Wednesday, May 09, 2007

It's anything but trivial to me

Generally, I'm a nice, laid-back, easy-going guy, I really am. Once the board comes out, and the pie pieces are lined up, however, the gloves come off, and I am a cold-blooded killer. I of course am referring to the wondrous game that is Trivial Pursuit. I will yell, I will throw things, I will make people cry. I will show no mercy. If my brother and I team up, we are a nearly unstoppable force, spewing knowledge left and right, occasionally pulling an educated guess out of our collective ass, and usually nailing it. Who's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most claps? Vanna White. On what two NBA teams did Kareem Abdul Jabbar play? Milwaukee Bucks and the LA Lakers. (oddly enough a movie question, not sports & games.) Who wrote Last of the Mohicans? Come on, anyone from Iowa should know this, especially any Hawkeye. James Fenimore Cooper. (our state nickname "The Hawkeye State" is from this book.) What rodeo even used to be called "Bull Dogging"? Steer wrestling. These are all actual questions from tonight's game, all correctly answered by the Brothers Flenker. We rule.

One thing that always seems to happen, no matter how hard I try to stop it, is a team giving hints to another team. Or people answering when it's not their turn. I cannot stand this. I don't know if there's one thing in this world that gets me as riled up as these actions. Seriously. Like tonight, there were a couple of people in the room that weren't really playing, but when they would hear a question they knew, they would either blurt out the answer or give clues to the correct answer. Oh, and people talking over the one asking the questions. I've never dropped the f-bomb so often, directed at a person. (that's not true. I swear quite often, but I've been good on here so far, I'd like to keep it that way for at least a little while longer. But I do have my moments or whole days when I say the "f word" as a noun. Or adjective. Or adverb. Or a period. I kind of like those days.)

Really, it all depends on who is playing. I've had many a game that was all good and fun. But I've also had games where I thought I was going to flip out and just totally scissor-kick someone right in the head.

The most frustrating, but also one of the funniest games I've been involved in happened a few years ago on the 4th of July. Some friends (Bill, Jim, Jody, Charczuk, and Heinricy) were all down in Muscatine for the holiday, cause that's what we did. We had all just gotten out of the hot tub and had a few Coronas, and decided we could get a game of the Pursuit in before bed. Bill and Heinricy ended up on a team together, much to Bill's chagrin. If there's one thing people should know about Adam is that he can fall asleep at any moment if he's laying down, there have been a few instances of him falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. And of course Adam is laying down during the game, only to be nudged whenever it was their turn. Then someone would read the question, Adam would come up with some answer with logic that was anything but logical to the question, and get it correct. The prime example of this involved a question asking for an American Indian tribe, I can't remember what it was exactly. Anyways, Heinricy wakes up, is told the question, and says, "well I had a 'Navajo taco' for lunch today, so let's go with Navajo." And it was correct. Bill and Adam ended up winning the game. I was displeased at the time. I think it's hilarious now.

9 comments:

Lucy Doughty said...

I appreciate your board game intensity, as i take them seriously as well. a few years back, my father put a $100 bill in the center of a Monopoly board, only to be given to the winning team. the participants, couples in our extended family, went into full-on game mode considering the stakes. there was swearing. there was bribing. there was crying. there was quitting. there was video footage taken, only to be deleted and never seen again. my dad called it a "social experiment".

H said...

I feel like an idiot for not knowing who wrote The Last of the Mohicans.

Lucy -- that is HILARIOUS.

Anonymous said...

The brothers Flenker and the sister's Johnson should never play board games together. My sister and I although both competitve, my sister on her own is EXTREMELY competitive. A simple game of catch with her is often turned in to how hard she can throw it at me. Every year at Christmas the cousins play Spoons, which seems harmless enough. My sister though has caused numerous gauges and bruises on people. However, the Christmas of '04 my sister jumped on my cousin Michelle's back and Michelle carried her through three rooms all the while my sister is trying to get the spoon. Needless to say, we are no longer allowed to play Spoons. Did I mention my sister and Michelle were 28 at the time?!?

Anonymous said...

I'm a little bit of a trivia psycho... But I suck at all things sports...

Hannita said...

The fastest game of trivial pursuit I ever played was during college - and the new edition had just come out and it seemed ridiculously easy to us. A team would go for 10 or 15 questions and gather several pie slices before losing their turn. I think it ruined the game for me.

Michael Lazenby said...

You guys are all nerds...

Holla at a playa,

Krazee Eyez Killa

Flenker said...

hannita, there was once a month or two ago when I won a game of Trivial Pursuit in 3 turns. No joke.

I've never played for high stakes, lucy, I don't know if I could get anyone to go with it. I may getting like 3-5 odds or something like that.

I rule at all things sports, I purposely go for the orange spots in the game we're playing, Minty. I know waaay too much about sports.

Krazee, we may be nerds, but we're nerds you love. Admit it!

Hannita said...

Flenker, you don't know how much your hotness level went up just by that statement.

Half the Battle said...

OMG WE ARE TRIVIAL PURSUIT SOULMATES.
i am ruthless.
and cant stand it when a hint is "accidentally" given!
board games are a metaphor for life. especially that one, "life." i guess thats less of a metaphor and more of an actual.