The Heist

We played Mexican Train last night with some friends.  I'd never played it before and found it to be quite an enjoyable game.  (For those of you who are thinking "Mexican Train?! What...", it's a game you play with Dominoes.)

Each person had a small train token that, when they ran out of options for their string of dominoes, went on the little roundhouse in the center of all the madness, indicating that that string of dominoes was fair game for other people to play off.

I had the purple glittery train.  But I wanted the green glittery train and Kevin had the green train.  I was jealous.

Kevin, aside from being the green glittery train hog, is from Iowa and likes The Red Green Show.  So in reality he's probably an OK kind of guy.  But...he had the green glittery train.  And I wanted it.

So, at the end of the first round when everyone was mixing up the dominoes, I leaned across the table and snatched that green glittery train.  In its place I set the glittery purple train and set the green glittery train on my lap under the table.

Now that I had successfully stolen the green train, I wasn't sure how to execute my next move.  I obviously couldn't use the green train as my game token, because if I did Kevin would realize who had stolen it and then make me give it back.  I didn't want to give it back.  So I sat there holding on to the green train waiting for Kevin to notice it was gone.

It didn't take long.

"Where's my green train?"  He asked and began searching all over the table, the floor, the counters behind him...

I sort of felt guilty for stealing the green train, so I set it on the table behind my water bottle.  Audra noticed it, giggled, and grabbed the train and hid it in her lap for a little while.

Kevin continued to look for his train.  He was unsuccessful.

Andra slipped the green glittery train back to me while Kevin wasn't looking.  Somehow I had to figure out a very awesome and hilarious way to get the train back without Kevin realizing who had taken it.  I began to think.

I thought, and thought and thought.  I thought some more.

I finally decided that the ideal way to give the train back but also make Kevin think he was going crazy would be to put the train piece back on the roundhouse in the middle of the game.  You know, like it had been there the whole time.

So, as I drew my dominoes, I reached across the table with my right hand to grab a few dominoes.  With my left hand, I sneakily replaced the train on the roundhouse.  Audra and I shared a smile and sat there to wait for Kevin to notice his train.  It really didn't take too long.

"HEY!  My train!"  He yelled as he suddenly saw his green glittery train sitting right in front of him.

He instantly began blaming everyone at the table...except for me.  Oh, and his girlfriend.  (Who is also a fan of the Red Green show and, subsequently, an OK sort of person.)  The blame generally centered around Audra and her husband, Austin who, in all honesty, did seem like the perfect candidates for a train robbery.

Throughout the remainder of the game I made several pointed "what kind of a person loses their train" comments, but he still never caught on.  So maybe I should make my living as a robber or something, because I must not look like the kind of girl who goes around stealing things.

I was pretty proud of myself.  It was the perfect heist.