Retro Rush Flashback! Board Game Edition

[SigKapSweetie]

I officially love this thread!

[ColdInCanada11]

I never saw the re-release, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was a failure.

This thread is fantastic! Board games make my life, especially Apples to Apples

[IrishLake]

I heart this thread, just as much as I hearted CC (raspberry or peach flavors) back in 8th grade. I LOVED that stuff, and can't wait to hear the rest of Rushee McGee's story!

[BraveMaroon]

For the record, the illicit Clearly Canadian in question was Cherry - and it was wonderful. Another house got in trouble for pink straws, but, eh.
Thanks for all your kind words - they mean a lot. And with that, I bring you:
Round Three:

Rushee was looking forward to the house tours in Round Three. She really wanted to see more of the Clue house, and she felt excited about Monopoly and Life. When she got to her Rho Chi, she was surprised to see that she had been cut from four of her eight houses: Scrabble (no shock), Sorry (no worries), Clue (DAMN!) and Monopoly (WHAT?!!?). She understood that Clue was legacy heavy, had a long tradition, and while she was sorry to see them go, she couldn’t get too worked up about it. Getting cut from Monopoly was a complete surprise. The “word on the street” was that they rarely cut anyone – they were a smaller house, more diverse in membership and said to be less selective about their invitiations.
In fact, most of her Rush Group was desperate NOT to go back to Monopoly. Rushee was disappointed, but if they didn’t want her, it was their loss.
But lest you think Rushee was angelic beyond belief, she did utter cattily, "I guess I wasn't ugly enough to be a Monopoly". In years to come, she would have friends in that house, so she is sorry for having been so mean.
At this point, she was headed back to four houses she still really liked, so again, she put on a great dress and headed out to her parties:

Pictionary
Chess
Life
Checkers


Chess – The women of Chess had a newer, more modern house close to campus. The house had a sleeping porch, which Rushee thought was weird, but what did she know? She really, really liked the girls, she thought that she might be a good fit…but.

Checkers – She loved seeing this house – similar in location and style to the Checkers house. The sisters were very friendly, and the house seemed warm and inviting. Again, she thought they were great…but.

The “but” had been weighing on Rushee since Rush began. Checkers and Chess were the two Jewish houses on her campus. She had been born to a Jewish father and a Christian mother – but neither parent had strong religious beliefs and she had been raised under the “Do Unto Others” school of Judeo-Christian ethics. This worked well for Rushee. She assumed that because of the ethnicity of her last name (which wasn't really McGee, after all) and because she didn’t wear a big gold or diamond cross, she had flown under the radar at Chess and Checkers. Her lack of religious conviction was fine with her, but would it be fine with Checkers or Chess? She saw Chess didn’t appear to have non-Jewish members, but knew that Checkers definitely did.

Rushee tried to table her concerns and concentrated on her remaining two parties.

At Life, she toured the house with a sister who showed Rushee her photo album. Rushee thought to herself that she could see herself in those pictures. She thought the girl she met was a little odd, but decided that she’d rather have odd than cookie-cutter. Especially because in spite of the “odd” goldfish comment at their skit party, the sisters at Life thought she was worth inviting back.

At the Pictionary house, Rushee felt at home. The house was old, historic and lovely. They showed her the Engagement Room – where one of each year’s residents always got engaged, and they talked about the ghost that lived on one of the floors. They had out displays of their treasured symbols and were friendly and charming.

Rushee decided that any of the four houses would make an excellent choice for her. She ranked her choices and went back to her dorm room.
Coming tomorrow... A special installment titled: "What Went Down Between 3rd and Prefs". Heavily featuing Silly Oldschool.

[rococobaby]

oh my gosh!!! i so can not wait until tomorrow :]

[AOIIBuckeye]

This is a fantastic read, BraveMaroon! I love it.

[southbymidwest]

Such an enjoyable read. Can't wait for the next installment!

[honeychile]

ACK! Such a great story, I want to read it all NOW!!!!

[BraveMaroon]

What went down between 3rd and Prefs:

You’re possibly wondering at this point what became of Rushee’s roommate, Silly Oldschool. Silly had been chugging along at the Risk house – she liked them and Sorry best. She and Rushee had overlapped at a few houses including Pictionary and Life. This fact worried Rushee, because in the week or so they'd been living together, Rushee had a pretty good feel for her roommate, and that feeling was, she was kind of...rude.



Silly had hated both Chess and Checkers and had cut them early on. Silly had been invited to more parties over all, and had strong opinions of her choices. She was still confident that come Bid Day, she'd be at the Risk house.



But at the moment, Silly was bored. Silly wanted to go out and party. Silly asked Rushee if she’d call the Rho Chi phone and ask “for a friend” if it would be ill-advised to go out on the town. Rushee was amused by the dumb subterfuge, so she called.



A random Rho Chi told Rushee it probably would be fine – that if her “friend” ran into any sisters, to avoid them. And she suggested that the "friend" behave in a diginfied manner. But that realistically, most houses put the kibosh on partying during rush, and they’d be too busy working on Prefs to go out. With that, Silly spritzed herself liberally in Sun-Ripened Raspberry from Bath and Body Works and hit the town with her friend Twit (who had opted not to rush).



Rushee also met some non-rushing friends - for pizza and a movie (Robin Hood - Men in Tights), but was home by 9:30 PM. She was tired. She checked her dress for the morning, and decided to get to bed early.

She was getting ready to sack out when Silly’s mother, Mrs. Oldschool called to speak with Silly. She hadn’t returned, so Rushee offered to take a message. Mrs. O asked Silly to call as soon as she got home. Rushee wrote down the message and climbed into her loft.



At midnight, the phone rang again. Rushee stumbled out of her loft, and again, Mrs. Oldschool was calling to speak with Silly. She STILL hadn’t returned, and Mrs. O asked to have Silly call her no matter what time she got in. Rushee took the message, then killed the ringer on the phone.

I know, I know - that was a bad thing for Rushee to do, but it was self-preservation. She had nearly busted her butt getting out of her loft half-asleep. Remember too, that this is in the days before cellphone, and that Silly and Rushee had not yet bought an answering machine.

Rushee slept. She woke up at 6:30 AM when Silly came home. Rushee gave her roommate the messages and told Silly to please call her mother. Silly said she would, but first she was going to get some sleep. Rushee figured she’d done her job and went back to bed. At 9AM, Rushee woke and called Mrs. O. Bad news. Risk had cut Silly.



Mrs. O was incensed, but Silly blew it off. She still liked the Sorry house and didn’t seem to be concerned. Her mother said she’d been calling since 6AM. Silly checked the phone and explained that the ringer had been turned off.



She turned the ringer back on, and Rushee showered and read the newspaper. If they didn’t get a call by 11AM, they would be attending parties that day. Neither girl got the call, so they headed off separately to the Student Center for their party lists.


Coming tonight...Prefs.

[PiPhiERDoc]

I'm hooked...

[Low C Sharp]

Ooo, the plot thickens...please don't make us wait 24 hours!
________

[BraveMaroon]

Prefs:

So it turned out that Rushee’s worries about the Checkers and Chess houses turned out to be for naught – they both released her. Whether it was religion or personality, who could say? She was a little disappointed – she had not been invited to the maximum number of parties since the compulsory Round One events, but she was excited that both Pictionary and Life invited her back.



Her biggest worry now was whether she and Silly might end up in the same house. They hadn't talked much, but she knew now, especially since Risk was off the table, this was a possibility.


She went home to put on her navy blue dress with the big lace collar. The early nineties were a fashionable time, my friends. Suffice it to say, Rushee loved her Rush outfits and looked lovely in them.



As she was preparing for her parties, Silly stormed into their room and slammed her party sheet down on her desk. She had been released from Sorry, and decided to quit Rush. When Rushee asked where she’d been asked back, Silly said with venom, “I don’t want to say; they’re all places *you* like.” Ouch.


After Silly left, Rushee looked at the sheet and saw that Rushee had been asked to parties at Monopoly and Pictionary.


But since Silly had allegedly quit, Rushee felt relieved they would not end up in the same house. At least, that's what she hoped.



And before you get all moral about how it was wrong for Rushee to look at Silly's pref schedule, well - OK, admittedly, it was wrong, but if you had met Silly and experienced her general snotty demeanor, you would have done the same thing. Trust me.


Rushee's first party was at the Pictionary House. The Rho Chi had told her group more or less what to expect at a Pref Party. Even with that, Rushee was astounded.



The house was filled with sweet-smelling flowers, and the sisters, all dressed in matching dresses of their sorority color led Rushee to a table where she sat with a sister who was telling Rushee how special she was, and how they’d love to have her as a sister.



There was singing, there were candles, there was food, matched to the colors of the sorority (which Rushee picked up on and mentioned, much to her hostess' delight) and she was asked to accept a flower, which they would hold for her until she came back the next day as their sister. She felt a strong connection with the house and was glad to have preffed there. She could definitely see herself in Pictionary.


At the Life house, there were more beautiful flowers, sisters in black dresses and she was greeted by the hostess who she’d met at the first party, nearly a week earlier. She said she was so excited that Rushee had come to their party, and Rushee was really surprised and pleased that her hostess remembered her. She got the Rushee some sparkling cider and some food, and they headed to the hostess’ room to talk. Instead of telling Rushee how special she was, she and the hostess talked about movies, picking up where they had left off at the Round One Party. “When Harry Met Sally”, was the primary topic to be exact. Her hostess explained that they would be going down to a serious ceremony, and that they probably should be more solemn when they got downstairs. Rushee agreed.

The ceremony involved candles, singing and was similar to the one at the Pictionary house. It was very beautiful. She enjoyed every party she had been to, and thought it would be a good fit.


Rushee left her second party feeling relieved that she could go to the Greek Life Office to make her selections. Frankly, either house would have been fine, so she would mark the one that had a slight edge first, but be happy with a bid for either.



When she got to Greek Life, she saw girls weeping, paralyzed and unable to decide between Candyland and Operation, if they should suicide Scrabble or give Sorry a chance.



Rushee confidently marked her sheet, and before turning it in, asked the Rho Chi at the desk if she could see the financial obligation sheets for the Pictionary and Life houses. “Might as well see what I’m getting myself into”, she joked. The Rho Chi at the table gave her a funny look and handed her the sheets. She looked them over, handed them in with her card, and said to the Rho Chi, “Have a good evening!”

She went back to the dorm, called her parents and told them she wouldn’t be converting to Judaism after all and wrote some letters to friends at other schools. Although email had been invented in 1993, Rushee didn’t have yet have an address (she wouldn't until midway through Freshman year).

She did have Solitaire on her smoking fast 386 computer (with a dot matrix printer), so she played a few hands. Silly hit the bars again, and again, Rushee went to bed early, dreaming of colors and symbols from her two Pref houses. Silly got home late, and Rushee was already asleep.

Coming soon: Bid Day and Beyond...

[thetygerlily]

I can't wait to see where Rushee gets a bid! I admit I was rooting for Pictionary from the start, as I think it's a fantastic party game. Competitive, fun, and skill-less- at least the way I play! I'm thrilled that they wound up wowing you in the end. But I'm thinking Life had the edge...? Can't wait to see what happens next!

[Low C Sharp]

And before you get all moral about how it was wrong for Rushee to look at Silly's pref schedule, well - OK, admittedly, it was wrong, but if you had met Silly and experienced her general snotty demeanor, you would have done the same thing.

Are you kidding me? I would think there was something wrong with Rushee if she didn't look. It's not like the sheet was in a sealed envelope. I don't really think there's an expectation of privacy when you leave open documents sitting on your desk in a shared room.
________

[KKGCaroline]

Loving this story!