Back before television, when you only needed your ears and imagination to follow a story on the radio, there were card games. Some were played alone, but others needed more players. I remember when we were first married in the late forties, when my husband and I were part of a Pinochle Card Club. There were six couples in our club. We met once a month on a Friday night at one of the group member's home. We were all young couples, most newly married, trying to get started in life. Money was in short supply. We needed a way to entertain ourselves that we could afford.

The Pinochle Club fit the bill. Whoever hosted the group provided small prizes, coffee and dessert. There would be a first prize and another one for the one with the lowest score, the booby prize. Homemade tally cards were punched to keep track of the score. Alcohol was never served.

At the start of the evening, the couples sat at the card tables wherever they liked. The tables were numbered one, two and three. As each game was played, the winners at each table progressed to the next table with all the scores being recorded on the tally cards. A set number of games were played, scores compared and prizes awarded.

The cards were put away and dessert served. There were usually two different desserts to account for the tastes of the group. It was also a time to exchange family gossip and learn the news. It seemed that someone was always having a baby with a shower being planned and other family situations to be discussed. Most of the women didn't work, but I did. This was before we adopted our first baby, Rickey. I didn't work after that.

With so many couples in the group, our turn to host the event didn't come around very often. This made it something we could afford, necessary even, since we were building our first home on a pay as you go basis. The club continued until we caught someone cheating. Then everyone quickly found something else to do. It wasn't fun anymore.

Pinochle was our game of choice. At about the same time, Canasta Clubs were getting started. My husband and I didn't get involved in those. We were farm folks and didn't fit in with what seemed to be the more uptown people playing Canasta. Our card club days were over. Anyway, our interests took a different direction. That was about the time we got our first television set. TV watching turned out to be a spectator sport. If someone tried to talk over the program, they were quickly shushed. We became more isolated, shut off from group involvement. Times were changing and would never be the same.