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15-2, 15-4 -- Lions programs win Southern Oregon benefit tournament draws cribbage players to Medford Marvis Reynolds greets Jim Jackson with a bear hug. photos by Jim Craven Dozens of players, above, compete in the sixth-annual Southern Oregon Lions Cribbage Tournament Friday in Medford. "I told you Jim would be here," she says to her husband, Ralph. Bob Leonard walks into the Lions Sight and Hearing Center, spots Marvis right off and says, "Welcome to our home -- again." It's kind of like family. "We call 'em our cribbage family," Marvis Reynolds says. Welcome to the Southern Oregon Lions Cribbage Tournament, which the Reynoldses are running as a benefit for the Lions. The American Cribbage Congress-sanctioned event started Friday afternoon and continues all weekend. Play starts at 9 a.m. today and Sunday. It's expected to go late tonight and wind up some time Sunday afternoon. There's no age limit, and there's no drinking or smoking in the Lions building, which is handicapped accessible. Soft drinks are available, and lunch on Saturday. The only requirement is the ability to play an average game in 15 minutes. For information call the Sight and Hearing Center at 779-3653. Each player is vying for cash prizes and the chance to win one of 20 cribbage boards shaped like a pear. Entry fees run from $10 to $50, depending on the game. Twenty-five percent of the players win cash, the Reynoldses get their expenses, and the rest benefits the Lions. Len Goodman of Crescent City, Calif., contemplates his hand. Each player is vying for cash prizes and the chance to win one of 20 cribbage boards shaped like a pear. The tournament continues today, tonight and Sunday at the Lions Sight and Hearing Center on Holly Street. Several dozen players are expected. The Lions' Gordon Orr says the event figures to raise about $2,000 for Lions sight and hearing programs. Orr plays socially but doesn't consider himself a tournament player. Once players sit down to long tables with cards and those little boards and pegs, the action is fast and furious. What accounts for the game's popularity? "It's much more complicated than people think," Ralph Reynolds says. "It's kind of like chess or poker. You get into the game, you find it's more involved than people think." Cribbage was invented about 1630 by Sir John Suckling, the poet. Its forerunners were games called noddy and one-and-thirty. Noddy used markers and a noddy board. One-and-thirty may have suggested the pegging target in cribbage, which is 31. Cribbage has changed little over time, although the spelling changed, from "cribbidge" in Suckling's day. Aficionados to a player say it appears simple but is surprisingly complex. Each player gets six cards and discards two, forming an extra hand called the "crib." Pegs and a board are used to keep track of points, which can be scored in a variety of ways. The first player to score 121 points wins. "It takes something up here," says Leonard, a Medford cribbage enthusiast, pointing at his head. "You meet a lot of nice people, too." A local club meets Tuesdays at a Medford restaurant. Call 770-5137 for details. The Reynoldses, who live in Prineville, organize about eight of these tournaments a year from the Oregon Coast to Nevada. Marvis Reynolds loves it. She showed up for one tournament a few years back in a wheelchair, and came to another in a leg brace. "The show must go on," she says with a laugh. So it does, but it goes with her as an organizing mother hen, not a contestant. She doesn't play the game. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA