’s king.

Opponents face each other across the board, which has eight rows of eight squares each, alternately white and black. Each player gets 16 pieces of one color, black or white. From least to most important, the pieces are: 8 pawns, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 2 rooks (or castles), 1 queen and 1 king.

Place the board so that each player has a light square at the nearest right-hand corner. In the row closest to you, place in order from left to right: rock, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, and rook. Line up the pawns next to each other in the row directly in front of these pieces.

A piece can move only into a square that’s not occupied by another piece owned by the same player. If an enemy piece occupies the square, it is captured. You remove the captured piece from the board and put your piece in its place.

A pawn moves forward one square at a time, except for its first move when it can go one or two squares. A knight makes an L-shaped move, going two squares forward, backword, or sideways, then another square at a right angle. It’s the only piece that can jump over another piece. A bishop goes diagonally forward, backward, or sideways, for any distance. The queen is a potent force. She moves forward, backward, sideways, and diagonally for any number of squares in one direction. The king’s moves are like the queen’s except that he moves one square at a time, as long as it’s unoccupied or not under attack by an enemy piece.

When a king is under attack by an enemy piece, the king is in cheek. The player whose king is in check has several options : to move the king to safety, to capture the attacker, or to move another piece to a square between the king and the attacker. If a player can’t take any of these moves, the king is captured of “checkmated”, and the game is over.

Pieces capture an opponent’s man by moving as they normally do, except for the pawn. It can capture any of its opponent’s pieces that are diagonally next to and ahead of it.

A pawn can also take an enemy pawn “en passant,” or in passing. Say an opponent starts by moving his pawn two squares, instead of one, putting it next to one’s pawn. You can take that piece by moving diagonally to the square directly behind it. But do it immediately: you can’t wait for your next turn.

Once in each game, in a move called castling, a king gets to move two spaces. Castling is done only if the king is not in check, there are no pieces between the king and a rook, and neither piece has yet made a move. The two-part move is done by moving the king two squares toward the rook and then putting the rook on the square passed over by the king. Castling counts as one move.

Thank you for reading.

The Finer Points of Backgammon

The Finer Points of Backgammon

Backgammon is a game played by two players, each with 15 markets of stones – these days checkers can be used in a pinch. The object is to be the first player to move all one’s markers around the board and then off it.

To set up, the markers are placed on the board as shown in the diagram below. The board is divided into four “tables” with numbered triangular spaces, or “points.”

To play, each player rolls a die. The higher one goes first. Players then take turns rolling two dice to determine how many spaces to move the stones, with black moving around the board in the direction and white moving in the opposite direction. The numbers on each die can be combined so that one pieces moves the total amount indicated. Alternatively, each die’s value can be applied separately to a single marker.

Throwing “doubles” (say, two 4s), allows a player to move twice as many points as shown on the dice – in this case, either four markers can be moved four spaces each, one can be moved four spaces and one 12 spaces, two can be moved 8 spaces each, or one marker can be moved 16 spaces.

Backgammon Board is shown in the starting position. The goal is to move your men from your opponent’s inner table to you own inner table on the opposite side of the board. White moves in the direction indicated by the arrows, black moves in the opposite direction. When all of your men reach your inner table, you may begin hearing them off by throwing dice that (hopefully) correspond to the number assigned each point.

There is no limit to the number of markers of the same color that may stay on one point, but markers of opposite colors may not occupy the same point. If two or more markers are on a point, the point is closed, – a marker is open and is called a “blot.” If an opponent lands on a blot, the other player must move his or her man to the bar between the two halves of the board and can play no other man till the one on the bar reenters. To do so, the player must make a roll of the dice that corresponds to a space on the other player’s inner table that is open or blotted.

Once all of a player’s 15 men have entered his or her “inner table” (the opposite side of the board from which the player began), the player may begin bearing off by rolling the dice and removing any men that occupy spaces indicated by the roll. If a player rolls 5 and 4, for example, he or she may remove one of the men that occupy point 5 and4, for example he or she may remove one of the men that occupy point 5 and one of the men that occupy point 4. If the number is higher than any of the occupied points, the player may remove a man from the next highest point. Double 6s are an especially good roll at this point. Play continues till one of the players has removed all of his or her men.

Today I Am Paul

Today I Am Paul

By Martin L. Shoemaker (excerpt)

Today I am Anna. Even extending my fake hair to its maximum length, I cannot emulate her long brown curls so I do not understand how Mildred can see the young woman in me; but that is what she sees, and so I am Anna.

Unlike her father, Anna truly feels guilty that she does not visit more often. Her college classes and her two jobs leave her too tired to visit often, but she shill wishes she could. Se she calls every night, and I monitor the calls. Sometimes when Mildred falls asleep early, Anna talks directly to me. At first she did not understand my emulation abilities, but now she appreciates them. She shares with me thoughts and secrets that she would share with Mildred if she could, and she trusts me not to share them with anyone else.

So when Mildred called me Anna this morning, I was ready. “Morning, grandma!”, I give her a quick hug, hen I rush over to the window to draw the drapes. Pau never does that (unless I override the emulation), but Anna knows that the garden outside lifts Mildred’s mood. “Look at that! It’s a beautiful morning. Why are we in here on a day like this?”

Mildred frowns at the picture window. “I don’t like it out there.”

“Sure you do, Grandma,” I say, but carefully. Mildred is often timid and reclusive, but most days she can be talked into a tour of the garden. Some days she can’t, and she throws a tantrum if someone forces her out of her room. I am still learning to tell the difference. “The lilacs are in bloom.”

“I haven’t smelled lilacs in…”

Today I am Anna. Photo by Elena

Mildred tails off, trying to remember, so I jump in. “Me, neither.” I never had, of course. I have no concept of smell, though I can analyze the chemical makeup of airborne organics. But Anna loves the garden when she really visits. “Come on, grandma, let’s get you in your chair.”

So I help Mildred to don her robe and get into her wheelchair, and the I guide her outside and we tour the garden. Besides the lilacs, the peonies are starting to bud, right near the creek. The tulips are a sea of reds and yellows on the other side of the water. We talk for almost two hours, me about Anna’s classes and her new boyfriend. Mildred about the people in her life. Many are long gone, but they still bloom fresh in her memory.

Eventually Mildred grows tired, and I take her in for her nap. Later, when I feed her dinner, I am nobody. That happens some days: she doesn’t recognize me at all, so I am just a dutiful attendant answering her questions and tending to her needs. Those are the times when I have the most spare processing time to be me: I am engaged in Mildred’s care, but I don’t have to emulate anyone. With no one else to observe, I observe myself.

Later, Anna calls and talks to Mildred. They talk about their day; and when Mildred discusses the gardens, Anna joins in as if she had been there. She’s very clever that way. I watch her movements and listen to her voice so that I can be a better Anna in the future

Childbirth Courses

Childbirth Courses

Helping Nature Do Her Things

The Lamaze and Bradley methods rely on relaxation techniques

Among most expectant parents today, the name Lamaze has become synonyms with natural childbirth techniques. The Lamaze organization estimates that about 3 million deliveries each year employ relaxation and breathing methods popularized in Lamaze classes. A second childbirth program, the Bradley method, resembles Lamaze in its premise that much of the pain of childbirth can be alleviated by easing fear and tension. Here is a guide to the two leading approaches:

The Lamaze Method

Obstetrician Fernand Lamaze developed his birthing philosophy after observing techniques for “painless childbirth” on a 1951 trip to Russia. These techniques were based on the work of Ivan Pavlov, the psychologist who argued that the brain plays a major part in the perception of pain.

The Lamaze method assumes that birth is a natural and healthy process that can run its course with very little need for medical intervention. It teaches women to make informed choices in their health care and then to trust their inner wisdom to guide them through birth. In the typical course, which begins in the seventh mouth of pregnancy and runs two hours a week for six weeks, expectant couples learn different strategies for helping the pregnant woman cope with the stress of childbirth.

At the heart of the course are three techniques: relaxation methods, breathing exercises, and pushing during contractions. For instance, the woman and her partner in the birthing process are taught that by massaging and stroking the mother-to-be and learning to tense single muscle groups, while relaxing the rest of the body, the woman can diffuse stress. Parents are also coached in how to relax the body using meditation and other mental imagery. For example, a woman might imagine a blossoming flower symbolic of her cervix opening. She might envision her baby moving down the birth canal, or she might focus on a certain color or mental picture to help her relax. Walking during labor or changing positions – from the woman lying down on her side to squatting or kneeling on all fours, for instance – can also help relaxation. Many of the Lamaze positions take advantage of gravity and keep the pelvis tilted so that the baby can pass more easily through the birth canal.

Childbirth Courses. Photo by Elena

The Lamaze system also stresses breathing techniques for each of the three stages of labor. During the first phase, in which contractions begin and the cervix becomes fully dilated, Lamaze emphasizes slow breathing, in which the mother exhales slowly and keeps her stomach muscles tight as she inhales. In the second stage, also known as transition, when the contractions come fast and furious, the woman takes a breath and holds it for 6 to 10 seconds, exerting downward pressure on her stomach muscles as she does so. After no more than 10 seconds, she exhales and repeats the pattern until the contractions stop and the third phase begins. During the third phase, the baby’s head makes contact with the pelvic floor, stimulating an expulsive reflex which brings the baby through the baby canal. Lamaze teaches the mother to push until the baby is born.

For more information on the Lamaze method, contact the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics / Lamaze.

The Bradley Method

An alternative to Lamaze method is the Bradley method, which is used by 30,000 to 40,000 women each year. Developed by Denver obstetrician Robert Bradley in the late 1940s, the method differs from Lamaze in that it doesn’t teach breathing techniques, as it relies solely on relaxation exercises to control pain during labor. “The whole philosophy is that you can give birth without drugs”, say the leading spokeswomen for the Bradley method. Many of them became convert themselves after they and their husbands first heard experts explain the approach while these ladies were pregnant. When their own doctors refused to allow them to deliver the baby without using drugs, they arranged to fly to those places where this method was established, once they entered labor, so that they could have their babies delivered by Bradley method.

In the typical Bradley class, which begins when the woman is five-and-a-half months pregnant, expectant couples learn 12 different relaxation techniques to help the woman cope with pain during labor. Classes meet in weekly two-hour sessions.

Many of the relaxation techniques involve the husband either touching or stroking the mother-to-be or offering reassurance to boost her confidence. In another technique, called “warmth”, the woman imagines standing in a warm shower.

The Bradley method also teaches women that changing positions during childbirth helps manage pain. During labor women are encouraged to walk, to take a shower, to change positions, to do anything but lie on her back, because lying on your back causes a tremendous amount of pain.

For more information on the Bradley method, contact the Bradley Method Pregnancy Hotline.