Kings and Queens board game pits husbands against wives in friendly competition

By MICHAEL FORTUNA, DAILY SUN

Saturday, July 4, 2009 10:58 AM EDT

THE VILLAGES — It may be a battle of the sexes, but it is all in good fun.

Six neighbors from the Village of Summerhill — Phyllis and Ed Jacobs, Joyce and Charlie Kunda, and Lois and Bob Boettcher — have been playing Kings and Queens twice a week together.

So which side was winning: the men or the women?

“(The women) always thought they were winning, then we kept score,” Charlie said. “They threw the paper away.”

The six gathered Wednesday night at Bridgeport Recreation Center to play a few lighthearted, yet competitive rounds of the board game created by Jim McLane.

“It’s cutthroat, kind of,” Ed Jacobs said. “You gotta watch what’s going on.”

The first game went to the men.

“It’s luck,” Phyllis said. “Whatever you draw is luck.”

“You win the first one, but you’ll lose the rest,” Joyce said.

At each table of six players, three men were pitted against three women.

“It’s the age-old thing,” McLane said.

The object of Kings and Queens is to have one team get all of their game pieces back home first.

The players get five cards each and, throughout the game, draw from three combined decks of cards.

Each portion of the game board has several peg holes for the game pieces to travel along. Each player has five pieces.

To move a piece out, one must have an ace or a 10. If a player has an eight in his hand, he can back into the home base; otherwise, the piece has to travel clockwise around the board.

An ace can move you 20 spaces down the board.

A seven card can be split between two game pieces.

A jack allows you to replace one of the opposing team member’s pegs on the board with one from your own team.

The best cards to grab are the kings and queens, which can bring any of the pieces back home.

But if the men draw the queen, or the women draw the king, the card is useless.

Once a player has all five pieces back home, his cards can help the other players get their pieces around the board.

“When it gets down to the nitty-gritty, it gets interesting,” McLane said. “It gets going real fast.”

“There’s a lot of strategy involved,” Joyce said.

The Kundas have been playing Kings and Queens for about two years, starting out with friends before coming to the Wednesday night session.

“We thought it was a lot of fun,” Joyce said. “We really have a good time playing with friends. You get into arguments once in a while, but it’s a lot of fun.”

“I can play it,” said Charlie, who is legally blind. “I have everyone move the pegs for me.”

“The women move his pegs backward,” joked Bob Boettcher.

McLane, who lives in the Village of Silver Lake, created Kings and Queens some three years ago.

“I got tired of playing Hand and Foot and dominoes,” McLane said.

He made the game board out of several pieces of wood that connect, gathered three decks of cards, and used golf tees as game pieces.

“The first few games were crude,” McLane said. “I made some adjustments.”

He then introduced the game to some of his friends, and it was a hit.

“They kept telling their friends, and their friends, and it snowballed,” McLane said. “Never in my wildest dreams (did I think this would happen).”

McLane even made a travel-sized version of Kings and Queens so people could play the game in their RVs.

“They say it’s addictive,” he said.

During the summer months, the number of players hovers around 40, while the winter months bring in around 75 people.

If someone is new to the game, McLane will show them the ropes.

“They’re a good group here,” McLane said.

The Kings and Queens group meets at 6 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month at Bridgeport Recreation Center. For information, call Jim McLane at 259-1363.

Michael Fortuna is a reporter with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9234, or michael.fortuna@thevillagesmedia.com.