Po-Ke-No
Posted on September 30, 2007 - Filed Under Board Games, Games, Reviews, Volley Blog
This is a game that brings back many memories, especially since the passing of my aunt a few weeks ago. The memories were made at her house. It seemed like when I was a kid that we’d go over there almost every weekend and on holidays. The grown-ups would all gather in the big kitchen, around the table, playing this game of Po-Ke-No. Meanwhile, we kids ran around outside or were in my cousin’s bedroom, turning it into a haunted house by throwing a blanket over his glowing pinball machine to make eerie lighting effects. Either that, or we’d be busy playing a board game of our own.
When we got old enough, we got to play Po-Ke-No too, WITH the adults! It was so neat when you first got to be included! Mom would start us off with a couple of rolls of pennies but after that we’d eagerly save our own pennies at home for the next time we could play Po-Ke-No with the adults, always in awe of our own mom’s collection which she kept in one of those five gallon glass bottles. The radio would always be on in the background, tuned to a 50’s and 60’s station. That must be why I have such a fondness for “oldies” now. They are very nostalgic for me and remind me of when I didn’t have a care in the world. I still enjoy listening to them. Also I can still picture the yellowing linoleum floor of my aunt’s kitchen, which wasn’t very pretty, but between the yellowing of the linoleum and the cast of the lighting, it was warm and gave off a comfort in spite of my aunt’s sterile lack of clutter.
The game of Po-Ke-No, for those of you that do not know, is very easy to play. It is nothing like the video games of today, where highly skilled ninjas climb all over the buildings of a dimly lit world, gorily running other people through with their swords. Yikes! Rather, it is played very much like Bingo. It has large cards with pictures of playing cards on them. Instead of calling numbers from a bingo cage, a caller just flips over a card in a deck of regular playing cards. The game comes with little plastic red chips to cover the spaces with when they are called. Unlike Bingo, however, is the fact that there is no “free space” in the middle spot of the card. Po-Ke-No Too is just an accessory to the original game and includes twelve more new cards so more people can play. We always had a big group playing, even if the men were all watching a sporting event in the living room.
What’s with the pennies? Well, my parents and aunts and uncles used to play a version of the game that involved money but they never used anything larger than pennies. There would always be little bowls set up in the middle of the table, each with a paper strip in it to mark it as the winning “kitty” for achieving the following on your Po-Ke-No cards: an up and down Po-Ke-No, a horizontal Po-Ke-No, a diagonal Po-Ke-No, a four corners Po-Ke-No, and a coverall Po-Ke-No. You had to ante up at the beginning of each round and feed two to four pennies into each pot or kitty (I can’t remember whether it was two or four - it may have changed along the way due to inflation - LOL). Then as a player achieved one of the above-mentioned Po-Ke-Nos, they would win the corresponding kitty. Coverall was always the biggest kitty and it seemed quite an achievement to get all the spaces covered on your card. But it was worth it with that seemingly large amount of money - there might have been a whole dollar in there!
I wonder if anyone else’s family used to play this game or play it this way. Both Po-Ke-No and Po-Ke-No Too are part of my board game library today.
I like that Po-Ke-No is simple, takes no time to set up, and as few as two to as many players as 24 can play if you have the additional cards. The age rating is from six years and up, and I do think that is a fair rating. Bright children younger than that could probably handle the game easily enough but it’s the sitting still part they may have trouble with. LOL. The game includes the large board cards and chips but you do have to provide your own deck of playing cards. I always found this funny. In my house, however, it is never difficult to find a set of playing cards. 
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13 Responses to “Po-Ke-No”
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hope...
i love that game
o gunna faint
Kaylee - you really should not be on the internet if you are feeling faint. You should be calling your dad or a neighbor. I don’t want anything to happen to you!
I have never ever heard of that game. But I would definitely play something like that. Our family is a big game/card playing bunch, and sometimes it gets a bit roudy .. even when playing Uno with the youngin! haha, blood shed!
I will have to look that game up. Thanks!
I think you would like it, especially with a rowdy bunch!
I’ve never heard of Po-Ke-No (I have heard of the game Keno, do you think it’s similar?) … and there is a town in NZ called Pokeno, they serve the BEST ice creams in the country!!
I’m a game lover, so should really look this up and perhaps try and get hold of it. Thanks for posting about it, Teeni!
It’s a little similar to Keno but it most closely resembles Bingo I think. LOL. That is cool trivia info about NZ! I like when you include bits of info like that.
I never played that game before. I am not big on cards but I did play Go Fish with my grandmother and speed and war. Ek!
Harmonia - I used to play all those games with my grandmother and TGH’s grandmother - we also played “Old Maid,” and my grandmother couldn’t even speak English so it was always an adventure. LOL.
We used to save our pennies to play Michigan Rummy with my grandparents. Never played PO-KE-NO. But this story does have me yearning to get out some pennies and play Michigan Rummy.
Wow. I would never have thought to use pennies for Michigan Rummy. I think I played a lot of that as a kid too. I need to go get my card game book and see if that is the one I am thinking of.
I ahvent heard of this one before. My family wasnt much into games. but I love them. I will have to look for this onenext time I am at the store!!
This is a good one to have Calamity because you can play with only two players so on those nights that you want to torture your hubby? Just pull out a game. That’s what I do.
I have never played but I am going to add it to the list of games to buy. It would be perfect for family get togethers.
Those are great memories, thanks for sharing:-)
We play Rumoli with pennies. It’s still one of my favourites and it too can be played with younger children. Those are the best kind of games.
Now Rumoli is one I haven’t heard of so I’ll be looking into that!
Thanks for being concerned I did get off right after I commented!
I’m glad and hope you got some rest! Hope you’re feeling better today.
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can you find a set of pokeno too for me too purchase for my senior facility? many thanks
Hi Lee. They are having a sale here:
http://www.seniorshops.com/search/index.cfm?Ntt=pokeno&Ntk=all&N=9324+11571&recat=11571&source=googleaw&kwid=pokeno%20games&tid=broad
[…] http://www.vtroom.com/2007/09/30/po-ke-no/ […]
I looking for Pokeno Too. Can anyone help me find one to purchase or do you have the sequences of all twelve cards you can provide
Please see the link in the comment where someone asked before you. Hopefully that helps.