The Wahoo board
One of our favorite things to do, when we get the chance, is to go to my BFF and her husband’s house or they come to our house for a meal and an evening of games. It is a night that we all look forward to and we enjoy each other’s company.
When we first started getting together for an evening of games it was always the girls against the guys. Sometimes now we will be partners with our husband or the other husband when we play some of the games. But most of the time it is the girls against the guys.
Our favorite games are Pitch, Kings in the Corner, Gin Rummy, Wahoo and Sequence. For some of these games it is every man for himself and others you have a partner. For me it is better if we have a partner for the games.
But if we are playing Wahoo it is every man for himself. Well, I guess I had better clarify that statement because it is not really true anymore. When we play Wahoo it is three against one and I am the one they are all ganging up on. I rarely win playing Wahoo when the four of us play a few games but I still try to get my licks in.
I learned to play Wahoo with my parents’ a long time before I was married. I watched my dad pretty close when we played because he always won. I learned the strategy for Wahoo from the master, but I evidently didn’t pay attention very well. I don’t think I learned the lessons as well as I should have and somewhere along the way I must have missed something he was doing.
For those that don’t know the game of Wahoo, the board is laid out with marble sized holes in the shape of a cross. There are 4 colors of marbles; I always play with the red ones which is my favorite color and the other colors are green, blue and yellow. You throw one dice to see how many holes you can move each time. When you are in the start position (on this board where the Indian is kneeling) you have to roll a 1 or a 6 to get on the board to start playing.
Each person in turn rolls the dice to try and get on the board. If you roll a 6 once you are on the board you move your marble and then you can roll again. The object of the game is to get all 4 of your marbles around the board and home or the safe spot, where the teepee is on this board, before the other players get theirs home.
If you roll a number that will take you to the spot that another player’s marble is sitting you can move up to that spot and send him back to start over. The idea is to get all your marbles home before the other players get theirs back home to safety. If you happen to send some of theirs back to start over, all the more fun for the person landing on them.
All my dad’s strategies worked for him and they did for me for awhile when our foursome got together. His strategy and mine was always; send the other players back to the start as often as you can. So even if I can move one of my marbles and advance closer to the home row and safety, I will always choose to send one of their marbles back to start over if I have the chance.
That worked for awhile but now they have ganged up on me and it is 3 against 1, they are all after my red marbles to send them back to the start. It seems like I have to start over a lot and I rarely win the game of Wahoo when the 4 of us play. But even though I am always the underdog now, I will still deal them some misery every chance I get. If I have at least one of my red marbles on the board it is going to be after the blue, green and yellow ones to send them back to start over. To contact Sandy: [email protected]
