he Card Games

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

Since Lilliland was a neutral country, like neighboring Switzerland, it had survived for hundreds of years. The Baron and his fiancée, Lady Angela of Alpine Castle, were please that fact that so many people enjoyed vacationing in Lilliland. There was sailing on Castle Lake and skiing in the Alpine Mountains.

Both the Baron and Lady Angela would participate in the sports and festivities in Lilliland. They also made sure that each visitor had a good time and took part in the events, too. Professor Hamblin, the Baron’s chief advisor, also participated in many of the activities.

Unfortunately, reports kept coming to Professor Hamblin about card games being held at the Grand Lilliland Hotel were getting bigger and bigger. The Professor reported this to the Baron. The Baron’s view was that if the games were among friends who were vacationing together and the amounts bet and won were small, all was acceptable.

As long as the games were more social than gambling, they were looked at as entertainment among friends. A good rule of thumb was that the winning pot should be no larger than the size of an average man’s daily wages. But, when the players were strangers who did not really know each other well, and had been invited to join the card game, then that was a different story. When businessmen began betting their businesses or homes on the card game, that was a sure sign that things were out of control and had to be stopped immediately.

At one time it was proposed to begin a lottery in Lilliland. The promoters said that the money from the lottery would help pay the for schools and hospitals. It was voted down because the amount of money that the promoters wanted as salaries was quite large. The Baron called the lottery just another form of gambling that most people would be better off without. “Gambling destroys more families than people realize,” said Professor Hamblin.

The Baron added that he would like Lilliland’s tourists to return home with fond memories of their vacations.