User:Amykray/Squidge

Squidge (also spelled Squige) is a fast paced, highly competitive card game played by three or more players - the more the better. Squidge resembles double solitaire. Players each have a deck of cards. Play begins by each player counting off a 13-card "Squidge Pile", leaving 12 of the cards in the pile face down and one face up. To the right of the squidge pile the players each place four more cards face up. Once the last player has placed his/her four cards, the play begins. As in solitaire, players sift through their remaining cards three-at-a-time, sorting cards as follows: Aces are placed in a common area at the center of the table and any player may add subsequent cards in the suit. Players may also add cards to their own four face up cards as follows: in descending order, and alternating suit colors. Players may remove cards from the squidge pile and add them to either the common piles or the four columns as appropriate. The play moves rapidly. When more than one player attempts to add the same card to a pile, speed is essential because there can only be one of each card in the pile. The first player to distribute all of his / her cards from their squidge pile yells "SQUIDGE!" and all play must stop. Each player gets a point for every card they had in the common piles. The player who Squidged gets a point for each of the remaining cards on his/her opponents' squidge piles. Players can determine a score that wins or can keep playing subsequent rounds until exhaustion sets in.

The game's origins are unknown but it is believed to have been introduced in America by either Sadie Granoff of Jersey City, NJ or Yetta Kalafa of Hartford, CT and was popularized by the two matriarchs at holiday gatherings when the dining table was made large to accommodate a family group. After clearing the table and doing the dishes, family members reassemble for this lively no-holds-barred card game. Record holding Squidge champions include Dr. Joel Kalafa, Marcia Kalafa and Ethel Dembe.