iStockphoto / martince2
A heated late-night Monopoly game resulted in two people being sent to the hospital after being cut by a razor-sharp Japanese katana sword. Just the latest incident over the past 88 years of Monopoly game-fueled violence.
The board game Monopoly is widely considered to be the most divisive game around and this is true for several reasons that we can dive into quickly.
First and foremost, Monopoly is the third most popular board game in history with over 275 million units sold worldwide since it was created in 1935. With hundreds of millions of people playing Monopoly’s various iterations, arguments and fights are inevitable.
The nature of the Monopoly is the second leading reason that it causes more fights than any other board game. The goal is to accumulate as much wealth and property as possible and steamroll your opponents which causes tensions to run high.
There was even a survey last Summer that found 20% of people get into fights with family when playing the Monopoly game.
But sending two people to the hospital with a Japanese katana sword over a heated game of Monopoly is on a whole different level than most could ever imagine.
A group of 4 people were playing the Monopoly game in Brussels, Belgium (1 man, 3 women). It was late at night and they were playing outside, according to La Libre.
When the game got too loud a neighbor came out to complain and brought a stick to swing at the rowdy Monopoly players. According to the New York Post, things then escalated severely when the stick-swinging neighbor’s son emerged with a Japanese katana sword.
La Libre has a breakdown of what happened next:
— The son walked out with a katana sword in its sheath/holster.
— One of the Monopoly game players, possibly homeless, attempted to grab the katana sword and in doing so removed it from its holster so the blade was unsheathed.
— The son tried to grab his katana sword back which led to them coming ‘to blow’ and ’caused serious injuries to the two individuals.’
— The person who unsheathed the sword and the son were both cut deeply by the razor-sharp katana sword and were taken to the hospital where both were arrested.
The major takeaways here are you should NEVER take Monopoly too seriously. If someone in your family gets too heated playing board games then find an excuse to leave before they snap.
You should also be considerate of your neighbors. And that’s true whether you’re outside playing a game of Monopoly at 4 in the morning or if you’re inside your house and hear a noise. Be considerate of your fellow man.
Lastly, it should go without saying but you should always leave the katana sword at home. Seriously, leave the swords at home.
Here is a tutorial on how to win at Monopoly every single time.
It has been a hot minute since I wrote about swords here on BroBible. Looking through the archives, it seems the last time I wrote about swords was in 2019 when the New York Jets DL coach was giving out swords to his best linemen as weekly awards.