Oligopoly

Some people play board games.

Some people play video games.

Couch co-op Mario Party can really feel like both.

You may be familiar with the board game Monopoly, but have you ever played Oligopoly?

It's a version of playing Mario Party where you make a truce to team up together against the other computer players. It is a compromise based on trust wherein we agree not to sabotage or steal from each other and agree to make decisions in-game that work for our greatest good in alignment with each other.

It's great team-building, really. It usually results in either Mike or I winning and keeping the computer players too poor to do anything more competitive than Chance Time.

We always make it a point to steal stars from the computer players. We even call them our suppliers.

Except the other night Mike got impatient at the Boo and spammed the A button, resulting in an UNAUTHORIZED STAR STEAL from me, Daisy. It was truly accidental; I was more shocked than appalled when it happened.

Mike realized right away and permitted me to steal back from him, but with the computer players our suppliers still having ample star inventory, it didn't feel right to break the truce just to get vengeful. 

The game went on to get out of hand, as this was the leaderboard at the end:

I think Mike ended up with 16, BJ with 9, me with 8, and the mole had 5. 

Just for a little context, a score in the double digits - even on a 30-turn game - is pretty substantial. Mike felt like the unauthorized star steal from me led to this over-the-top performance and so he offered a future permissible star steal but even more generous: an entire turn of stars!

I made a physical coupon to commemorate this transaction.

I am now painfully aware that I misspelled permissible on this and now I can't unsee it.

I apologize. My typewriter does not have spell check.

You see, Jamboree buddy/multiple methods permits taking advantage of an opportunity to STEAL MULTIPLE STARS from Mike during this one turn of redemption. 

Additionally, there is ample opportunity to use this on another Mario Party game. 

Perhaps a more difficult one. 

Perhaps one where we play with a friend from college and I whip this out like a secret weapon because it has been so long since all of us played together and Mike has forgotten it and they're too busy sabotaging each other anyway but then suddenly I come in there and win everything.

I gotta make it worth it. 

I am also posting it here so that you can testify to my long game strategy and watch it turn into a true story. 

You know, like a two or three witnesses kind of thing.

Every day I wake up and play an augmented reality game called Pilgrim's Progress,

TWS