bunco

My grandma and I hosted a dozen women on Wednesday for Bunco.

Bunco is a very simple dice game. Three tables are set up for four women at each table. The person across the table from you is on your team. The goal is for your team to roll the most of a designated number. So during the first round everyone tries to roll ones. Eventually someone rings a bell and everyone gets up and moves around, to a different table or a different seat, so that you are with a different partner and have different "opponents". Then you try to roll twos. Eventually someone rings the bell and everyone gets up... And so it continues for two hours.

I haven't figured out how to make the dice land on the number you want it to. So this game of "chance" is a low pressure game where everyone cheers and teases everyone else.

And because it is so simple you can easily carry on a conversation while playing. Which is definitely the best part.

Several of the ladies are going to Ireland in the Spring. Some have already been to Ireland so told us all about "the most beautiful country I've ever been to." Others had just gotten back from road trips to see family, or had shorter trips--to Branson, to Tulsa--planned in the near future.

One just had a new great-grandbaby that morning. Four weeks early. So we talked about all of the little ones in our lives, how unique they each are, and how much they teach us.

Many I hadn't seen since I lived with my grandmother 10 years ago. So I caught them up on my writing life. Working from home. Living on the family farm. Competing in triathlons. "One of our friends is doing a half-marathon next week," they said. "She walks 18 miles a day." I pray I am able to do so much when I am 76!

After two hours of play and the chance to talk with everyone in the room, Grandma and I served pie and coffee and continued our conversations into the afternoon. When I was ready for a walk and everyone else a nap.

I think this game is genius because it allows you to socialize with a dozen people in 20,000 different combinations (don't check my math) of 4 over a 2 hour period. And you get at least 5,000 stories with 10,000 different perspectives on those stories. Plus you are exercising your brain because you are simultaneously rolling dice, looking at dice, counting dice, keeping score, listening for a bell, and carrying on a conversation. And, like me, you might just walk away with $5 in winnings at the end!

EMBRACE BUNCO.

Taking the time to play, and talk, and eat with others is what life is all about!