Is This Mike On?

It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

If you’re going to create an alliance with somebody during a game of Risk, why not your spiritual leader?

Not a lot of upside to playing Risk with your bishop.

Think about it. A local Mormon bishop wouldn’t even think of blindsiding you. It wouldn’t be in his nature to be sneaky or cunning.

Wrong.

It began innocently enough with the four of us that night sitting around the table. Words were said. An agreement was reached with the bishop. You don’t attack me and I won’t attack you.

Considering my alliance with a man of God, my quest for world domination looked good at first. I built up several strongholds in Europe and started advancing into Asia. The good bishop owned North America and was growing in strength as well.

It took less than an hour into the game before the bishop picked up the dice and handed them to me, a sign to defend one of my countries.

My jaw dropped, but I considered it a ruse at first. Turns out it was just the beginning.

Five or six rolls later, he conquered the first country from me and systematically moved onto the next. I watched in amazement as my armies collapsed in droves. My thoughts turned to vengeance against my spiritual leader. May God smite him for this blindside, I thought. Make his dice only roll ones for the rest of the game.

It didn’t work and he kept winning. About 15 minutes later, it was over. I was out of the game.

Looking back I couldn’t believe how bitter I was. What did I expect him to do? Use the tried-and-true sackcloth and ashes gambit? “Go ahead and Mike and run right over me. I will let you win to just satisfy your ego.”

Uh, sure. Sounded reasonable to me.

Photo is from here.

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