Compare apples to oranges.

You're not supposed to do that!

3 out of 5. Not bad for straight up guessing.

I don't throw games. Although sometimes I'm relieved when I don't win. I didn't for the niece and nephew over Thanksgiving break and I think it was disconcerting for both the parents and the grandparents that I wouldn't. But I also talk to them like adults. On the other hand I also grab them by their ankles and swing them upside down, which I don't generally do to adults. Although maybe that's just because I'm 5'3" and it would end badly for most adults if I tried.

I also don't cheat or tolerate cheating in my games, but that's generally because we're dealing with teenagers at that point and teenagers are devious and sneaky and you have to watch them like fake medieval falcons, or they will take all your chips and laugh.

That's partly why I do so badly at games with social aspects, too. I play in a straightforward and totally readable way. And I am gullible, so I get sucked into misrepresentation play, like bluffs.

We have a family friend. Well, friends who are a family, who play with amazing brutality. They will take you out, motherfucker, and you'd better be ready. It's so funny because they're all so laid back and mellow and seem friendly and happy. And then you sit down around the card table, and whoo, you better look out!

I loved Risk as a kid, and then went through a phase where I refused to play, because it was war! And I was against war! And what was entertaining about war? Nothing! Because it was war!

But I got over it.

Not the pacifism. Just the being pedantic about games.

Boy, I am yammery this morning, aren't I?

My mom was an occupational nurse at a chemical plant, and she was supposed to be laid off (the company outsourced all of their nurses across the country to an agency), but since she was so close to 59 1/2 and 25 years with the company, they let her stay until she got to that anniversary date and she retired instead (with a really sweet package, too).

Yeah, my mom, not so much. Fired the day before Thanksgiving, and the only severance she got was that she was paid for the holiday. (Not Friday though!)

huh, not probably shocking to anyone, I won't tolerate cheating at any age. If they want to play a game, we sit and play it and play by the rules.

Agreed. I'm not a big one for letting kids win either, but I'm pretty good about getting age appropriate games, where you really shouldn't have to (or flat out can't).

I can't imagine playing Risk with an 8 year old, but I would hope someone at that age or beyond (barring special circumstances) would be able to handle losing. If not, they are going to have a rough time in this world.

I think Parker was so upset because he and his mom had an alliance (which he broke) and then she literally squashed him. It was a good lesson, in some ways.

I played a game with BFFs niece over Christmas. It was interesting, you had to earn these cards in different colors and denominations and then use the cards to get stuff to win the game. The interesting thing was that there were different levels, so if you were level one, it took 2 blues and a green to get the stuff, but if you were level 4, it took 2 blues, a green and 3 purples to get the stuff. It was good because it let people of different skills could play the game. Of course, the niece was totally sneaky and won the game because she claimed that she didn't have enough to win.

Wow. I also got all five apples to oranges questions wrong. I think I favor oranges and felt that the questions were orange defaming questions. But it turns out no! I can have my orange and eat it too. Or, err, something.

Actually I have oranges, apples, and bananas in the house right now. I should go get one. But which...

My mother just wouldn't play games with us if she didn't think we were at a competitive level. We were teens before she'd play Scrabble with us.

We played a game of Scrabble after the funeral (Onyx edition--flashy) and my sister is now branded a big old cheater. We went in without a dictionary which is just a recipe for disaster, and she pulled some dodgy words she swore were okay in Facebook Scrabble. Which, no one can play from inside the US, so we couldn't check up on her. She lost (not to me) as a result of the last play. It was ugly.

I will not cheat at games and get very offended when people accuse me of it. I've had opponents flip the Scrabble board over because I was beating them too handily. They forgot they sucked. My sister is still hurt that her rep is so tarnished. I believe she believes "ch" is a word, but she's just wrong.

I don't think I'd actively let a kid win, but I would suggest better plays for them, and might not play as cruelly as I would against my sister. Not that I was up to anything good at that last Scrabble game.

Hubby was indeed raised by wolves--at least, wolves at the game table. In a choice between winning the game or harming a co-player, the decision always went to harming the co-player. I initiated a tense holiday conversation once when I chose to win rather than send my sister-in-law back to the beginning. Fortunately, I was able to deflect that by scolding them all for trying to get me to interfere with Hubby's play, as he and I should always have each other's backs and protect each other, even on the game table.

A very assertive family, Hubby's.