I was running a medieval game tournament at a SCA event, a game I had never
seen before. I forget the details, but it was a fun game involving stones and
squares.
I didn't think much about setting up the first round, pretty much paired
everyone up as they signed in. A brief explanation of the rules, and then a
bit of running around answering questions.
Two big guys signed up, I explained the rules to them (neither had played
before) and I set them up against each other. One of them won the first round,
and the other went down to the second bracket, and I didn't think anything
more of it.
Until both of them managed to make it to the final rounds undefeated (except
for the first round). They then went head to head for three more
games before deciding the final victor between the two of them. After the game
was over, I learned that they were both well renouned knights of the
realm.
From this, I learned much about the way of the warrior. Even when immersed in
a game they had never before seen, they both managed to achieve a clean sweep
against a large array of some of very bright gaming folks (almost every SCA
member has a history of some sort of chronic gaming). Many of their
opponents had actually been playing for several days, and yet, they still
prevailed. I was definitely impressed.