WANAMINGO -- "Seven hearts."

Gunder Froyum's bid held, and he picked up five cards in the 500 blind. The Wanamingo man was not impressed. He knew he was in trouble and went down one.

"I've been set a lot here tonight," he said. "I'm at the bottom of the totem pole in this outfit."

He tossed a dime into a small pitcher, paying the high price for losing.

So the game went Friday at the Mary Ann and Duane Scharpen home in rural Wanamingo. Players won some, lost some, got whomped a few times, shared pictures of grandchildren and ate.

Most importantly, they met, as they have for 54 years.

Four are cousins, several are in-laws and all knew each other while growing up in Wanamingo. Some worked together at IBM in Rochester and carpooled there, Froyum said.

Against the time needed for jobs and raising children, the 14 have played 500 one Friday a month, September through April except for Christmas, for those 54 years. Christmas is when they only eat and exchange white elephant gifts -- no one can refuse one or reuse it the next Christmas. Rules are rules.

They have met on beautiful evenings and when it was so far below zero that travel was dangerous.

"There was not a soul on (U.S.) 52" when she drove home, said JoAnn Greseth, of Rochester.

"We're supposed to get wiser as we grow older," said Mary Ann Scharpen.

For the monthly 500 game, tradition trumps wisdom and weather.

Last Friday was a dark and stormy night with rain, wind, cold. The gravel road to the Scharpen land was waterlogged, dark. In the distance, though, friends could see a welcome light at the door. The players came mostly from the Wanamingo area, though a few have strayed south to live in Rochester or north to Hader.

Their rules are a bit unusual for 500. They switch partners and often tables. The killer hand is the fourth one when the one with the joker has to bid nine (out of a possible 10) without seeing cards in the blind.

It's maddening at times, but against the odds, they often make those nine tricks.

If you're set, you toss a dime into a small syrup pitcher on the table, and someone wins all those dimes at the end of the game.

Finally, the host couple doesn't play, but provides a light supper, cards, table and dessert. They can kibitz, checking the blind before bidders see it, grimacing with a bad hand, laughing when someone is set.

They all laugh a lot. At times, those grandparents or great-grandparents can get mighty frisky, as if they are still a bunch of high school kids growing up in a small town where everyone knows everyone else.

The game of 500 lets them relive those days, the memories.

"It's just kind of a get together that we just do," Scharpen said.

Sure, no one's life was perfect; even the times in high school weren't perfect.

"When you get together, you're only talking about the good times, you know," she said.

Staff writer John Weiss travels the region's back roads looking for people, places and things of interest for this column. If you have ideas, call him at (507) 285-7749.

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