A sneaky card-playing version of musical chairs, this is a simple game with a raucous ending.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: At least three players, a deck of cards and spoons (one fewer than the number of players).

RULES: Players sit in a circle on the floor or around a table with the spoons arranged in the center. The dealer deals out one card, facedown, to each player, including himself. Each player picks up, looks at and holds this first card in hand. The dealer continues by passing cards, one at a time and facedown, to the player to his left. That player looks at each card and either may keep it (if it matches his hand) or pass it on. Players keep passing cards around, until one player accumulates four of the same card (four jacks, for example). This player must then--quietly--put his cards on the table and sneak a spoon from the tabletop. As soon as he does this, the other players must also take spoons, even if they do not have four matching cards. (The trick is to keep one eye on your hand and one on the other players, so you do not get left out of the mad dash for spoons.) The one player left without a spoon receives an S, and the game continues, rotating dealers, until a player has lost six rounds, thereby receiving the letters S-P-O-O-N-S.