There are two board games that you will lose to me if we play. Hands down, no exceptions. They are two of the most hated board games that people play.
Risk and Monopoly.
Let's start with Monopoly. My family played that almost religiously. Thanks to my mom's side of the family, this got passed down to me and my siblings. It is to the point that we were cut throat in getting certain properties, made impossible trade deals to get them, and almost always had our own strategy that would work to win.
With this, I was able to tell you immediately where you piece was after a roll of the dice no matter where you were on the board. This muscle has grown a little weak in recent years, but give me a game or two to get it back. There was even a point that we all knew the mortgage rate for properties, the rent rates, and the cost of houses/hotels.
We were serious when it came to playing games as children. You know how some families take many hours/days to play a single game? We had that shit on clock work. Away we went and had games done in under an hour at times. Competitive, we most definitely were.
Moving over to Risk, that was the second game we really got in to as we got older. Monopoly was the kid's game, Risk was the next step. Again, we conquered the board and lands of Risk in under an hour as well. We were all fast paced enough to want to get the shit done.
We knew the lands that touched each other, we knew exactly the strategies that would win you certain continents, and we always broke up each other's continents if they held it too long.
Fast forward to next weekend, were my family is gathering for the next year of our family Risk tournament. We typically have about 10-18 people show up, roll some dice, and try to conquer all 42 countries. First round divides us all up so that there are about 5-6 players for the final table, or the second round. Most families would take a few days just for the first round, but we have it done in under a couple of hours, if that. I have been proud to host once and have won twice, even breaking the streak that we had going where the host typically won the tournament.
How crazy do we get in to this tournament? There are small trophies of some kind for the first person out at each table. We have a Whale prize for the person who defends the most times in a single battle with only one soldier still left standing in their country. We have a pitchfork that gets passed around for the player who rolls 6-6-6 roll on attacks that they get to keep at the end of it. There is even the championship belt that I made from one of those WWE championship belts. I did a couple of conversions to make it say Risk Tournament Champion, and it gets passed from the previous year's winner to the new winner each year. My uncle even designs a t-shirt for us each year that he brings, as well as a special champion's tshirt.
So we get a little crazy. If you knew the family, you would understand.
There are also various card games we grew up playing, and many other board games, but those were the big two. Coming from big families, you find ways to pass the time with what you have, and as long as you have a deck of cards or a closet of board games, you were bound to kick some one's ass.
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