demon light

There is this game that we play in my family called Demon.  I have never actually seen rules for it, but I have heard of other families who play some version of it, with a different name.  It’s a little like multiple-handed solitare but more … cutthroat.   Every person has their own deck of cards, with a demon pile (13 cards) and four cards in a row in front of them, then we all turn three cards at a time and play Ace-to-King shared piles in the center.  The more cards one gets out the better, and the first one to get rid of his or her demon pile yells Demon! and the others have to count what is left in their pile and subtract from their total cards out.  This game needs at least three people, five or six is perfect, and eight can be madness.

My mother played this game with her seven other siblings and parents when she was growing up, and my father played it with them as they were dating (mom and dad met at sixteen and married at 22).   When we were growing up, we played it with the family (four kids) and all of the cousins and aunts and uncles around.   With a history like this, you can imagine that I learned to play demon as if my life depended on it.   I should also point out that it is mandatory to make fun of other players during the whole game, and to quote the non-existent demon rules by chapter and verse (if they help you, that is). 

Enter the sisters-in-law.  Demon is perfect for chatting, drinking and whiling away the time on long holiday days.  The boys would be out hunting (or watching football), the kids would be downstairs making noise, and there the women would be having Bloody Marys and playing demon.   During an afternoon/evening of demon, when we’re playing, children are not allowed to interrupt us unless they are bleeding or if the house is on fire. 

Now, as nice as these three women are, they didn’t grow up playing demon.  Let me tell you, I had to re-learn how to play demon so I wasn’t so cutthroat, I like to call it “sister-in-law demon”.   Every once in a while my brother Brian would walk by and ask why I’m playing so slow, and I’d smile politely and say “It’s demon light.  Care to join us?” Every so often he did, and then my dad, and then the cards would fly.  We’ve been known to bleed.  Lana and Dawn would sometimes just stop playing if there was a large enough family contingent playing.

So now the kids are old enough to play, and the sisters-in-law are getting pretty good, even competitive.   So it was only a few games of demon light this Christmas (when the youngest player joined us), but the rest of the time the cards flew.  Dawn even let us keep score.

Posted by Marie on December 26th, 2006 under Family

Leave a Comment

rss feed
About Marie


Archives:


December 2006
M T W T F S S
« Nov   Jan »
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Links