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Most of the popular board games are family friendly, innocent fun that you can play with friends, parents, siblings, boy/girlfriends, children, and even grandma but once you bring out people’s competitive spirit innocent fun can very easily escalate into vicious arguments. Even if everyone began the game with good intentions, it takes one wrong move, and a comment to spark some negative energy.

The board games that made it to this list didn’t just lead to innocent arguments; they lead to people being violent with each other. Next time you have an evening of Scrabble, a family game night, play Monopoly, or spend time at your local Board Game Café keep in mind that although it looks like innocent fun it’s also a competition, and competitions can cause even the nicest people to make ruthless decisions.

10. Ouija And Its Long-Term, Dark Reputation

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Back in 2012, a young boy was stabbed in the abdomen by his long time friend, a 15 year old schoolmate. The stabbing did not kill the boy but did cause intestinal lacerations. The reason behind the altercation was one that shocked police. Once the assailant was detained, he openly admitted to the crime and also why he did it, stating "the Ouija board made me do it." Last news reported on this case stated that the assailant was told to plea insanity, not sure how well that worked out.

9. Woman Stabs Boyfriend for cheating in Monopoly 

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Although the money used in Monopoly isn’t real money it’s one big competition, to make more money than your fellow players, and lose the least amount of money possible. Monopoly inspires tension, because it’s way too close to real life. In Monopoly and in real life people can very easily be in debt, or get rich quickly, for reasons beyond their control, which will inevitably cause anger.

A great example is the woman who stabbed her boyfriend for cheating in the family fun game Monopoly. One night 60 year old Laura Chavez and her boyfriend were playing monopoly when things took a dark turn. When Chavez thought she caught her boyfriend Clyde "Butch" Smith cheating she began to hit him over the head repeatedly with a bottle and when that wasn't enough she grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed him with that too. Smith suffered minor cuts and bruises but when the police arrived at the house both Chavez and Smith were full of blood. The confused officer asked who was hurt and Chavez replied "Yes. I f*cked him up." We guess these two won't be playing any board games soon.

8. Researcher Dismembers his Opponent After A Game Of Chess

 From 1955 until the fall of the Soviet Union, in 1991, 36 teams of Soviet researchers explored Antarctica. Apparently life at an isolated Antarctic research station is extremely difficult, because it's not only an isolated environment but a freezing cold landscape. In some parts of the continent  the sun sets in February and doesn't rise until August.

A challenge that Soviet researchers, in Antarctica, had to deal with was the fact that being mentally damaged by extreme isolation, and a cold climate, with minimal sunshine, were potential side effects of working in the frigid Antarctic landscape. In 1959 an Antarctic chess game got violent quickly, when a Soviet researcher dismembered his opponent with an axe. Fortunately incidents like these are rare because of the strict psychological screenings that researchers had to go through, before staying in Antarctica for a long period of time. After the Antarctic chess game that ended in an opponent being dismembered, chess was banned from the Russian space station.

7. Game Of Yahtzee Leads To Drunken Fight Between A Husband And His Wife

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A drunken fight between a husband and wife began with an argument over a game of Yahtzee. Their 9-year old son told the police that they were playing Yahtzee, but when his parents started arguing he went to bed, and then back downstairs when he heard screaming. The boy’s father claimed that his wife hit him with an empty wine bottle; his cheeks were swollen, and marked with red. The father was so intoxicated that police officers found him extremely difficult to understand. He also told his son that if he didn’t call 911 he would kill him. His wife had red marks on the left side of her neck too.

6. The Father/Daughter Battleship Game That Lead To Daddy Getting Violent And Angry

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Battleship is a board game where people are encouraged to sink, and destroy each other’s miniature, plastic battleships. It’s also a competition to try and create the most virtual, violent destruction possible.

A game of Battleship started as an innocent father/daughter bonding moment, but escalated into an argument between 68-year-old John Richard Valenzuela and his 17-year-old daughter. The game resulted in Valenzuela pointing a loaded gun at his daughter, and physically preventing her from leaving the house. She called 911 after he pointed his gun at her twice. When the Battleship incident happened she was visiting her biological father, but she was taken back to her foster family because of her father’s violent behaviour. Sources did not confirm whether the fight began because she sunk her father's battleship.

5. Murder mom over Yahtzee 

via;.truecrimereport.com

On Christmas day back in 2010, a young boy murdered his mother because she wanted to play a game of Yahtzee with him. Jacob Cobb, who was 17 at the time, got so mad with his mother that he lunged at her and began strangling her. Brothers Andrew and Dylan both jumped in to help their brother, not their mom. One rushed to place a bag over her head and the other to hide the body in their shed. All boys eventually admitted to the murder and the shocking part, they were only sentenced to 22 months in prison.

4. Board Game Kills Half A Million People:

Han Dynasty Figurines playing Liubo (Bo). Image Courtesy of wikipedia.org

The Han Dynasty was a time in Chinese history, when boarders were expanding faster than ever, which pressured Chinese kingdoms to maintain order, in a rapidly growing country. The central empire was dealing with political turmoil, while smaller kingdoms tensely fought amongst each other.

Oddly enough, what brought the kingdoms together was a board game that ended in a violent accident. It started when Liu Xian, the son of Wu King Liu Pi, visited the China's capital city. While visiting China's capital city he played a board game called Bo with the son of the emperor, Prince Qi. During the game Qi got extremely angry and threw the board at Liu Xian's head, and killed him.

This lead to Liu Pi's outrage over the death of his son. He got soldiers from six other kingdoms, and marched towards the capital, with 500,000 troops. It took three months for the emperor to successfully fend off the approaching troops , and nearly all the soldiers from the seven kingdoms died in the revolt.

3. Domino's Game Leads To Murder

via:patch.com

Pelion, South Carolina is where a game of Domino's can become quite heated, apparently. Two brothers were playing Domino's when things took a dark turn, they began arguing for a few minutes, and younger brother Bobby Banks decide to go to his room. His older brother Robert Banks Jr. decided he had another way of resolving their issue. Robert grabbed his .45-caliber handgun and ran into his brother's room, shot him in the head, then ran out of the house. He was arrested after 4 hours and plead guilty to shooting his brother.

2. Husband Gets Shot Over The Results Of A Bridge Game

via:Myrtle Bennett (left) the housewife who killed her husband / Courtesy of bridgebum.com

On September 29, 1929 four people sat down to a play a game of bridge. Sounds fun, right? Well…not exactly. It was an evening of Bridge that caused Myrtle Bennett, a 35-year old housewife to shoot her husband, Jack Bennett, with a handgun, a couple hours after their Bridge Game caused intense argument.

Jack and Myrtle Bennett played Bridge against their neighbours, as the tension between them gradually heated up. When tension came to a full boil when Myrtle called her husband a “Bum Bridge Player”, then Jack grabbed her wrist, and slapped her aggressively across the cheek. Their neighbours tried to calm them down but failed miserably; Myrtle sobbed, as the tension between them continued to grow. Then Jack announced he was leaving for the night, and asked Myrtle to get him his gun. That’s when she fired her first shot. The first shot missed but the second one hit him in the armpit. He ran, and Myrtle followed him, then she shot him in the back. Jack crawled out of the living room, and into the hall, and died of blood loss.

1. Never Play Chess With A Cannibal

via;belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Saverio Bellante and his landlord, Tom O’Gorman, were playing chess. The true story I’m about to tell you is the reason why you should never play chess with cannibals.

The game was going fine until Saverio and Tom got into an argument over the chess game they were playing, which lead to Bellante brutally murdering his landlord. Bellante called the police, and told them he had murdered Tom O’Gorman, cut open part of his chest, and eaten part of his heart. The police responsible for Bellante’s arrest claim that O’Gorman’s body had multiple stab wounds, and he was missing part of his lung.

Sources: truecrimereport.com, dailymail.co.ukwistv.com, listverse.com, gawker.com, belfasttelegraph.co.uk, sltrib.com, huffingtonpost.com