Remember, it's just a game.

A group of us were playing Inevitable at Penn State. If I remember correctly, it was a four-player game with (names and genders changed) Alan, Bob, Claire, and me. We all knew each other from student government at a branch campus of PSU, so we'd been friends for three years or more. We'd been playing for at least two hours when Alan, who was badly injured but had tons of cash and stuff, was headed straight towards Bob, who was very strong and wanted Alan's loot. Alan knew he had no chance of winning, even with the bonus to his CV for getting mugged. Alan also didn't have a clone down payment, so he'd have to walk all the way back to Clone Sweet Clone (which would have taken at least four turns, if not more). 

I wasn't near Clone Sweet Clone, but Claire was standing right on it. Alan turned to Claire and made the following deal: I'll give you all my money and all my stuff. On your turn, make a $1,000 down payment on a clone for me. After Bob fights me and kills me, you'll give my cash and stuff back to me, but keep $1,000 for yourself. Claire agreed, they shook hands on it (In our group, a deal wasn't enforceable with an arrest warrant if you didn't shake on it), and Alan gave all his cash and stuff to Claire. Bob was (understandably) miffed and promptly proceeded to pound Alan to a pulp. At the start of Claire's turn, Claire handed me (the banker) $1,000 and said, "I'm making a clone down payment. For myself."

The rest of us did a double-take. Alan said, "What?"

"You're screwed," said Claire.

At that instant, I realized I'd witnessed the most epic screw (And I haven't seen a more epic screw to date.). Alan was completely and utterly hosed. He didn't have the cash to re-clone, and neither Bob nor I had the cash to lend him to get him re-cloned. Claire was absolutely not going to re-clone him. Alan was going to have to start from scratch (I don't think that playing The Clone Police occurred to him – the betrayal had shocked him so). What I didn't realize was what was about to happen next...

Alan tried wheedling, cajoling, begging, and threatening, but Claire was firm. Alan's stuff was now her stuff and that wasn't going to change. After a bit if this, the argument (and it was an argument by this point) started to overflow the bounds of the game and entered the personal relationship between Alan and Claire. It ended with Alan leaving the room more upset than I'd ever seen him before.

I don't remember how the rest of the game played out. What I do remember is that Alan and Claire didn't talk to each other for weeks. At least two, probably three. It's the most serious rift I've ever seen develop out of a game of Inevitable. It's also why I say that you should play Inevitable either with really good friends, or people you'll never see again. Thinking back on the incident, I realize that Alan and Claire had lots of interpersonal issues outside the game that needed to be resolved, and Claire's screw was the straw that broke that camel's back. If it didn't come out in the game, it would have continued to simmer and quite possibly turned into something far worse down the road. Was it weird? Yeah. Was it uncomfortable? Absolutely.

Still, it was one heck of a screw.