spoons

A game typically played at summer camps. The players sit around in a circle with spoons in the middle. There are precisely one fewer spoons than there are players. Each player is then dealt four playing cards from a massive pile of cards usually consisting of many decks with multiple different backs. The remaining cards are positioned between two of the players. The player on the left of the card pile then draws a card and then discards a card (she/he is allowed to discard the card drawn that turn if she/he wishes) by placing it between him/herself and the player to his/her left. That player picks up the card and adds it to his/her hand and discards a card by placing it face-down between him/herself and the player to his/her left, and the process continues. The last player discards cards by starting a discard pile next to the draw pile. While this is going on, the first player draws another card and discards resulting in more cards going around. The objective is to get four-of-a-kind. The first player to do so throws his/her cards in the middle face-up and grabs a spoon. At this point, all players try to grab a spoon, but because there are one more players than there are spoons, one player will end up without a spoon. This player is eliminated and can sit and watch or go do something else depending on the circumstance and how close the game is to finishing. The cards are then collected and reshuffled before being dealt out again with one fewer spoons in the middle.