Detective Tip: When a group of gangsters tell you it's going to be "just some light fun and games, no stakes, the alliances don't even matter", they are actually tricking you into an elaborate humiliation ritual.
POINT OF ORDER! this is true, if more than a little understated. my lusus, The Dogfather, has often stated that there is no such thing as a game without stakes, and anyone who accepts an invitation to one is both a rube and a mark