The Goonfather executed the con job of the year last night.

It’s all my fault for making him hooked to Liar Game (a Japanese manga that got made into a drama serial and movie). He must be constantly thinking of how to con people now.

We had dinner at Marché. You know how we each have our own cards to rack up our purchases on? So, towards the end of the evening, after the Goonfather had charged pver $80 on his card, he suddenly threw out a proposal.

“Hey!” he said, “I think it’ll be so funny if we mix up all our cards and redistribute them so no one knows how much he has to pay. Imagine the expression of the person who gets my card! Hahaha!”

Everyone started laughing about the nervousness during the qeueing up to pay, and the hilarity during the moment of truth.

All the excitement of Russian Roulette without the death.

CRAZILY, EVERYONE ACTUALLY BOUGHT INTO HIS GAME.

Well, okay, not everyone. Only eight out of 11 took part. The biggest spender of course happily bought in. He had $97 on his card.

Mostly, it was the guys who had between $40 and $100 on their cards. The girls were all in the $20s.

Us girls are just sporting like that.

But I’m still amazed that the Goonfather managed to come up with such a crazy plan and actually have people go along with it.

After everyone surrendered their cards, he mixed them up and got us to pick one each. Since he was the broker, he didn’t get to pick and simply retained the last card remaining.

Then we spent the next hour speculating whose card was the most costly and who had gotten whose card. The big spenders threw out clues, like, “Mine has dog ears,” or “Mine has a split,” which only served to increase the suspense.

And then, the moment of truth.

We all trooped to the cashier. The Goonfather bullied Wang Wang into going first.

PANDEMONIUM.

She got the $97 card.

There was much laughter and hooting and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Still, she managed to pay the bill with a big smile. Even victims can’t help being caught up in the fun.

Big spender Edwin paid next. He got the Goonfather’s card of $83, which was unlucky but still profitable for him.

I paid $41 although I’d only spent $22.

The Goonfather got a $30 card, which means he made about $50.

It wasn’t even a fair gamble to begin with but it was definitely fun.

Still, I think I should tax the Goonfather to cover my loss. Must come up with a better con to get him back. :P