Don’t.

(I joked with owner Matt W that that was going to be the entire opening to this email, but no, I’ve got more to say.)

I used to cheat at Monopoly all the time when I was a kid. I was the older sibling, my little brother couldn’t possibly have known what I was doing, I was so sneaky. I don’t recall precisely what I did, but I’m sure it was something like taking extra money from the bank or maybe quietly adding another property to my pile. It turns out, 35 years later, I have learned that he was cheating just as much as I was the whole time! Can you believe it? But I deserved to win…

Monopoly is hard to win—to my young mind, cheating seemed like the only way to make that happen. I think I did win some of those times, but my memory is hazy and it seems likely I don’t remember the times I lost or I got caught cheating or it just wasn’t fun.

That last is what I’ve been thinking about lately, how cheating in a game makes it less fun, not more.

Certainly we all forget rules from time to time or forget to draw or place or similar, but these are honest mistakes, sometimes fixable. I’ve been in games as an adult where a player I didn’t know well jokingly mentioned that they cheat regularly, and I was aghast. Seriously? As a grown adult, you cheat? On the one hand, sure, it’s just a game, so it’s not a big deal, you know? But on the other hand, because it’s just a game, why would you bother? Winning is satisfying, but there are other reasons to play besides defeating your enemies. Who are, theoretically, also your actual friends.

Games have restrictions—rules—that make them a puzzle or make them silly, they’re what help us to create the fun. So if games are a way to energize our brains and to spend quality time with each other, why would we short-circuit that? This would seem to apply to life as a whole as well: cheating others to get ahead seems empty, but tweaking the rules a bit? Trying a hack to clean your floor better or pushing back on injustice could help us all win.

What do you think? Have you ever cheated in a game? Am I being tedious by insisting on the rules?

Alice C, board game librarian

Play Avalon or The Resistance

In The Resistance, you and up to 9 of your closest friends (or possibly enemies) are part of an underground resistance movement to the dystopian Empire. You must mount several successful missions to take down the corrupt government, but spies have infiltrated your ranks—are your friends actually your friends? Like other social deduction games Werewolf or Secret Hitler, you will need to figure out who the spies are before they sabotage your missions and let the Empire win!

Three years after The Resistance came out, the publisher released Avalon, essentially the same game but themed instead around the Arthurian Round Table and with some added and tweaked roles for players. “Will goodness prevail?” asks the back of the box, “Or will Avalon fall under Mordred’s dark shadow?”

Drink the Luxury Tax

Our signature cocktail the Luxury Tax combines vodka, Chambord (black raspberry liqueur), lemon juice, and strawberry simple syrup to make a sweet, elegant drink. It pairs well with our fried wontons and a little bit of competition.

Come try one with up to 9 of your friends (or enemies) alongside a game of Avalon or The Resistance!