Today's Kool Idea: Personalized Deck of Playing Cards

Do you remember learning your first card game? Ours was Go Fish, of course. A deck of cards is the simplest and perhaps the most versatile form of entertainment for the entire family. Seriously, can you think of another object that can provide anywhere near as many different activities for less than $2? So many wonderful memories from our childhood are centered around card games. We spent hours playing games like Spit, Slap Jack and War with our brother...in fact, it was practically the only time we got a long. Gin Rummy really helped us bond with our grandparents., even through those difficult teenage years. And who could forget all of the drinking games from the college years...um, maybe we shouldn't go there.

With so many different card games that appeal to young and old, it's a wonder why families don't spend more time playing. Sure, everyone agrees that a deck of cards is a "must have" for vacations, but what about creating a nightly routine before bedtime? Just think about the educational, strategy and social skills you could be teaching your children. We started our kids as young as three with classics such as Old Maid and Concentration (Memory). Their current favorite is Rummy...Grandma would be so proud!

We at The Daily Kool want to make sure that we continue to foster our children's love for card games, even in today's technology-driven world. So, for about $20 each, we decided to treat our kids to their very own personalized deck of playing cards this year. We found a terrific site called YourPlayingCards.com, where we were able to help each of them design their very own deck. Check out the one we did for our precious poodle, Pepper...isn't he gorgeous? It was so easy...we selected our layout, downloaded the picture of our choice and inserted some text...that was it!

Don't get us wrong...we know a personalized deck of playing cards is not exactly a necessary item for kids to have. But who cares? Our kids thought it was the "koolest" thing to create their own customized cards on YourPlayingCards.com, and are expecting to be the envy of all their friends. You'd be amazed how quickly kids abandon their handheld electronic games in favor of playing a round of Crazy Eights with their friends. Plus, these personalized decks of playing cards will make great holiday gifts for our poker buddies. If we really want to get fancy, we can even splurge for a customized deck of photo playing cards with a different picture on the face of every card at the MakeADeck.com site (owned by the same people) for about $50. What a great gift idea for our parents to have for their weekly Canasta game!

Here's the bottom line. Playing card games with others is a great way to slow down from the craziness of today's hectic lives. Opportunities to spend some quality time with friends and family in our fast-paced world are few and far between...a deck of cards just naturally brings everyone together, regardless of whether they are young or old. If you haven't already done so, it is definitely time to pass on the love of playing cards to your children, and a personalized deck from sites such as YourPlayingCards.com and MakeADeck.com will undoubtedly add to the fun. What could be "kooler" than that?

Here are just a few traditional single deck card game ideas:

• Go Fish
• Old Maid
• Rummy
• Gin Rummy
• Casino (we loved this one as kids!)
• War
• Spit
• Slap Jack
• Whist
• Concentration/Memory
• Snap
• 21
• Crazy Eights
• 52 Card PickUp (the perrenial favorite way to torture siblings)
  
• Poker
• Solitaire
  

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Today's Kool Idea: Original UNO Card Game

This week has marked the beginning of summer vacation for The Daily Kool family. Unfortunately, everyone's been sick for the past few days, so we've been stuck at home. Poor kids! They really just want to go outside and ride their bikes or swim in the pool. Instead, we've been raiding our closets all week, trying to come up with different ways to keep them entertained indoors. It hasn't been easy, especially since television is not our favorite pastime. It was time to introduce a classic from our own childhood to the kids.

The other day, we were digging through some old childhood boxes that our parents had finally given us, when we found an old (and we mean old) set of the original UNO card game. Oh, the memories it brought back! We were absolutely obsessed with UNO when we were kids and was the only card game we knew that could accommodate up to ten of us who wanted to play at the same time. The deck consists of cards of 4 colors: red, green, blue, and yellow. The ranks in each color are 0-9. There are 3 "action" cards in each color, labeled "skip", "draw two", and "reverse". There are also special black action cards, "wild" and "wild draw four". At each turn, a player may play a card from their hand that matches the color or rank/number of the top exposed card, or play a wild or wild draw four. When a player plays down to only one card, that player is required to say "Uno" to warn other players. The Daily Kool rules determine that whoever goes out completely wins...however, UNO was originally designed on a point system (each card has a numerical value).

Mattel has attempted to modernize the game with its introduction of versions such as UNO Attack, UNO Spin and UNO H2O Splash. Honestly, though...none of them can possibly compare to the original UNO card game. Perfect in its simplicity, UNO is a wonderful game for all ages...it never loses its excitement. Although it's labeled for ages 7+, the rules are simple enough (similar to Crazy Eights) that our four year old has learned it with ease. In fact, UNO has quickly become an obsession with both of our kids. We couldn't be happier, especially since it teaches valuable color, number, pattern and strategy skills. The only challenge for our youngest child is in holding the cards, but we help him by fanning them out for him a few times during play. We will say though that we much prefer the original UNO card design from 1995 (the one we have), which defined the action cards with words instead of symbols...too bad it's not available anymore.

The original (and still the best) UNO card game is an educational and wholesome game that can be enjoyed by the entire family. Portable enough to take anywhere, UNO will undoubtedly give your kids hours of television and video game-free entertainment. What a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with your children...nothing is "kooler" than that.





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