Thanksgiving and Lots and Lots of Kent

Thanksgiving was spent with my family and friends, enjoying homemade comfort foods and taking a relaxing break from the daily grind. I also got plenty of brother-sister time in, which I was craving for quite awhile. I see Carter about twice a month, but if I go a week or two without seeing him, I get love pains. So, I soaked up as much love, comfort, food, fun, and a few episodes of my favorite show (What Not to Wear) before returning to Philadelphia.

Over Thanksgiving, my Aunt Sue taught my family a very fun game called Kent. It requires 4 players and is best played with either 4 or 6 people. It's an even number game, sorry for those with odd numbered families. However, if you do have an odd number of members in your family, I suggest promoting one person to Judge. A Judge isn't required, but it's a fun way to participate if any sticky situations arise. Below are the rules to the game incase you want to try it out...

Objective 1: Get 4 cards with the same number. So, four 6's, four 7's, four K's, etc. *SUITE DOESN'T MATTER*

Objective 2: Once you have 4-of-a-kind, you have to communicate with your partner, in any way you like, to indicate to them that you have 4-of-a-kind and your partner MUST call KENT for you. *YOU CANNOT CALL KENT FOR YOUR OWN HAND*

Calling Kent is the fun part because you have to not only try complete your own hand, you have to watch or be aware of your partner in order to call KENT. If you figure out your opponents secret signal or you feel that someone else has KENT, you can call it at any time. If you call KENT on an opponent and they do or do not have it, your team will either gain or loose a point. The game is resumed if KENT is falsely called on a partner or opponent.

Examples of secret signals:
Ben and I used animal names and names of the players at the table. For example, "Where is Bailey?" or "Come on Ivy." Ben was much better at using verbal signals as he is more talkative. Another example of communicating to your partner is to use your hands. You can open or close fingers to let your partner know you have KENT. We also started to kick one another under the table, which became very funny in the moment. We ended up rotating around the table to give the game a nice change.

Rules:

1. Everyone has a partner, so if you have a 4 person family, I recommend 2 people on each side of the table. The person directly facing you is your partner.

2. The Dealer gives 4 cards to each player, including Dealer.

3. 4 cards are removed from the deck and placed in the middle. Each play can pick up as many as they wish to help their hand, but you must discard as many are you pick up so you always have 4 cards at all times. Once the cards on the table are no longer useful to anyone, they become DEAD and are pushed to the side.

4. Repeat STEP 3 until someone has KENT.

Wow... I just reread my instructions and although they seem long, it is actually a very fun and simple game to play. If you have children in your family under the age of 12, I recommend playing this game with adults first so you can become comfortable at it before explaining it to children. Children can play, it just takes a bit longer.

Go and play!! :)