Thanks for the refresher course on Back Alley. What a great card game! It seems that Back Alley was the game of the Viet Nam Era for Marines. We played it whenever we could when I was in.(69-72). As I recall you could play with 2,3,or 4. You started off by setting up your score sheet, numbering down from 13 to 1 & 1 to 13. It was a game of luck,skill & finese. It was hard to teach to a novice so without some players with a little knowledge of the game, it was easy to lose your edge and rememberence of the rules of the game. My Father was a Marine S.B.D. & Corsair pilot on Guadalcanal and the rest of the P.T.O. (8/42-7/45) followed by China Occupation in 46. When he was sailing across the Pacific in 42 he watched them play cribbage.(He learned nothing by watching!). On his 2nd trip over he jumped in and learned the game. Cribbage seemed to be the card game of Sailors & Marines during WW II. He taught my Mother and me how to play and growing up we would play on one of the Otterman's in the living room while watching TV. That is another great card game! It is a good way for families to bond and communicate. An art that we seem to have sadly lost. Thanks again for the refresher course. It brought back a lot of good memories with a lot of good Friends. Semper Fi, Gene Leslie, Sgt., U.S.M.C.(Ret.)