The game?

Wii Monopoly

The players?

Mr Hatter, a millionaire tycoon who wears a fedora, smokes cigars and has a butler named Bannister. Mr. Hatter spends a good bit of the game trying to get Ms. Toad to give him money randomly and spitting out bits of his cigars.

Ms. Toad, his mother, who gets roped into a 2 1/2 hour long game of monopoly in the interest of connection but who ultimately gets pulled into the game enough to take control of the board and bankrupt the last player with two wisely placed houses on Boardwalk. Her butler is named Charles, by the way, and brings her tea and cakes during her infrequent trips to jail.

Mr. Ship (aka player 4, the computer), who teaches Ms. Toad that the way to win is to put every ounce of cash into those houses. More houses please. It was Mr. Ship who finally went under on that fateful trip to Boardwalk.

Mr. Burrow (aka player 3, the computer). Oh well, not everyone can get a monopoly every time.

Samuel got Monopoly for the Wii last week from Blockbuster. He has been playing it steady all week. I played one game with him a few days ago and last night he persuaded me to play another more complete game. He finished it up for me this morning when it got down to Ms. Toad and Mr. Ship. I honestly didn't have the heart to go through the motions of bankruptcy, so sure was I that Mr. Ship would prevail. And yet no. On the very next turn it was all over as Mr. Ship landed on Ms. Toad's boardwalk with houses. Thank goodness for those houses. And the back story. Playing with Samuel and creating a back story to go along with the front story really shifted the game enough so that I really enjoyed myself. So there was that AND connection. What more?