I debated which forum to put this in, but this is about game rules.
Some people read while idling on the john. If my cat Tippy is up for it, I like a good game of Sink Ambush.
Tippy takes the role of predator, hiding below prey eye view in the sink. My role is prey, crawling my hand up the lower cabinet, making scratching noises, and poking just the tips of my fingers over the counter, like prey peeking over, seeing if the coast is clear. Tippy, her pupils swelling and shrinking as she zeroes in on the prey, wriggles into up into a coil, and springs up over the counter to try and grab my hand as I snatch it away. Tippy then squiggles backward into the sink for another try.
So, tonight, after scratching and peeking for a good long while as she quivered her pupils and wriggled her butt, my prey hand jumped up over the counter and went digging into her fur.
Well. You would’ve thought I had just dealt myself a pair of queens from the bottom of the deck from the outraged look she gave me. She even licked her lips which is Cat for, “God, you’re an annoying lout.”
I argued that the prey should have a chance to counter-attack.(counter, snerk!) Especially if the predator is taking too damn long.
But Tippy still thinks I cheated.
I’d hate to lose a Sink Ambush partner, now that I never get to play Picklepuss since Razzy’s been gone.
She seems to think so. I play a similar game with my kitty Phantom, though not ever in a sink. She’ll happily play for a good long while UNTIL I start using both hands. Creeping up with one, then I flank her with the other while she’s zeroing in on the first. She instantly starts growling when I make that move. Or as soon as she seems me move the second hand anymore. If I continue to cheat like that past two or three rounds, she’ll hiss and run away. But if I go back to one handed fair play, she’ll stop growling and play normal for a while longer.
I never played sink ambush,but was once well acquainted with the local variation “toes under the blanket” ambush and the prey attacking back was fully part of the game, however the predator quickly learned to avoid the kick about 95% of the time
I actively dislike cats, so once I realised what your OP was about, I thought I was going to hate it. But actually, it was great - good job!
I wouldn’t describe what you did as cheating, rather that you have taken the game to the next level. A bit like buying the expansion set for a board game. But, if you didn’t explain this to your playing partner before doing so, that is bad form and I can understand the feline disgruntlement.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation, you’re arguing with a cat. Much like arguing with one’s wife, this is a lose-lose situation.
Dude, playing with a cat is one thing, but arguing about the rules of the game?
I can’t wait for what you’re going to tell the ER when the prey finally gets caught. “So, I was sitting on the toilet pretending to be a mouse for my cat sitting in the sink when she clawed my hand, this caused me to withdraw it sharply, in doing so I slammed it down on one end of the towel rail. The other end flipped up and fired the spare toilet roll into the air, where it landed on the high shelf, knocking several bottles on to my back. That explains the scratched hand, bruises on my back, and shards of glass embedded in my posterior.”
According to the Hoyle standard rules, the prey is explicitly entitled to do whatever is needed to avoid capture, and so what you did does not constitute cheating. However, given the reaction of your opponent, it might be best to institute (with the agreement of both players) a house rule against this tactic for future games.
Man, you can’t shape game rules around a cat’s indignation. They’re the worst losers ever. If she’s not willing to face the counterattacks clearly allowed by the rules, she should find an easier game. Pussy.