planetdan

Friday, September 09, 2005 :::

Game playa

This graphic I just found brings up some painful memories. I had two adolescent friendships dissolve over accusations of cheating at boardgames. The most ridiculous of which was with one friend who accused me of cheating at Hungry Hungry Hippos. I didn't even know how one would go about cheating at that game, but he claimed he heard me dropping extra marbles into my tray. As if I had palmed an extra Ace in poker or something. I was absolutely innocent of the charges. Dude was just a sore loser.

The second dissolution came from a boardgame that I believe was called Squiggle, but the embarrassing thing is that I had no idea how to play the game. The convoluted rules had been explained to me multiple times but they just didn't make sense. So I played along as if I knew what the hell I was doing, only to be accused of cheating later after making an "illegal" move. I believe cheating should require some sort of intentional deceit, but my pride would not allow me to admit that I just didn't understand the rules. Whatever the case, we stopped being friends after that incident and he told everyone on the playground that I was a cheater at Squiggle. No big loss since his house always smelled like hamburger hotdish anyway.

K-Mack and I have played the old blue edition of Trivial Pursuit so many times that we know all the questions by heart, which I believe is a form of cheating. For instance, when a Science question is read that asks "What was estimated to weigh 180,000,000 tons?" I know to answer, "All the tea in China." No one would ever actually be able to answer such a question without having memorized it in advance. But that's the extent of my cheating. I swear.

::: posted by dan at 12:47 PM :: [ link ] :: (11) comments

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11 previous comments:

What is hamburger hotdish?

By

abby, at 2:17 PM

I don’t think knowing the answers to trivia questions is cheating. If one happens to retain a few tidbits of knowledge from playing a board game over the span of two decades it’s called learning. Duh.

By

Kristina, at 2:46 PM

Hamburger hotdish is a MN staple item for the generation born at the end of WWII (I guess that would be the Boomers, eh?) Basic recipe:
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mixed vegetables
1 pound ground beef
potato chips (the oily, from a bag, non-rippled kind)

Mix the soup/veggies in the bottom of a baking dish, mash the hamburger into a layer on top, sprinkle with smashed chips, bake until you can stand to eat it.

Some people put mashed potatoes over the top instead of chips. My mother called it "Potato Meat Pie," or something like that.

By

ptw, at 3:13 PM

Oh my gahsh, I haven't thought about hamburger hotdish, or any kind of hotdish for that matter, since I was a little brat (the kid, not the sausage) in Wisconsin. I'm having a major nostalgia trip now. Thanks Dan!

By

Gina, at 3:32 PM

A variation on what Jen describes - but when I think of hamburger hotdish, it is exactly the same except it involves tater tots. My grandma made TUNA hotdish with the potato chips.
There is also the one that in other parts of the country might have been known as "goulash" which is basically hamburger, macaroni and some sort of tomato based sauce.

By

elsimom, at 4:08 PM

The extent of my cheating is limited to bars in New York and Florence.

I tried the 'I didn't understand the rules' line too, but it didn't work for me either.

By

Erik, at 6:06 PM

Recipes, confessions, nostalgia...this post is the grandmother I've been missing all these years.

By

Elle Marie, at 7:24 PM

What are they throwing at that hippo?

Actually wasn't it called "shepherds pie" and wasn't it dads contribution to cooking and involved french cut geen beans? We just called it hamburger hotdish.

By

Colleen, at 9:14 PM

I remember running to my room crying on more than one occation due to my family's intense "sorry" family game nights...those nights were my first indication that I was not the prefered offspring..."Stacy,sooooooooory go back to start"
"But Jennifer is two moves from home"
Sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry...

By

Stacy, at 5:17 PM

Well it's almost shepherd's pie. (Veggies, ground meat - traditionally lamb - gravy or mushroom soup, and a mashed potatoe crust.) And shepherd's pie is amazing... I loves it! I believe it's actually a british/irish creation. (My nanny makes the best shepherd's pie EVER!)
This hamburger hotdish though, sounds like a bastard cousin. The gross kind of bastard cousin you "forget" to invite to family functions and avoid in pubic.

By

Gwenhwyfar, at 12:04 AM

oh mah gah. you said "hungry hungry hippo," which is what I always call my cat when she's chawing on the kibble in a loud, messy way. How the hell can you cheat at Hungry Hungry Hippo? That kid was delusional.

Thanks for the nostalgia trip and for reminding how gross HOT DISH is (one thing I don't miss about MN)

By

PeaceBang, at 8:55 PM

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