Evening, Thanksgiving weekend, US
Two friends and a stranger are trapped in an elevator at a now deserted office complex. The friends were leaving work with a copy of Global 1940, hoping to squeeze in a game before the holiday.
The elevator phone isn’t operable, and their cell phones can’t pick up a signal inside. The friends resign themselves to the fact that it might take awhile before anyone comes looking for them, and invite the stranger to play a game of Global 1940.
The stranger accepts and gradually reveals himself to be Death. He tells them if they can stave off defeat for 12 rounds, rescue will arrive … if not, they’ll die when the elevator fails and crashes.
Death has Axis and opens with incredible dice. After 11 rounds, Moscow and Cairo have fallen, and the Allies are on the brink of defeat. In desperation, the UK player spends their IPC on tech dice and gets long-range aircraft. The extra range narrowly allows the capture of Berlin.
Death, incensed that he forgot to stipulate no-tech, flips the board and dematerializes.