Friendship grows from game

‘Think of it as moms with kids needing a break,’ one player said.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CANFIELD — In 1990, the Montgomery Estates neighborhood near Hilltop Elementary was new.

As new families moved into the two-story, Colonial-style homes, they wanted to reach out to their neighbors.

They held block parties. And within a short time, friendships grew.

As Pat Cahalin put it: “Most of us had kids in school together, played baseball or soccer together. What is beautiful is you could almost walk across the backyards to each other’s house.”

One day in 1992, Gerri Mikes, Rosemary Kubli and Lois Swartz decided it was time for something just for the ladies.

“I said we should get together and do something,” Mikes remembers. The discussion turned to a game called Bunco. Kubli said she had heard how much fun some neighbors had playing the game in California and Canfield.

Bunco flourished as a simple parlor dice game in the United States and Great Britain during the 1900s. During Prohibition in the 1920s, raids were carried out on gambling parlors where the game was played, however, leading to the term Bunco Squad for the detectives who rooted out the illegal activity.

But the the game experienced a resurgence of interest during the early 1980s as a legal party game, according to the World Bunco Association.

In February 1993, eight women from Montgomery Estates held their first game at Mikes’ home.

Within a year, the group grew to 12 women, and it has been a staple of the neighborhood ever since.

“Most of us had children, and we were looking for a reason to get out and be with the ladies,” Kubli said.

“Think of it as moms with kids needing a break,” Cahalin agreed.

The game has simple rules and is designed to encourage interaction, Kubli said.

The game “doesn’t interfere with conversation,” Mikes said.

“It’s not a big deal if you make a mistake,” Kubli added.

Each table contains two teams of two players each. Each player takes a turn throwing three dice.

On the first round, the goal is to throw as many 1’s as possible. In the next round, the goal is 2’s and so on. A Bunco is when all three dice show the same number on the appropriate round. Scores are tallied on paper.

After a certain number of rounds, half of the players switch tables, allowing for interaction with other players.

“Since you move table to table, you see everyone,” Kubli said.

The get-togethers are spiced up occasionally with themes — such as an annual pajama party when it’s Swartz’s turn as host.

“We call them our Bunco Babes or Bunco Buddies,” Swartz said.

The group also holds a Christmas party, took a trip to buy china, goes out to dinner and celebrates milestone birthdays — such as age 40, 50 or 60 — with cakes.

With relocations and the like, there are four of the original eight women still playing.

Over the years, the games have accomplished the goal of bringing the Montgomery Estates women closer together, in some ways more than they ever imagined possible.

“It has gone from neighbors meeting each other, to neighbors supporting each other, to neighbors being family,” Cahalin said.

“When I lost my husband, they were all there for me,” Janice Tach said.

“Who needs a psychiatrist when you have the Bunco group? We are a true support group.”

Over the years, they have celebrated together the births and graduations of their children and grandchildren and helped each other through divorces, illnesses and deaths.

Cahalin, who is battling cancer, says her Bunco friends have helped her through her illness by cooking for her, as they have for others.

“I believe I’ve learned more about love from this group than from any other,” she said.

runyan@vindy.com