Ok, you heard it in the song, how we went to church on Sundays and spent the evenings playing spoons (well, go back and listen to the words again if you missed it! lol).  Because now, for those of you who have never played spoons (it's SO easy and SO fun), I'm going to teach you how.  And for those of you who have played, you'll now learn the ever famous ELMER RULES!! 

(yes, we had Elmer rules for monopoly too)

SPOONS:

You need a deck of regular playing cards without the jokers.  You also need a lot of players, the more the merrier!!   (also, the more you have, the stronger the table needs to be). 

For the number of players that you have, you need spoons (no plastic spoons), enough for one each, except take away one.  For example, if you have the seven kids from my family playing and the 14 kids from my dad's brother Jay's family playing, that is 21 kids, then you need only 20 spoons.

You also need a piece of paper and pen/pencil to keep score and a place for each person to sit around the table.

Place all of the spoons facing alternating directions around or up and down the table, equidistant as possible from each player.  The dealer is chosen and passes out one card at a time to each player until each player has four cards.  The dealer retains the rest of the deck. 

The object of the game is to get four of a kind and as soon as you do, take a spoon, thus beginning a chain reaction of everyone else reaching for a spoon once they see you taking your spoon.  The person left without a spoon has lost round one.  In the normal rules they would recieve the letter S for spoons on the score sheet and the first person to spell the word spoons is eliminated from the game.  You play until one person is left, that person being the winner.

Playing of the game:  the dealer begins play by looking at the first card in the deck with one hand only (nobody is allowed to pick up more than one card at a time if cards begin to stack up).  If the card is one he needs toward his 4 of a kind, he takes it and discards a card he doesn't need to the player to his left.  If he doesn't need it, he merely passes it to his left.  He continues looking, one at a time, at each card in the deck, passing them on to the left or switching.  Therefore, nobody at any time may have more than 4 cards in their hand at a time.

Also, when somebody gets that 4 of a kind, before they reach for that spoon, the only requirement is that they lay down the 4 of a kind face up, in plain view.  They may do it quietly if they wish.  (sometimes Elmers like to do that and watch everyone madly checking their cards and see who catches on first, lol).

Now, the bit of Elmersville history involved is very true--when my grampa Jesse (seen in the default photo) built this house for us, he initially did not call the area Elmersville (most pioneers didn't name places after themselves, rather, after animals and such).  Well, my grampa named the area Jackass Flats.  I'm guessing it was about the animal, not people who acted that way, because my Dad allowed me to say it, and it's relevance in this blog is this: 

Instead of spelling out the word Spoons, we followed Elmer rules and spelled out the word Jackass.  Honest Injun!!!

Another really fun memory is the time that we broke my aunt's kitchen table playing this game. 

CAUTION:  playing of the game spoons, especially following Elmer rules can be hazardous to your health and your furniture. 

(recently, while playing spoons, i tackled my 9-year old daughter for a spoon.  she is ok and still loves the game.)

ENJOY!!!!