Keeping Your Cool During Board Games - Winning Board Games Part 5
In my post “5 Basic Tips For Winning Board Games” I outlined basic principles that can be applied to winning just about any board or card game. The 5th tip was to stay happy. Don’t tilt. This concept is pretty straight forward so I figured I’d just give you a couple of funny stories instead of trying to elaborate on a topic that can be fully summarized by the phrase, “don’t get mad.” So here you have it. Stories of people failing to keep their cool.
7s For Days
When we were kids, a certain brother who shall not be named was once playing Settlers Of Catan with the family. In Settlers, you win when you reach 10 points and he was at 9 points. He had the resources in his hand to win and as long as he didn’t roll a 7 (7s in that game cause you to lose half of the cards in your hand if you have too many cards) he’d win.
He rolled a 7.
No big deal right? He was far enough ahead that by the time it reached his turn again, he’d likely win if he got the resources he needed before then. As the dice moved around the table, he gained the resources he needed to win. All he needed was (you guessed it) to not roll a 7.
He rolled another 7.
By this point he was getting pretty mad. What are the chances? He waited patiently for his turn, built up the resources he needed, and rolled another 7. Ha! This went on for a good 5 turns. He thought he should have won the game 5 turns earlier.
Here’s the kicker; once he had rolled five 7s in a row, each time preventing his victory, someone else got to 10 points. He lost! I wasn’t in that game, but I heard all about it. He came running into the other room and started throwing pillows off the couch, punching the floor, ranting about the dice being possessed, the whole shebang. It was hilarious and we still give him a hard time to this day about it.
Traffic Jam
Several years ago, when I was in college, I was playing Ticket To Ride with my roommates. At that point in time, I was pretty sick of the game and decided to go totally rogue. Instead of trying to win, I decided I’d just play with the intention to sabotage everyone. Well, everyone except for a random lucky roommate who I decided I wanted to help win. In Ticket To Ride, you gain points by completing train routes. There are many segments of routes that can only be occupied by one player, so if someone blocks your route, you have to try to connect around them. Sometimes you can get blocked entirely. Especially if a player is reading your moves and trying to block you.
That’s what I did.
I completely ignored the routes I needed to complete (which is totally self destructive) and just tried to block everyone except for good ol’ Kevin. He deserved a win right? It only took about 15 minutes before people started noticing how erratic my train placement was. They realized I was just trolling them and blocking their routes. We finished out the game with people swearing at me as I placed my trains to block every player but Kevin.
They got super mad. I’ll admit I I was in the wrong by throwing the integrity of the game out of the window, but holy smokes they were just so mad. They demanded an apology, treating me like I was this awful person who insulted their entire ancestry. Shocked at how upset they were, I responded with, “guys it’s just a game.” That struck a chord. They got even more upset. So I left the room only to be followed and have them tell me through my closed door that I needed to apologize. These are rational human beings who are some of my closest friends. It was ridiculous. We’re still really good friends, but to this day they’ll still refuse to ever play Ticket To Ride with me again!
We all can get super heated in a game that we’re really invested in. It’s human nature. Do your best to stay happy while you play. Everyone appreciates it more and I’ve seen people have some seriously great come backs simply because they were able to keep their cool and continue playing.