There are few, if any games, that don’t rouse Wanda Thomas’ innate sense of camaraderie, fun, and, yes, competitiveness. This Sabal Springs resident is a familiar face to anyone who plays Hand, Foot & Elbow, Mah-Jongg, 3-D Rummikub, Dominoes, Euchre, Bingo, or Trivia. And, while she has no current aspirations to hit the links in competitive or even noncompetitive play, she is taking golf lessons to challenge herself and learn a new skill.
With more energy than 10 people combined and a quick and welcoming smile, she is happy and willing to teach newcomers who are interested in joining in on the fun—even private Mah-Jongg lessons. Her only caveat is that to play you have to be willing to keep score. “It’s not about who wins; it’s about challenging yourself. You play better when you have a stake in the game,” she says. “We are here to challenge our brains, and when you don’t keep score, you play differently.”
Wanda’s love of games goes way back, noting that her family always played cards—Hearts, Spades, Gin Rummy, Canasta, Cribbage—and when they are all together there is always a stack of board games at the ready. She’s an online gamer as well, taking on the Internet playing Words with Friends and Candy Crush (currently she is at level 8597—very impressive). When pressed to name her favorite game she says it’s Bunco—a social dice game where 12 players roll three dice, aiming to match the current round number to score points, with a “bunco.” And while there isn’t currently an active Bunco crew, Wanda wouldn’t be opposed to starting up a new group.
After renting for several seasons, Wanda and her husband Ed permanently moved into Sabal Springs in 2023 from Wisconsin, where they lived for 11 years. They also had a condo in the Chicago area. (Her geographic duality has led her to be a Chicago Cubs and a Green Bay Packers fan.) Sabal Springs is not the couple’s first Florida home, they lived in Orlando for 27 years, where Ed and Wanda worked for the Florida Turnpike Association; previously Ed was involved in the restaurant industry for more than 30 years. As social as Wanda is, Ed is the polar opposite; she jokes that all the time dealing with the public during his career has left Ed more than a bit introverted. Yet, he’s happy to wave and offer golfers a cold beer, wine, soda or water as they pass by their lanai as they look to putt in on the 12th hole on the golf course.
Even COVID and the recent clubhouse mold remediation didn’t deter Wanda from remaining active and keeping the games going. “Each of us would take turns to host, we didn’t want to lose our friendships,” she says. Wanda says she and Ed are extremely fortunate in their lives and couldn’t ask for anything better than where they are now enjoying “easy living” in “paradise” and spending time with the many friends they have met along the way. Game on, indeed
