Week 7 Story: Gambling Gods

There once was a powerful and strong king that conquered many kingdoms. He did this with his mighty strength and combat skills, forcing the kingdoms to surrender from his vast power. His name was King Yute, and everyone knew of his reputation, so nobody bothered him. Because of how scared people were of King Yute, he became very obnoxious and cocky. He knew that he could take any kingdom he wanted, and dared anyone to challenge him to a fight or contest.

King Dole heard of King Yute’s wrath, and feared that his kingdom, Happenstanceland, was next on the list to be taken. This deeply troubled King Dole, because he knew he could not defeat King Yute in combat, and all he had was his tiny kingdom. He had to come up with a way to beat him without using physical strength. Suddenly, he thought of an idea that would give him the upper hand and let him keep his castle.

King Yute, eager to conquer more land, decided to venture to Happenstanceland, a small piece of land where King Dole ruled. Upon approaching the gates, King Yute yelled to King Dole, telling him to come down and duel. King Dole emerged from the drawbridge, and approached him.

King Yute began to speak, but was suddenly cut off by King Dole. “Let’s cut the chat, Yute. I know you’re here for my kingdom. So, as a matter of fact, I’d like to challenge you to a contest. It doesn’t involve brawn or force, but instead wits and intellect. Surely, a man of your stature wouldn’t be afraid of such a challenge?

The townspeople looking on were shocked in silence. King Yute, with his company watching from behind, was caught off-guard, and then became visibly angered.  Of course not. A tiny king defending his tiny kingdom has nothing against the most powerful king in all the lands. Name your challenge, and I’ll beat you handedly,” boasted King Yute.

King Dole grinned, as he had the powerful king right where he wanted him. “A simple game of Yahtzee should be no problem then? If I win, I keep my kingdom and you move along. If you win, you can have my kingdom, for it is all I have left,” said King Dole.

Now this troubled King Yute. Although he was a skilled gambler, he thought the game would have been a more conventional betting game, and had not played Yahtzee since he was a kid. But he knew he had to agree, or else he would be humiliated. So King Yute agreed. Little did he know, however, King Dole had been playing Yahtzee since a boy, and was secretly considered the best player in all the lands.

They began the game, and immediately King Dole won the first couple rounds. King Yute started to become frustrated, and gave a tremendous roar when he finally lost. He turned to King Dole, angrily, and demanded a rematch.

“Hmm, if we are going to play again, we should change the stakes. If I win this time, I take your chariot,” said King Dole.

King Yute, eager to move on and indifferent about risking one of his dozen chariots, agreed. So, again they played. And, again King Dole won, handedly. This only angered King Dole more, and kept demanding a rematch. To do so, he upped the stakes, and bet one of his prized horses. This continued over and over again until King Yute was as red as the sun and steaming from the ears. He could not stand the humiliation, but was too determined to wipe King Dole and his puny kingdom off of his list. Finally, after hours of gambling, King Yute was down to his last golden chariot, the one he used to arrive.

“I’m done playing games, Dole. Settle this once and for all. All or nothing. If I win, I get all my properties and riches back from you. If you win, you take everything you have already won from me, and lastly, my castle,” King Yute shouted.

King Dole agreed easily, and they played one last round, before King Dole handedly won, again. King Yute was in disbelief. He had come to Happenstanceland as the most powerful king in all the lands, and now he had nothing. He had gotten too ahead of himself, and let his cockiness get the best of him. Unable to face this new reality, he struck out at King Dole. Filled with rage, he charged King Dole, ready to destroy him once and for all.

King Yute was just about to smash King Dole to a million pieces, when suddenly, the sky cracked and opened up. From it emerged a giant gambling die. It fell rapidly, and finally landed where King Yute had stood, flattening the powerful king and forever cementing him in his gambling grave. The townspeople and King Dole looked up at the sky, and they could see The Yahtzee God looking down upon them. 

“Nobody cheats at Yahtzee and gets away with it,” boomed The Yahtzee god.

From there on, everyone respected the newly rich King Dole and never challenged him again to a game of Yahtzee.
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Die


Author's Note
This is from The Gambling Match by Donald A. Mackenzie. It follows the story of Duryodhana tricking Yudhishthira into gambling away everything he owns, because Yudhishthira cannot turn down a battle or challenge. Yudhishthira accepts and loses all he has. I turned this story into more of a comedy because some aspects seems funny to me when I was reading the original story. From this I arrived at the Yahtzee god, and King Yute's (Yudhishthira) ultimate end.


Comments

  1. Oh man, this story is golden. I got a good laugh at reading this and you did a great job of writing it. You made it easy to follow and enjoyable to read and you even managed added some humor to it. I honestly can’t say I had thought about the game of Yahtzee in many years so that was a bit of a unexpected twist. Great job of putting it all together and adding a lesson in the story!

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  2. Hi Ethan! I liked this version of the gambling match. King Dole was smart to challenge King Yule in front of an audience. It seemed as though King Yule's reputation of cockiness and arrogance had preceded him. Dole knew that Yule was too competitive to reject a challenge in front of people, even if it was Yahtzee. I think Yule was pretty foolish to continue to challenge when he was clearly inferior in this game--but hey, Yule was known for his brute strength more than his intelligence. Great story!

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  3. Hello Ethan,
    This story is great. I laughed at "Happenstanceland" and the irony of the die falling. Quick question, did you purposely make the "die" pun with the falling gambling die? Either way, the irony of the whole thing was still hilarious. I like how you swapped the original roles too by making Yute the bad guy in the story instead of just the idiot victim.

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  4. Hi Ethan!
    I thought it was really funny that a giant die fell from the sky to kill King Yute but I was kind of confused as to how he supposedly cheated at Yahtzee. If anything I would suspect King Dole would be the cheater since he kept winning. It might make more sense if the Yahtzee God sighted some other reason for why he sent the die to kill Yute. Other than than I really thought that it was a fun twist on the original story.

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