Family Photos: Playing games

Several years ago, I interviewed several major Jewish genealogy personalities for a Jerusalem Post article on how to get children interested in genealogy.

Judith told me that since her grandchildren were toddlers, she would spread out the family photos and go over their names. They soon recognized their ancestors and relatives.

Marlene Bishow of the JGS of Greater Washington (DC), hosting this year's 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, shared that her grandmother went over index cards with family information with Marlene.

These were grass-roots, personal efforts, and now there's an even easier way to encourage children and involve adults in learning who's who in your family - a true multi-generational effort in the form of a family memory game created by MyHeritage.com for its members.

MyHeritage.com has just created a family memory game - a set of family photo cards personalized for your own family - and that can be played like other matching picture games. Anyone can match the two chickens or two shapes, but can you match the cards for Great-Aunt Rose or Great-Grandfather Aaron?

It can be played for free online or card sets may be ordered to use at home - and they'd make great gifts.

Tracing the Tribe thinks this new game and the card sets will be a great hit with genealogists who are always looking for ways to get their families involved in their quest.

According to the press release,

The game, one of the first ever online family tree games, automatically generates beautiful personalized picture cards of close relatives and ancestors - based on each user’s family tree. Following the same rules as a typical memory card game, users can play online against other family members, or solo against the clock. With a webcam option, players can even include a live picture of themselves in one pair of the cards – providing added entertainment particularly for younger players. 

The game, one of the first ever online family tree games, automatically generates beautiful personalized picture cards of close relatives and ancestors - based on each user’s family tree. Following the same rules as a typical memory card game, users can play online against other family members, or solo against the clock. With a webcam option, players can even include a live picture of themselves in one pair of the cards – providing added entertainment particularly for younger players. 

The game is recommended for all users with a family tree that features photos of relatives. Click here to view an image of the game.

If you are already a member and enjoy the online version, order the printed cards, compiled from information already in your family tree, from MyHeritage.com to play at home, to take along on vacations or to family reunions. The card sets are available through the company's new partnership with AncestryGames.com.

Each deck of  60 handmade personalized cards features up to 30 relatives of the user's choice and includes birth/death dates and locations as listed in the family tree. Each deck (up to three sets) ordered costs $20 each (plus shipping; US $7, international $16). That shipping charge covers up to three decks.

For more information, see the press release link above or go the MyHeritage blog post.

JGSLA 2010: Jewpardy is back!

Don't know an ahnentafel from a taffy apple? A Gedcom from a Jedi?

If you love game shows and you love genealogy, this is the event for you! Just come along and join the fun at JGSLA 2010, July 11-16, in Los Angeles.

Tracing the Tribe had such a great time at the Jewish Genealogical Game Show Night (aka Jewpardy) at last year's Philadelphia conference that I wanted to give this year's edition a mention all on its own!

Be prepared to roll in the aisles (wear appropriate attire!) and laugh your socks off (just wear sandals!) with emcee Jordan Auslander, a perennial comedic favorite (and accomplished genealogist).

Regardless of whether you're a potential contestant or an innocent bystander, you'll love this fun-filled program. Last year, we saw Team Litvak vs Team Galizianer, Team Sephard vs Team Ashkenaz. Who knows what's in store this year?

The 2010 edition will feature new "Jewpardy" answers to stump professionals and challenge newbies. Now's the time to review your knowledge of terminology, historical facts, Jewish geography and Yiddish slang. Flex those fingers, as you've got to be able to hit a buzzer on cue!

Jordan is the consummate gameshow host and nothing - we mean nothing - is sacred!

There'll even be prizes.

Mark your conference calendar now for 10.30-11.30pm, Monday, July 12.

This event is only for registered conference-goers, so don't miss the fun. If you haven't registered yet, this is another reason not to miss JGSLA 2010; click the link to find all essential details.

Las Vegas: MOTs play poker

Tracing the Tribe is not always about genealogy, per se. It also covers the achievements of members of the tribe in various fields. Today it's poker.

A certain generation of us remember our male relatives playing cards (friendly or for money), and our female relatives playing cards or mah jong. But, as noted before, those weren't places where millions of dollars changed hands. They were decidedly small stake games.

Today, we trace the MOTs even to Las Vegas, where four (out of nine) are in the finals of a really big stakes poker tournament.

The Forward's story, by Ron Dicker, called them "Chai Rollers."

In defiance of the odds on a scale of, say, holding a royal flush, four of the nine players who will be sitting at the final table at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas are Jewish.

The competition begins November 7, with a $8.6 million top prize.

Where did some of these top players pick up their skills?

While many Jewish studies say that Jewish summer camps are one of the best ways to transmit and preserve Jewish values, Tracing the Tribe didn't know poker was part of it, although that's where one finalist learned the ropes.

Jeff Shulman, 34, learned the basics of poker at B’nai B’rith summer camp in Neotsu, Ore. He quickly parted bunkmates and their money. “It was fairly natural for me.”

You maybe thought that extra money for your camper was going for ice cream?

And although the Talmud says that a father must teach his son to swim, I hadn't heard that the next line was "teach him to play cards for big money." Jeff's father, Barry Shulman, is also a top player and took home $1.3 million at the World Series European Championship, on October 1 in London. The tournament was halted for a day because of Yom Kippur.

Jeff studied with his father to master the high stakes game, and in 2000 he also qualified for the World Series championship table, and finished seventh. He says he's always believed he was a good money manager, and doesn't think of it as Jewish.

Shulman lives in Las Vegas. The other three MOT finalists are Steven Begleiter, 47, (Chappaqua, N.Y.), Eric Buchman (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and Kevin Schaffel (Coral Springs, Fla.), are the latest to reach the top level of a game with a large number of Jewish participants. These top nine players are what's left of 6,500 people from 115 countries who entered the competition months ago.

“We simply can’t explain this statistic,” World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and tournament director Jack Effel said through a spokesman. Bo Bernhard, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’s director of gaming research, also was stumped, and said he could offer “zero explanation.”

Other MOTs who have won big recently are Hollywood agent Jamie Gold, who took home $12 million at the 2006 World Series Main Event. Player of the year for 2006 Michael Mizrachi won almost $7 million.

How are other MOTs involved? World Series titleholder David Sklansky has written poker theory books. Brother-and-sister duo World Series event winners, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke still play at a top level. Read about the Babe Ruth of high-stakes poker Stu Ungar in the complete article.

The story quotes Tel Aviv University sociologist Giora Rahav:

“I’d say that there is reason to believe that Jews have a higher rate of participation in gambling than their neighbors. As for making money by gambling, the only thing I can think of is that the [Jewish] tradition of well-controlled drinking applies here as well. If they are well controlled, they lose less.”

A woman eliminated early on, Martha Frankel, noticed the preponderance of MOTs:

“You look around that room at the World Series of Poker,” she said. “If somebody started speaking in Yiddish, half of us would have looked up.”

Read about Frankel's life and her book in the complete article.

Begleiter got involved in middle school, but made a commitment in the suburbs, playing in a basement poker league with his friends, who are also benefiting from his participation. Read about his profit-sharing arrangement with his friends in the article.

Rounding out the story, Begleiter pointed out that no matter each player's nationality or religion, the main point was luck. Mazal is a good thing!

“We all had our share of good fortune in getting here,” he said. “The Red Sea definitely parted for me a couple of times.”

Read the complete article at the link above.