Of course it does.
I mean, we’ve all been there. Not Brussels (although lots of people have also been there).
Are there any more divisive “family” games than Monopoly? And yes, yes, I know that “The Landlord’s Game” as it used to be called, is supposed to be all about the evils of capitalism, and that the fury that regularly ensues from playing Monopoly kind of validates that viewpoint, but it’s entirely possible to fall out over a game of pool and that’s just about hitting balls into one another, so… well – you do the maths.
And anyway, amazingly, this samurai sword “fight” (more on the quote marks below) had nothing to do with the actual gameplay, and far more to do with the fact that the game was actually being played.
The incident began when a group of four people were playing a board game on the pavement in front of a house, disturbing the occupant, who came out in an attempt to move them away from his house.
After an argument ensued, the resident’s son came out to defend his father armed with a concealed samurai sword.
OK, so playing Monopoly on a pavement is a bit weird, but is there a law against playing Monopoly on a pavement? Well, maybe not, but given that this was a 5am on Sunday morning, there probably should be.
And was it actually a “fight”, because that suggests that there were pugilists and protagonists? And in this case, the sheath sheathing the sword got damaged and a couple of people got cut. That’s not supposed to be how you use a samurai sword. I’ve seen Youtube videos of samurai warriors and they chop things up properly. Not a little nick with an exposed blade.
But in an abject lesson of how not to deal with having an early morning kerfuffle involving your dad and some pavement Monopoly players, one of the little nicks with the exposed blade (they are awfully sharp) appears to have effectively located an artery within the sword-wielding son, landing him in intensive care.
And probably requiring some hosepipe action on the pavement. Humans can drain quickly.
Sadly, the story is rather lacking on the reasons behind why the game of Monopoly was taking place on a pavement a couple of hours before sunrise. Although, I’m presuming that because it was dark, a streetlight would have been involved.
And yes, a quick Streetview visit suggests that hypothesis might be a valid one.
Of course, that in itself spawns several more questions, which will also remain frustratingly unanswered.
Anyway, silver linings and all that: if you managed to get a lie-in this last weekend, you did better than at least six people in Belgium.
