card games

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A Jane Austen Card Game ~ Suitors and Suitability

A new card game based on the novels of Jane Austen has just been released. Called “Suitors and Suitability,” it is the first in a series and is based on Pride and Prejudice – the series will also include Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Persuasion – they ask you on their website to vote for which game you would like to see published next – alas! I am disappointed to not see Northanger Abbey in the offing! – surely a fine book for a card game where one could get lost in the dank hallways of a Gothic Abbey! – perhaps we should begin to rally for Henry Tilney as a most major suitable suitor!

 

The game for 2-6 players, age 13 and up, costs $24.95 – a tad steep for a card game, but you should play the demonstration game  and see if it seems worth a dive into your pocket-book – the pictures are generally appealing, though Mr. Darcy seems sadly lacking [where is Colin Firth when we need him?]

 [sorry, this has nothing to do with the cards – but who can resist this picture! – with thanks to Vic at Jane Austen Today for sharing this luscious shot!]

Well, back to the game – I have just spent a few minutes with the demo and need to give it more time to pass any sort of judgment – right now I am a bit befuddled! – one needs perhaps to buy it just to see what it is all about! – I do think it might be a perfect choice for the next game night of our budding co-ed book group – but take a look and see what you think – and let me know!

 

And an invitation from the publisher:

If you are near the Bay Area of California you might be interested in our upcoming game night.  On Saturday, February 4th at 5:30 PM we will be serving tea with a traditional menu provided by a local caterer.  Along with the tea service will be a chance to mingle in our elegant showroom and play the game.  Period attire is admired but not required.  For more information, and reservations please see our website.  http://www.lumenaris.com/event_games.html 

The Lumenaris  Group, Inc
18675 Adams Ct. Suite H
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
Phone: 408-591-4034 

Website: http://www.lumenaris.com/suitors.html

And check out the other games offered – there are various puzzles, from easy to very difficult – for starters, you might be interested in this fashion puzzle!

 

 [all images from Lumenaris.com, with the exception of Mr. Firth]

Copyright @2012 Jane Austen in Vermont  
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Games People Play

WHIST is a card game well associated with the 18th and 19th centuries. But here is a game which sounds so much more up Jane Austen’s alley; it is called Conversation. The description of the game comes from the two-volume set of diaries (edited by Andrew Oliver) of Samuel Curwen. Curwen was an American, but he spent much time in England – hence the name of the book published by Harvard University Press in 1972: The Journal of Samuel Curwen, Loyalist.

It is March 1784, and Curwen is in London:

28. Fair but very cold sharp air… Dined at Mr. Charles Brand’s in Lambs Conduit street with our whole family, by invitation given 10 days ago. Drank tea and passed evening till near 12 o’clock there, the younger part playing at a game called Conversation Cards, which is done in the following manner. To each person is dealt 9, by 3 at each time, on each card is inscribed a word as King, Queen, Gentleman, Lady, Night, Morning, or any short sentence. The person on the dealer’s left hand throws one and addresses or speaks it, and so each peson successively adding some pertinent as he can invent till all being out of hand, the cards are [one word {ie, illegible or missing word; I wonder: gathered?} ] and the person who first threw a card down forms a story from his hand taking the words on his card for the text filling up the interval in the best manner he can till each has told his story; these being laid aside a new parcel is dealt as before &c. &c.
                        — The Journal of Samuel Curwen, Loyalist (vol 2), pp. 979-80

Conversation Cards, anyone??