The Game (mind game)
 A player announcing her loss of The Game. | |
| Designers | Unknown |
|---|---|
| Setup time | None (or as long as it takes to explain the rules) |
| Playing time | Ongoing since its creation. |
| Chance | Partially |
| Skills | Thought suppression, Strategy |
The Game is a mental game where the objective is to avoid thinking about The Game itself. Thinking about The Game constitutes a loss, which, according to the rules of The Game, must be announced each time it occurs. It is impossible to win most versions of The Game; players can only attempt to avoid losing for as long as they possibly can. The Game has been variously described as pointless and infuriating, or as challenging and fun to play.[1] As of 2010, The Game is played by millions worldwide.[1][2][3][4][5]
Gameplay
Rules
There are three commonly reported rules to The Game:[1][2][6][7]
- Everyone in the world is playing The Game. (Sometimes narrowed to: "Everybody in the world who knows about The Game is playing The Game",[4] or alternatively, "You are always playing The Game.") A person cannot not play The Game; it does not require consent to play and one can never stop playing.
- Whenever one thinks about The Game, one loses.
- Losses must be announced to at least one person[6] (either by using a statement such as "I Lost The Game" or by alternative means).
The common rules do not define a point at which The Game ends. However, one reported variation states that The Game ends when the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom announces on television that "The Game is up."[6] After you have announced your loss, some variants allow for a grace period, during which you cannot lose the game, which varies in time.
Strategies
Some players have developed strategies for making other people lose, such as saying "The Game" out loud, by associating it with common items or phrases, or writing about The Game on a hidden note, in graffiti in public places, or on banknotes.[4][5]
Psychology
The Game is an example of ironic processing (also known as the "White Bear Principle"), in which attempts to avoid certain thoughts make those thoughts more persistent.[8]
Origin
The origins of The Game are uncertain. One theory is that when two men missed their last train and had to spend the whole night on a platform, they tried not to think about their situation and whoever did first, lost.[2] Another is that it was invented in London in 1996 "to annoy people".[1] The reported earliest known reference on the Internet is from 2002.[1] The idea behind The Game is similar to Douglas Hofstadter's number P, the number of minutes per month a person thinks about the number P.[9]
See also
- Inside joke
- Meme
- Mornington Crescent
- Streisand effect, where trying to suppress a thought makes it spread further.
References
- ^ a b c d e Montgomery, Shannon (17 January 2008). "Teens around the world are playing 'the game'". The Canadian Press.
- ^ a b c "If you read this you've lost the game". The Metro. 5 December 2008. Cite error: The named reference "metro" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Boyle, Andy (19 March 2007). "Mind game enlivens students across U.S." The Daily Nebraskan.
- ^ a b c Verelst, Jeroen (15 March 2007). "The Game, het eenvoudigste spel ter wereld" (Subscription required). De Morgen (in Dutch). p. 2.
- ^ a b Rooseboom, Sanne (15 December 2008). "Nederland gaat nu ook verliezen". De Pers.
- ^ a b c "The three rules of the game". The Metro. 5 December 2008.
- ^ "Don't think about the game" (Subscription required). Rutland Herald. 3 October 2007.
- ^ Kaniewski, Katie (1 March 2009). "You just lost the Game". Los Angeles Loyolan. Retrieved 27 March 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Douglas R. Hofstadter (1985). Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern. p. 44.
External links
Media related to The Game (mind game) at Wikimedia Commons
Wikinews interviews manager of site 'Lose The Game' at Wikinews
