Cheating isn’t a phenomenon that’s exclusive to bridge.
Cheaters often seem to imagine that they might get away with cheating at other areas of life where they think they can find appropriate shortcuts; sometimes it’s extra-marital or inter-office, other times it happens at Scrabble.
Here are 5 notable cheating stories from the news, Scrabble, Fortnite, League of Legends and other places that weren’t a bridge game.
#1: League of Legends Tournament Cheaters Fined $30, 000 (EnGadget)
If you can look past the fact that the acronym for League of Legends happens to be LOL, then you’ll notice that the game itself is huge. It’s made by Riot Games, and has thousands upon thousands of players on the inside – and as much as 100 million people keeping an eye on their tournament.
While we’re on the topic of League of Legends and tournaments, cheating players were issued a massive $30, 000 fine for skewing the odds in 2012.
Proceeds went straight to charity.
#2: Over 1, 200 Fortnite Players Banned (Times of India)
Let’s move to some news from The Times of India – and an entirely different online game.
Cheating can’t happen everywhere, can it? Yes, yes it can.
The hugely popular game Fortnite saw as much as 1, 200 players banned from the game for the exact reason most of this post is about: Once again, their attempts to cheat.
Fortnite was released in 2017 by Epic Games. Just like League of Legends, there are many players, high-stakes tournaments and, well, cheating.
As a little bit of extra news, they also sued (and eventually settled the suit against) a minor for selling cheats for the game online.
#3: Scrabble Champion Banned from Professional Competition After Accusations of Cheating (NPR)
Can you screw up the game of Scrabble?
Of course, say cheaters.
Allan Simmons, who is both a British-champion at Scrabble and co-author of the official Scrabble Words book: Also, he was accused of cheating. (More specifically, for peeking at the tiles; the Scrabble equivalent of self-kibitzing…)
It’s not an isolated incident.
Next, the year 2020 brought cheating accusations from online Scrabble players on the app.
#4: Valorant Player Caught Cheating $2, 000 Tournament (Forbes)
Valorant. Another video game that’s popularly played and broadcast; it also happens to be bet on – and occasionally, we’re looking at the same high-stakes e-sports tournaments mentioned above.
And, here’s more cheating.
A player named Ryut was caught for trying to gain an unfair advantage in a tournament worth $2, 000. That’s pretty big money.
#5: Grandmother Stabs Boyfriend for Cheating Monopoly Game (The Daily Mail)
Cheaters don’t just get fined.
When they’re playing against opponents with a much shorter trigger (sometimes mixed together with alcohol and general tension), they get stabbed.
According to the Daily Mail, that’s exactly what happened when sixty-year-old Laura Chavez was convinced her boyfriend was cheating at Monopoly.
Long story short, he was stabbed several times with a kitchen knife, hospitalized and then later recovered.
Not sure if he ever played Monopoly again after this event.