My husband is very competitive and hates to lose. He also loves to play pranks on people. Online video games makes a perfect arena for this all to come together.
His buddies at work talked him into playing Mario Kart online. We used to always race when we had it on the Nintendo 64 system, but he really didn’t get into the Wii version. Not surprisingly his buddies kicked his butt… badly…
In his own words, “I was doing really good, holding on to 4th place. Then I realized there were only 4 players.”
His buddies picked on him horribly, calling him “trash”. On the occasion that he did somehow not end up last, the loser was heckled for being beat by the “trash”.
Not surprisingly, my husband devised a devious plan to get even.
I came home from work to see my teenage daughter playing Mario Kart and inform me that, “Dad is making me play.” At first I was puzzled, but it soon became clear. You see, in Mario Kart, when you race using the one player game, you win metals, gain experience, get more powerful vehicles and more advanced characters. He had instructed our daughters to play on his game and fill his grid with gold metals, maxing out his performance. On top of all of this, my daughters learned about little hidden shortcuts within the individual tracks (aka: if you have a speed up mushroom and you veer left at the right moment, your character shoots into the air and skips a portion of the track and if you hit the acceleration at the right moment you can blast out of the starting line giving an immediate advantage).
Right about the same time, he had a four day vacation. This was necessary for his alibi.
Finally, the moment of truth. My daughter was practically drooling in anticipation as she signed in, pretending to be her dad (she is sooooo much like her father). Finally, the race was about to begin. She selected her fastest character, Rosalina, and her favorite bike, Flame Runner.
Our last minute advice, “Remember, they think dad stinks, so start out easy.”
Ding went the first buzZer. Ding went the second buzzer. Down went her thumb on the control. Ding went the final buzzer… and she BLASTED out of the line up, leaving dad’s buddies in her virtual dust!!! We all busted into laughter as we knew dad’s cover was blown, we could just imagine their jaws hitting the floor as the “trash” was blowing them all away… After a lap went by, they began recovering and hitting her with everything they could, she held 1st place until the very end of the last lap when they blasted her with shells and she ended up taking 2nd place. Another race and she took first…
The next day, my husband heard from his incredulous buddies, “How the heck did you get so good, so fast?!? And how did you get Rosalina?!?”
The alibi kicked in, “Dude, remember the four days I had off, I spent the entire time practicing and getting my character to all gold.”
“You’ve got ALL gold?!? Mine isn’t even all gold!!” They eyed my husband suspiciously, “How old are your kids?”
He smiled and replied (lying though his teeth), “Eight, six and four.”
Not convinced, “Does the wife play?”
“She just started playing; I tear her up,” he laughed and wasn’t about to admit that, although I was worse than the kids, I had never lost to him.
Needless to say, my husband is loving this prank. He’s no longer called “trash” and his buddies have yet to learn the truth behind the lies… I’m sure he will pay dearly when they do.
