In my commitment to lead a more balanced life, I am grateful for my Monthly Pokeno night! I say my, but actually I was lucky enough to get invited by one of my neighbors to a pre-existing monthly event.
So what is Pokeno? Well, before I get into that, I want to say how awesome it is to have a monthly recurring event like this. I seriously look forward to it every month. I work a lot and have been known to “cheat myself” out of a good time because I am in my work flow. I actually love working especially when I feel like I’m making a difference.
But all work and no play puts me off balance from the Good Life Model I’ve built for my life. So this monthly commitment to be social with a bunch of lovely people, playing a game over a margarita – well, I make it a priority. It takes me out of my work zone and it’s a healthy mental break.
What's Pokeno?
Pokeno is like Bingo only instead of numbers on the card, there are playing cards. It’s best played with a group of 5 – 13 but a few more can surely be added.
The object of the game is to get 5 in a row, this can be across, down, diagonal or 4 corners plus the middle square.
How do you play a round of Pokeno?
Step 1
Each person is given the following:
- Pokeno Card (let people draw from the deck)
- A deck of regular playing cards
- 25 Pokeno Chips
Pro Tip: Set up some zip lock bags and put the 25 chips and a deck of playing cards in each bag.
Step 2
- The Hostess for the month kicks off the game meaning they start drawing cards from their deck and shouting them out one by one so everyone can hear. “6 of diamonds. 9 of hearts” and so on. If its a large group you should show the card to the group as well.
- As cards are called out, each player checks their Pokeno card and if they see the “6 of diamonds” (example) on their card, they put a chip on top of the square.
- Once a person gets 5 chips in a row — across, down, diagonal or 4 corners plus the middle square — they yell out “POKENO” because they have won!
Pro Tip: If two or more people yell “Pokeno”, then the person with the best poker hand winds.
