And at the end of the night, when the beasts have retreated and the board is put away (what’s left of it), I watch them hug goodbye. Sarah kisses Emily’s forehead. Emily squeezes Sarah’s arm. And they whisper something I can’t quite hear.
And so it begins. Through years of careful observation (and therapy), I have identified exactly three triggers that cause my wife and sister-in-law to turn into beasts. Consider this your survival guide. Trigger #1: The First Betrayal For the first five minutes of any game, there is détente. They cooperate. They giggle. They pretend to be normal. But then comes the First Betrayal—the moment one sister does something even mildly competitive to the other. Perhaps Emily builds a road that blocks Sarah’s longest route. Maybe Sarah buys the last development card Emily was eyeing. My Wife and Sister in law Turn Into Beasts When...
My wife and sister-in-law turn into beasts when the family board game comes out. And at the end of the night, when
This is a clever trick. Suggest Forbidden Island or Pandemic , where players work together against the game. For about ten minutes, it works. But then one sister will argue that the other sister “isn’t pulling her weight” in the virus-curing department, and suddenly the cooperative game becomes the most cutthroat competitive arena of all. And they whisper something I can’t quite hear
They have no memory of the beast. Or they have chosen to repress it. Either way, I am left alone with the trauma. If you, dear reader, recognize your own spouse or sibling in this story, take heart. You are not alone. I have developed a few strategies for staying alive when the beast emerges.
I learned this the hard way. If you win against one sister, the other will ally with her against you. If you win against both, you have signed your own death warrant. Your goal is not to win. Your goal is to come in a dignified third place.