Childhood ideals crushed

I have recently had another one of those moments when I found out that something I believed since childhood was a lie. I'm not talking about something so dramatic as finding out your older sister was right and you were actually adopted or that your puppy didn't actually get sent away to the farm and was sent to the Elmer's glue factory instead--just kidding, that's where they send ponies, not puppies. This is more along the lines of how crushed I was when I found out two years ago that the wedding cake guests get served is a sheetcake in back and not the pretty three-tiered one the bride and groom cut from. (I'm still recovering from that one, thanks.)

My almost-four year old niece MadDog has learned to play cards. No, no, nothing like Three Card Monte or anything. Although she's smart and sly enough to hustle a little--she plays a mean game of CandyLand. Currently her favorite game is Go Fish, also a favorite of mine since I never learned to play poker and I always forget how to play rummy. But I guess my sister and I grew up playing some sort of ghetto Taiwanese version or something because we played it where you only ask one person for one rank with the goal of getting a pair. The person who gets rid of all their cards first wins. Isn't this how everyone played it? Apparently not.

Here are the official rules:

1. Five cards are dealt to each player, or seven if there are only two players.
2. The player whose turn it is to play asks another player for his/her cards of a particular rank. For example, "Jill, give me your fours." (note: I would recommend asking Jill a little more politely than that) A player may only ask for a rank of which he/she already holds at least one card. The recipient of the request must then hand over all cards of that rank. If the call was successful, the same player has another turn. If the player who was asked has no cards of that rank, he/she says "Go fish" (or simply "Fish"), and the asking player draws the top card from the pack. The turn then passes to the player who was asked.
3. When one player has all four cards of a given rank, they form a book, and the cards are placed face up on the table.
4. The game ends when all thirteen books are formed, and the player who won the most books wins.
5. If the player whose turn it is has no cards left in hand, the game is not over, but he/she simply draws the top card from the pack and the turn passes.

So now I know I have been playing it wrong all these years. It's a bit of a blow, but I think I'll survive. The problem is, MadDog plays our simplified version now too. and so it has become a vicious cycle. Just wait until she learns how to play mahjong...