(François Philipp/Flickr under CC BY 2.0)
For those who do not know me, I’m a pretty nerdy individual. This is a fact of life that I accept and am proud of. This brings us our new segment: The Rocket Game Corner, which has absolutely no corelation to the infamous Team Rocket Hideout located in Celadon City. Nope. Not at all.
In today’s edition of Rocket Game Corner, we’re going to talk about games that you played in your youth that were marketed as fun, spirited times, and were really designed to destroy friendships and tear families apart.
The first game on this list is Monopoly. Monopoly is a kill-or-be-killed kind of game. You may forget how savage it is, or have picked up a new version of the game (there’s one out there for literally every fandom, including but not limited to Rick and Morty, Harry Potter, and The Legend of Zelda) and thought “hey, why not?” Four hours later, you’ve either flipped the table in rage as your friend Erin buys the fourth railway and effectively owns all of your money and property, or you’re in tears for the same reason. My rating for Monopoly is 4/10 thimbles: Still fun, but only when played once a decade or with people you don’t like that much anyway.
The next game on this list is Uno. Once again, you occasionally forget how a light-hearted children’s card game can absolutely wreck you in the years that pass between rounds. I recently played a few rounds with some friends, and the amount of death threats that occurred due to Pick Up 4 cards and colour swaps when someone was about to place their last card reminded me of how my grade two class had our copy of Uno confiscated. My rating is 2/10 switch-backs: Only when you’re coerced.
Finally, the game most capable of destroying friendships: Mario Party. I know it isn’t a board game, but there is no franchise that will ruin a friendship faster than Mario Party. Bonus points for the three original games on the N64 console. Growing up, there were definite calluses on my palm from the stupid tug-o-war game I always lost. My rating: 10/10 stars: It will most definitely kill all friendships, but it’s so freaking fun.