The Game
“Yallah…ta3alay gi3day…” her older sister called.
With one hand on her hip, the young woman stood proudly in the middle of their chalet’s living room, her university’s sweater clamped over her faded Winnie the Pooh-ed pajama pants from Al-Mo3alem. “Shofaw,” she threatened, “etha ga6aitaw il warag mara7 al3ab ma3akom khair shar.”
Her father shifted his weight on the coach, “La yallah mara7 ingi6 il warag.”
With that, she arrogantly snagged a chair and faced her opponents.
“6a3 shlon takhbe9! A9abe3ha imfarega!” her sister mocked her, slapping her limp fingers together as if shuffling the cards.
The youngest player smiled playfully as she handed the cards out.
Game after game, the riotous sisters demanded to see how many cards their father hid, “Ana adree feeee! Qashash! Tathkereen hatheek il mara khash sab3a bidal thalatha oo ma36eena il awrag il khaysa!” her sister’s high-pitched voice echoed in the room.
The game ended, and miraculously, she won the game. It was the first time she managed to kick out two people at once; both her father and sister failed to claim any ‘akla.’
“Yomaaaaaaaaaaa! Yoma 6ala3t’hom! This is revolutionary!” the young woman bounded towards the dining table where her mother was tossing the salad.
“La chathaba…bes 6ale3at ikhit’ha,” her father teased her, reclining back in his seat.
“Yoba!”
Ladies & gents, I give you the wonderful game of “Embayat” i.e. “6alab.”
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at 6:10 AM
9 Comments
That's a new one for me, or maybe my memory isbad. How do you play it ?
:) How familiar!
Ee what is this game? We do "hand" and "kout" in the chalet...
“6a3 shlon takhbe9! A9abe3ha imfarega!”
Haha! Ive heard that one many times!
Don_Veto: We have to sit down for this one...
Shurouq: :)
Sedna: Ask your dad. Maybe he'll know :) It's similiar to kout though...with the whole "bair" thingi...
DR: Wallah! That's how I shuffle my cards I don't know why! But I shuffle 'em good :)
Jambino: Haha! I think I'm just going to add them to whatever posts I write up. But the comic strip is a cool idea...sorta like a weekly thing. I'm currently doing an oil pastel piece though...that's my REAL side project...actually, it is literally on my right side right now! Up on the wall...Sundays are my "art" days...I'll post it up when I'm done, probably not soon though...it's my first traditional piece i.e. toratheya...
7tenths: Ah! My favorite commenter :) Well, I cannot teach you this game, for your own good that is. Without our cards, my sisters and I are trim and ladylike. Yet during the hussle and bussle of cards, we turn into slightly gutter-mouthed cowgirls bucking in our seats. When we were playing this game in particular, I remember my mother saying to my father,"Ikhith'hom il diwaneya ma3ak!" And I'll say it again: I WON THAT DAMN GAME!
7tenths: I LOVE "Lebanese Blonde"!
wow... i got the strangest sense of deja vu when i read that post... as if i've read it before... it hit me at the point where the sister says the father is holding the good cards... that was freaky.... :/
sweet story tho... made me miss my parents :(
Krispy: Weird thing is that my dad taught as the game and now we're beating him at it! And we still can't believe that he fooled us for about two years...he hid the cards under his thigh! Now we make him put them out on the table...of course he grumbles about it but smiles when we remind him about his decieving tactics! ARGH! Hehe, I miss that :)
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