Pokeno Night

Yesterday morning when I returned from playing tennis with Mike, I had a text message from one of the ladies at Palm Meadows (her son is Max's best friend at school) asking if "I was interested in play a cool board game that night - call me."  So call I did and got the run down on 'Pokeno'.

It is a regular event here and the ladies rotate hosting the night. We had a lovely dinner and lots of nice wine with great company.  It was a lovely opportunity for me to meet some new people and have a night out.

Anyway, back to Pokeno.  It is a board game that is a cross between Poker and Bingo. We had 12 players which is a good size to ensure it moves at a good pace.  Each player is asked to bring a 'prize' of a set value, and is beautifully wrapped and placed on a side table.  Each player has a board with Playing Card images on each and a pile of 'pokeno chips'. 

Then the fun begins. The first person is handed the pack of cards and calls the first one out. Example Queen of Hearts. And everybody checks their board and adds a token if they have it - just like Bingo. This continues until someone has 5 in a row and they yell 'Pokeno' !!

This person then chooses a prize from the table, unwraps it and gives it a name - a single word, and then places the gift under their seat. As an example from last night was a beautiful glass plate set that was called 'Scallops'.  Then you start again with the next person calling out the cards.  We had such a fun time, and with many of the ladies not having English as a first language,we resorted to Clubs being double Flowers and Spades as Shovels !!

After everyone has gone around the table, it starts again. Obviously quite a lot of drinking has been done and in our case there were even Jell-O shots (ouch my head!!)

The game continues but this time around if you win, you can steal any of the gifts as long as you remember the persons name and their gifts' special name. But, of course, it can all be stolen from you again until the last round is played.

I had the loveliest night meeting new friends and learning a new game to bring back home to play.  It was a wonderful way to end a long week and I've woken up today feeling a bit tired but will bounce back quickly.

Here is my winning from the night - 'Scallops' and underneath that is an image of the clutch purse that we were all stealing until the very last round - it was beautiful and I am now going to buy one just for me !

If ever asked to play Pokeno, definitely give it a go !!