Random musings
Inspired by elaryn's Writer's Block about games.
I used to play Monopoly a lot with the family.
My sister cheated all the time, or loosely interpreted the rules. Would get mad and storm off if she was losing. She did this wither everything, really. Last time I went to visit her we were playing Mario Kart on her N64; she always "forgot" to tell me what the controls were and how to get a huge staring boost on the green light, but I figured it out from last year and was trouncing her handily. She got up in mid-race, turned off the system and put on the TV.
My dad often abetted my sister's machinations, and would actively work to cripple my operations and set me up for her. In fairness, he would also float loans to me and would work up payment plans if my cash reserves were low and I hit one of his hotels.
My mother never, ever considered any deal "fair", always for a different inexplicable reason. If I was òffering her one property for two (which would give us both a set), she'd insist that I should give her more, because she was giving up two cards... never mind that those cards were completely.
If the number of cards offered were equal, I should give her more because the properties I was getting was more expensive (and yet this never seemed to apply when I was trying to get a lower-cost property from her; then I'd have to give more because "I was getting a set"... even if she was, too).
What made this even worse, is that her definition of fair was... lopsided. Not out of malice or trying to win, but because she honestly thought that all the railroads, the utilities and hundreds of dollars in cash was an adequate exchange for a set whose rents were less than the one she was getting.
Or she'd take turn after turn to 'think over the deal', while my father and sister were building houses and hotels.
So, family game time was... interesting.
I enjoyed Trivial Pursuit and chess more, but no one wanted to play those.
I used to play Monopoly a lot with the family.
My sister cheated all the time, or loosely interpreted the rules. Would get mad and storm off if she was losing. She did this wither everything, really. Last time I went to visit her we were playing Mario Kart on her N64; she always "forgot" to tell me what the controls were and how to get a huge staring boost on the green light, but I figured it out from last year and was trouncing her handily. She got up in mid-race, turned off the system and put on the TV.
My dad often abetted my sister's machinations, and would actively work to cripple my operations and set me up for her. In fairness, he would also float loans to me and would work up payment plans if my cash reserves were low and I hit one of his hotels.
My mother never, ever considered any deal "fair", always for a different inexplicable reason. If I was òffering her one property for two (which would give us both a set), she'd insist that I should give her more, because she was giving up two cards... never mind that those cards were completely.
If the number of cards offered were equal, I should give her more because the properties I was getting was more expensive (and yet this never seemed to apply when I was trying to get a lower-cost property from her; then I'd have to give more because "I was getting a set"... even if she was, too).
What made this even worse, is that her definition of fair was... lopsided. Not out of malice or trying to win, but because she honestly thought that all the railroads, the utilities and hundreds of dollars in cash was an adequate exchange for a set whose rents were less than the one she was getting.
Or she'd take turn after turn to 'think over the deal', while my father and sister were building houses and hotels.
So, family game time was... interesting.
I enjoyed Trivial Pursuit and chess more, but no one wanted to play those.