Ready, SET, Go!

For posterity's sake I must document a recent family obsession....

JJ's Boss Ed and his family very kindly gave us some games for Christmas. Amongst them is a new family favorite called SET. My kids have become obsessed with it-playing it non stop for the last month or so. It even beat lasts year's Master Mind binge. SET is a great thinking game for minds with short attention spans. Since I am always a fan of games that require some neurons to fire, I have joined wholeheartedly in the fun.

In the beginning... I was the queen of set. Then one day I looked into my magic mirror to ask

“Who is the greatest set player of them all?”
and it was Princess Laney.

 She is definitely the most consistent winner, but all the kids have become quite good. One day we decided to do teams, kids against parents, and the kids kicked our butts! I mean really kicked our butts. Their sharp eyes are able to register sets before our  brains even register there are cards. Since that day we have challenged them numerous times and at best tied them once.  My own personal performance has suffered as well. I rarely ever win now and when I do, it's close.  One day I realized the exact direness of my position...

 It was while I was playing Jordan, desperately trying not to be shown up by my five year old, that I realized playing this game with the kids is really just a lose, lose situation. Since there is no luck involved- If he beats me, I suffer the humiliation of being bested by him at this thinking game. If I win, I suffer the humiliation of finding satisfaction at being able to beat him.

There truly is no real way to win, but nevertheless, I still love playing it, which I think is the surest sign of a great game!

But...now that I think about it...

there just may be one way for me to win

And So I offer this to Kirin - (Ed's college age daughter that completely skunked us the night they gave us this game) 

We have some challengers.

Watch them and weep.

Oh, yeah --it's game on sista' my kids are going to whoop you!

 

Here's How to Play Our Favorite Game

The game is made up of cards with with four variables.

3 different shapes,

3 different colors of shape,

3 different numbers of shapes per card,

 and 3 different shadings for the shapes.

You deal out 12 cards face up at a time. You call “Set” when you see one and scoop it up. Then replace the 3 cards and keep looking. When all cards have been dealt the person with the most sets wins.

Here are all the beautiful Set Cards ....minus two:(

What is a Set?

A set is made up of 3 cards in which any one attribute is either all the same or all different.

A Sample Set

Same shading, different shapes, different color,

different number

(I love the striped sets, they are so pretty!-- I know I am a nerd!-- but I am not the only one. I mentioned this preference out loud one day and the girls echoed agreement, Apparently I wasn't the first to think it.

These are sets

 These are not

 Ready for a brain Squeeze? ......

How Many Sets Can You Find????