Wednesday 20 February 2013

Level Up! Blogfest - Carioca


Today is the Level Up! Blogfest, hosted by Allison at Geek Banter and Jamie from Mithril Wisdom, and here are the requirements:

Share your favourite game with us! It can be a video game, a board game, a party game, a card game, a childhood playground game--you name it. Let us know how it works and why you love it. I still can't even decide which category of game I want to pick, because there are so many good games to choose from under each. Video games are obviously close to my heart (I can't wait to hear about your favourites), but I often post about them, so maybe I will share a board game favourite this time.

I do have favourite games in various categories, and my favourite of all time has got to be Donkey Kong Country - but I already wrote about it quite extensively back in 2011. Today I'm going to mention a card game I have played since high school days, called Carioca. Basically we now call it "karaoke" but it's got nothing to do with singing or music. It's got a lot to do with swearing and screaming in frustration, but only if you're losing. If you're winning you're more likely to loose a series of evil cackles.

I learned this game from my high school friend who was Argentinian. Apparently it's a form of rummy, and I found this webpage about it which I must immediately email to my mum and her best friend (who I still play with), because it may tell us some things we have been doing wrong. But in our version of the game, we go far beyond the 6 or 7 rounds mentioned on that webpage. We end up with 20+ cards in our hands having to sort out really complicated combinations of trios and escaleras. My mum even bought these plastic card holders to help us handle all our cards and avoid tendon-strain!

So yeah, I love love love card games, and am always willing to learn new ones! My mum has an encyclopaedia of card games and that's also fun to check out.

P.S. I think my love of card games certainly influenced the fact that I have a collection of playing cards from all around the world that I keep adding to.

Some of my playing cards - these were an "antique" present.

21 comments:

  1. I love card games, too! :) I used to play spades and hearts in high school. I also love euchre. Hanging with friends and playing cards is always the best :)

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  2. Some of my best memories are playing card games around the table with my family! <3

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  3. Card games are great and one of the few forms of gaming my entire family can agree upon.

    Carioca sounds pretty intersting. I'm going to save your link and study it further :)

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  4. Excellent choice! I've not played Carioca, but then again I don't know many version of playing card games other than blackjack and poker :S

    Thanks for entering the blogfest, Trisha!

    Jamie @ Mithril Wisdom

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  5. Card games are great, but I've never played Carioca!

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  6. I played card games as a kid, but I forgot how to play them. I wish I hadn't, since it's so easy to carry around a stack of cards.

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  7. We play rummy all the time. That sounds like fun.

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  8. Donkey Kong is a classic! I've always wanted to learn to play rummy.
    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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  9. I played Donkey Kong...along time ago! Enjoyed the read, and your new site!! Please visit mine too! Sandy

    sandysanderellasmusings

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  10. My siblings and I were major gamers with Nintendo, but it wasn't until I got married that my hubby got me into card games! So fun! And we used to play Donkey Kong too! :D

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  11. I grew up playing the card game Canasta. And of course Donkey Kong, Frogger, Pac Man. And Tempest... remember tempest? lol

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  12. My family tends to play a lot of card games when we go away on holiday, but I've never heard of that one.

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  13. I am horrible at card games...I think it's my poor attention span.

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  14. I've never heard of it, but I do love card games! Anything from Dutch Blitz to Poker to Rook to Frustration can hook me. Thanks for taking part in the blogfest!

    Allison (Geek Banter)

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  15. Very cool that you collect playing cards. I've never heard of that game.

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  16. I've never heard of that card game. I usually stick to poker, but my wife introduced me to 5 Crowns a few years ago, which is also a lot of fun. That's so cool that your favorite video game is Donkey Kong Country, too!

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  17. I -want- those cards. I may never play with them, but I still want them.

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  18. Just dropping in from the Level Up Bloghop. I never grew up playing any sort of card games or board games and I'm starting to think I missed out. :3

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  19. Ha, swearing and screaming in frustration sounds like a lot of my gaming experiences, fun as they are! :)

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  20. Donkey Kong would be more my speed. :)

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  21. I've never played that one, but I love card games. It's always fun to learn new ones - especially the frustrating, exciting ones. :-)

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!