Knollwood is Part Mall, Part Card Club

I was strolling through today and I couldn't help but stop and chat when I saw the following:

Four women were sitting at a table playing cards. And it wasn't just a quiet game of Go Fish — cards were strewn across the table, and the four even had an automatic shuffling machine out. Thinking maybe Knollwood had some kind of card players' club, I took a seat at the table.

Turns out that the four — Sandy Launstein, Lynn Marker, Karen St. Marie and Diane Saterdalen — all play tennis together at the in St. Louis Park. They all also love playing cards, so when the rackets are away, they come to Knollwood Mall at least weekly to get out a few decks.

Well, at least Launstein and Marker do — they're the self-described "regulars" who have played cards at Knollwood for several years. Jokingly, they called St. Marie and Saterdalen "subs."

So why Knollwood? The women said it's a good central location — they all live in a different part of the south metro — that is also close to their gym.

But they're also fanatics of , which isn't more than a few hundred feet away. And unlike being at home, the gals don't have to worry about making a big mess on the carpet.

With Knollwood the unofficial home of this unofficial card club, the ladies get down to business. Games typically last three to four hours, with breaks for lunch at Panera sprinkled in.

They play Samba, a three-deck game that involves grouping cards together with a partner.

"It's a game which all of us probably played when we were young," Launstein said.

There's plenty of table talk and gamesmanship during the three or four hours, but it's all in fun. And the women acknowledged that the winners usually just happen to have luck on their side.

"We're all terrific players," Saterdalen said with a smile.

And they're popular players as well — the four said this Patch editor wasn't the first person over the years to come up and ask them what they're doing.

But as I study the ins and outs of Samba, maybe next time I stop by it won't just be to chat. It'll be to shuffle up and play.