Senior center offers cheap entertainment
Danielle Switalski
The Plains Senior Center offers cheap, fun and easy entertainment for its older population, something that will definitely come in handy as the winter months keep everyone sheltered from the chill outside.
Every Saturday afternoon starting at 1:00, the Senior Center erupts in a competitive match of pinochle, competitive meaning a laidback card game full of camaraderie and friendly competition. Even if cards aren’t particularly up a person’s alley, just coming to share life updates or catch up with an old friend, make Saturday afternoons a good time for any who come to play.
“We’d be happy to have more people join,” said Sally Sears, an avid pinochle player. The game usually lasts from 1 p.m. to around 4 p.m. and everyone brings a little snack to share for lunch. With all of the fall events happening on the weekend, around 12 people usually show up for the game, and more people would be very welcome to come play. The cost is $2 per person to play and the winner takes home the earnings.
Although the game is not particularly easy to grasp, Sears said she would help any newcomers learn and after playing two or three rounds, most people will catch on to it. There is not a real strategy to the game of pinochle, it is more luck based. Typically at the Plains Senior Center, the group plays partner pinochle because of the number of people that show up, however, when numbers are low or uneven it is easy to switch to playing three-handed pinochle. Partner play also adds an added bonus of getting to know others in the community, as a player switched partners frequently throughout the afternoon.
A brief rundown of the game is as follows: when played with a large group of people, four players sit at a table and partners sit across from each other. The deck has 80 cards of aces, tens, jacks, queens and queens, four in every suit. The game begins when players bid on how many points they will try to win in each round. Whoever has the highest bid picks the trump suit, which will be the suit that can beat out the rest. Then each team can trade cards and find the highest scoring combination. Play continues on from here.
Like any game all it takes is practice, and current pinochle players at the Senior Center are more than willing to help anyone learn.
There are residents who come from Thompson Falls and Hot Springs to play pinochle every Saturday. Thompson Falls Senior Center offers pinochle every Sunday.
The Plains Senior Center also offers dinner and Bingo every Wednesday and Friday.
Comments on this story can be directed to Reporter Danielle Switalski by calling her at 826-3431 or by emailing her at reporter@VP-MI.com.