Monday 26 February 2018

Playing Pig in Appalachia - a card game keeping a town alive

What keeps a general store going in the days of shopping centres and online shipping? Lisa Coffman makes a visit to where a unique card game keeps a community connected and a store open.

As Highway 127 winds its sometimes lonesome way across the Cumberland Plateau, the road passes an unlikely structure in tiny Forbus, Tennessee - a century-old general store that hasn't closed like the rest.

That's because, tucked inside, another Appalachian relic abides. Often during operating hours - and you can tell for certain by the number of trucks in the lot - a game of Pig is raging.

Maybe raging is a little strong, but Pig does speak to the competitive spirit.

It's a card game native to just two counties on the Plateau. Four people, two partners, and a wily bidding war for who gets to set the trump card and, with it, the prized Pigs - the five of trumps and its same-colour doppelganger.


Source : bbc

No comments:

Post a Comment