Cribbage clubbers addicted to fun, competition

They gather together in the Olalla community center, some coming from as far away as Wenatchee and Tacoma.

They come, they say, for the game.

A good friend teases that I am there for them, that I love older men.

I do. I love older women, too.

I love how they regale me with stories. I love how they make me feel a young, sometimes foolish, 14-year-old to their older and infinitely wiser 19.

I love that they recognize that in our hearts we’re all about 19 on the threshold of new and endlessly exciting experiences.

They don’t disappoint. I stay in one seat watching as they come around to me.

They’ll play nine games in all. They always do, participating in a fast paced math and counting card game they call cribbage.

They learned it at their mothers’ knees. That’s a nice phrase, isn’t it? “At their mothers’ knees.”

It’s fun to picture these big, burly men, ex-soldiers and engineers, shipyard painters and teachers, sitting next to their mothers learning to play a card game they’ll play forever.

Some correct me, however, telling me it was their grandparents who taught them to play while the wind blew fiercely and snow covered the outside of their Wisconsin or North Dakota homes.

Still, it’s a nice thought and I love picturing it.

Cribbage, they tell me, is 20 percent skill, 40 percent strategy and 75 percent luck.

“But, wait,” I say, “doesn’t that add up to 135 percent?”

“Yes, I suppose so,” someone says and laughs.

Was it Mills Brubaker, who has been playing since the age of 8 with his three younger brothers? Or club director Larry West, from Seabeck?

I’m not sure. They’re always laughing.

And that’s why they come every Wednesday to the Olalla Grange for games that start at 6:45 p.m. sharp.

They come for the friendships and laughter.

“I love the game, the camaraderie, the people you get to meet,” said Bob Maupin, a long-time cribbage player.

“It’s the best game in the world for a young child to learn to count and add,” adds Mills, “It’s fun,” which explains why they play everywhere, all the time, with people, family members mostly, of all ages. They love the game.

It explains why two couples, Jim and Susan Knutson and Dennis and Lori Misenar, were married at Valentine’s Day cribbage tournaments in Reno a year apart.

It’s a game you play with family and loved ones, which is why cribbage boards were whipped out at Dave and Marilyn Grayson’s 50th wedding anniversary party on Saturday at Long Lake Community Center.

I listen as Dave elaborates on an event close to his heart. Fifty-two years ago, he was a young soldier stationed in Washington when he met Marilyn Carr on a blind date.

So struck by her beauty, intelligence and grace, he asked her to marry him less than two weeks after meeting her.

He had to wait until the Army made it convenient for him to do so, but he’s been grateful ever since.

Although Marilyn would rather quilt and knit than play cribbage, they happily enjoy RVing and their large family together.

Their party was a family celebration with their daughter and son-in-law, Teresa and Kevin Kessler celebrating a 25th wedding anniversary the same weekend.

Like Dave, Rocky Thrall enthralls me with stories — some, since he occasionally uses his backhoe to dig graves, I probably shouldn’t repeat.

I’m just kidding, they’re all good.

Rocky was stationed at a missile site in Olalla in 1955, returned to Milwaukee, Wisc., briefly and then settled down in Olalla.

With him around, you never stop laughing.

That’s not to say that cribbage is all fun and games. It’s fierce competition, too.

The top three players of each weekly club gathering nets points that are tallied up and recorded.

Over time, members amass points and rankings.

Dave, a charter member of the Olalla club, the Kitsap Peggers, is only 200 points away from a Silver Award, which is an accumulation of 2,000 points.

Three to five members of their 40 member grass roots cribbage club that draws people from Bremerton, Port Orchard, Poulsbo, Shelton, Seabeck, Silverdale and Tacoma are bronze members, having amassed 1,000 points.

One long-time member, Dick Ness, just won his bronze award weeks before he passed away on June 11.

A memorial is set up in his honor at the number one spot on the cribbage table.

A rare 29-point hand is displayed. A 29-point hand is the highest possible and the one that Dick had dealt to Leroy is showcased.

It includes three 5’s and a Jack with the cut card a 5 of the same suit as the Jack.

As each member of the club passes that place on the table, they take time to acknowledge and mourn their missing member.

A “grand slam” is a win of all nine games of a night, while a “string of pearls” is a loss of the same said games.

No one this night wins either of those two distinctions.

Some cribbage players, like the couples mentioned above, add tournament play to their cribbage endeavors trekking all across the Northwest and the country.

Points gleaned from tournament play are tallied separately and cribbage players with 2,000 tournament points can earn the distinction of being a Master.

Dennis Misenar has earned that distinction.

“When I started the club in Canada, I thought I knew how to play the game,” he said. “But I’m still learning.”

That’s the fun part of cribbage, they tell me. You’re always learning. And teaching.

Mike taught his granddaughter’s classroom at 9 Mile School in Spokane to play cribbage, the way he taught his four kids and all nine of his grandkids to play.

“When we get together, we’ll play for hours,” he said. “Some people play Monopoly, but we’ll play cribbage. It’s so much fun and I love it.”

If you wish to join the Kitsap Peggers, you must be quick with math (although, they will teach you how to add and count points) and love to laugh. They meet every Wednesday at the Olalla Grange at 6:45 sharp to play.

Call Joe Christiansen at 598-3051 or Larry West at 830-0783 for more information.

But beware. You may get hooked.

Mary Colborn is a Port Orchard resident.

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