Great Dalmuti, The

The Great Dalmuti is a wonderfully simple, but difficult to master, card game that was popular throughout Starfleet chapters, beginning in the mid 1990's. It is described as a game of "world domination" in which the person who gets rid of their cards first becomes the Great Dalmuti -- kind of a king-of-the-world. Each person is ranked according to when they go out, all the way down to the Greater Peon, who must do all the shuffling, dealing, and "cleaning the world" -- the cards off the table. Some people really get into the game and roleplay, especially if they are the Dalmuti. The Great Dalmuti for the round may wear a crown (and force the Greater Peon to wear a jester's hat), and may request or demand that his subjects at the table do certain tasks for him/her (especially the poor Greater Peon). Jon Reddick made a Dalmuti "sceptor" -- little more than a wooden spatula with a designed carved in it and painted gold -- to whack inattentive players when they took too long at their turns or tasks.