On one of my first days at Villa del Faro, the subject of card games came up during a dinner meal and my ears perked up. Everyone at the table seemed eager to learn a new card game so I pounced at the opportunity to share the story of the epic card game that I can confidently say characterizes a Toll family member.

In general terms, Pounce is like Solitaire but with three to five people playing all at once and playing on the same stack that you are trying to play out your cards toward. It’s a very fast-paced game that does not cater to the faint of heart. Once the players have played a couple of rounds and feel ‘warmed up’, the game can (and usually does in my competitive family) take a sudden a critical turn as tempers begin to rise and participants begin to yell at each other for stealing another’s chance at playing a card, or hands start showing fingernail scratches from multiple hand collisions in the middle of the table to play the same card. The game sounds brutal, but I believe it is actually very constructive (so please continue reading to hear my claim).

After sharing my story about Pounce, people around the table showed enthusiasm to learn the game so I took my cue and went in search for decks of cards. I taught the game to the owners and after a few rounds, the mood of the players shifted from interested to intensely concentrated (to try and win, of course). The rapid shuffling and thunderous smacking of cards on the table lasted almost two hours. In between each round, people would share their woes and frustrations with a certain card not getting played or about another player being too quick and other players would mumble in agreement or sympathize with the player.

In my family, it is tradition to play Pounce at family reunions or even on a weekend afternoon when everyone’s home together. Here, at Villa del Faro, it’s become a customary post-dinner activity when people aren’t too worn out from a day’s hard labor. Players need to be strategic, calculating where to place cards when. The mind has to multitask in awareness, looking for opportunities in the form of cards being played into the middle and necessities showing up in the three-card draw. Reflexes must be quick, to pounce on the right pile before someone else does and create a chain reaction of winning plays. So in all, a sleepy or tired mind does not fare well…that is, for a beginner (like you?) perhaps.