Many GR seniors attend card game

There may have been 17 people in the room, but is was sure quiet as they were all concentrating on the game of pinochle.

The Golden Hour Senior Center game room was about half full on Monday afternoon; and all of those in the room were busy playing pinochle.

This game requires special decks of cards. Each player receives 9s, 10s, jacks, queens, kings or aces. Based on the amount a player has in each suit, diamonds, hearts, spades or clubs, they decide whether or not to bid.

On Monday afternoon, Joanne Conroy, Kathy Tarter, Melba Liberty and Bernice Ortega were really getting into the game.

While they passed cards around, the ladies joked with one another about who had the worst hand.

"I passed on this hand because I needed too many cards," Ortega said.

Ortega said she would have needed way too many cards to make her bad hand any good. Conroy, who was Ortega's partner said her hand wasn't any better.

Even with their so-called bad hands, they were still beating Tarter and Liberty, who just kept digging themselves farther and farther into a hole.

The whole game is based on points, and Tarter and Liberty had more than a negative 500 at one point in the game.

They were trying to get as many tricks as they could to get points back, but it just wasn't working. Each trick is worth 10 points, so the more one has, the more one earns.

At one point, Tarter and Liberty were able to pull themselves out of the hole and they were pretty excited.

"We're out of the hole and to the good," Liberty said.

Unfortunately, that didn't last long.

"We sound like we're mad, but we have fun," Liberty said.

She said it wasn't a big deal if they won or lost, they liked the socialization. As games wrapped up, partners switched places at one of the four tables full of players.

At the end gaming session, whoever has the most points wins a prize.

However, the ladies said there is also a prize for the lowest score, which Liberty and Tarter thought they might have a chance to win Monday afternoon.

Seniors interested in playing pinochle can do so by showing up any Monday at 12:30 p.m. at the GHSC's game room.