So you're telling me a group of adults in Columbus looked at a five hour game of Twilight Imperium and thought, yeah, the problem here was too much fun. Seven to four is not a vote, that's a hostage situation with extra steps. Here's the thing though, going full by the book sounds great until someone's home planet gets glassed in round two because of one bad card draw, and then you're just hosting a two hour podcast for three bored people. A game night is supposed to be a game night, not a live demo of why the rulebook has a bunch of edge cases nobody wants to deal with. House rules exist because designers can't test every table of four to eight tired adults at 9pm on a Saturday. Your group didn't fix the arguing, they just traded it for silence and empty chairs.

Curious what the actual difference was between the two cookers. Was it the pot itself, the heating element, the lid fit, or just that his machine happened to run a little hotter and drier than yours? I ask because my gut says cheap cookers often win blind tests simply by cooking faster and firmer, not because they are built better. Did you two ever swap pots or run a second round with a different rice? Also what brand is your $180 one, because for that price I would want it to at least beat a thrift store find.