More like the universe rolls a die, and if it comes up d20^1000, it creates a group of friends playing board games. There's no possible way for the friends to b

More like the universe rolls a die, and if it comes up d20^1000, it creates a group of friends playing board games. There's no possible way for the friends to be unlucky, because in the unlucky case they simply don't exist. In your case, in 19/20 possible worlds, there will be a group of disappointed friends not playing board games. It is reasonable to look for an explanation of why one finds oneself in the 1/20 case and not in the 19/20 case. In the anthropic principle, in (N-1) cases there is nobody there to ask the question. Therefore, given that there is an entity capable of asking the question, there is no need to explain why that entity happens to find itself in a universe where question-asking entities are possible. Given that the friends exist at all, there is no need to explain why they are playing cards. The anthropic principle doesn't answer the question of why there is a universe at all, how many universes there are, have been, or will be, or how many universes have contained intelligence. All it says is that we should not be surprised to find ourselves in a universe where intelligent life is possible, since it would be impossible for us to find ourselves anywhere else.