A rolling thunderstorm spoiled what would otherwise have been a pleasant spring day outside. In the student lounge on the third floor of the University Tower dormitory, a group of friends gathered around the television.
"Hey, at least we've got TV," Daniel joked.
But, as if on cue, a bolt of lightning flashed outside. As the thunder echoed off the building, the lights in the room flickered, then died as the image on the TV faded into blackness.
"Well," Nicole chuckled as she wrapped an arm around her boyfriend James, "this is what we get for staying here over Spring Break, I guess."
Alicia perked up, eyes bright with an idea. "Hey, I've got an weird little board game we could try. Don't look at me like that, guys. Its something to do. It can't suck as bad as watching a TV with no power." She ran down the hall toward the room she shared with Daniel, and returned a few minutes later bearing a wooden box, chipped and worn over the years.
She unpacked the board, and an old carved-bone pair of dice, as well as a few generic-looking game figurines, and set it up in the middle of the floor. The board was dominated by a path formed of multicolored squares. A rectangular area resembled a place for cards, but a quick search revealed none.
"Hmmm," Joanne, the bright young Asian sophomore, mused. "I guess this is like any of twenty or so other move-around-the-track games. No need for instructions, let's get this over with."
As each of the five players sat down around the board, James couldn't help but notice the suggestive poses of the animals in the board's decorative frame. He opened his mouth to comment, but was already the last to roll, and a poke to the ribs from his girlfriend distracted him completely from what he was about to say.