The Game

[pegkerr]

The girls and I went to the church soup supper tonight. I sat down at the long table across from Fiona with my plate and started eating.

"I lost the Game," she said pensively, staring out into space.

"What game is this?" I asked.

"It's the Game."

"How did you lose it?"

"By thinking of it."

My eyebrows went up. She smiled. "See, the point of the Game is to get as many people playing it as possible."

"How do you win it?"

"You don't. There is no way to win the Game. You can only lose the Game. Whenever you think of it, you say aloud, 'I've lost the Game.' And that reminds everyone around you of the Game, and then they've lost the Game, too. And then everyone has a half hour in which they try to forget all about. And that's it--until the next time you remember it." She smiled at me.

I thought this over and laughed a little. "Teenagers."

"Yeah. All my friends are playing it now."

"But now that you've told me about it . . ." I said slowly.

She smiled even more broadly. "Yeah, exactly. You're playing the Game now, too."

I started to laugh. I laughed harder and harder. "And since I've thought of it, now I've lost the Game."

choralgirl sat down next to me. "Lost what game?" she asked.

Fiona and I looked at her. And smiled. "Well, you see," I said to her, "the point of the Game is to get as many people playing it as possible . . . "

(You do realize what this means, friends list? Yes. You are now all playing the Game.)

Comments

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

Oh, man....The Game. Eeeeevil. :)

[fireriven.livejournal.com]

And you've just made everyone playing the game who reads your livejournal lose. -_- And this post will be lurking to catch us unawares until it scrolls off our friends pages. Thanks a lot! ;)

Also, it's not just teenagers.

[laurel]

You can read more about the game at LoseTheGame.com.

[legomymalfoy.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I've been playing The Game since I started in LJ Support. Everyone once in a while, I still go DAMN, I JUST LOST THE GAME!

It's hilarious.

[pameladean]

La la la la I can't HEAR you... .

P.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Now, I was totally thinking about Pollyanna's Game. which is different.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

But does it mean you've won the Game because you've made a whole lot more people lose the Game than any of the people in your immediate geographic vicinty have? Of course, you've also lost the Game, and now will do so every time you look at this month's listing of posts for your LJ...

[ravenspb.livejournal.com]

Truly fiendish.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Aw. Crap. You just made me lose the Game.

[schnoogle.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine from uni has joined the Facebook group "I just lost the game". So every time I look at her profile I lose AGAIN. Argh!

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

We had two completely different activities called The Game when I was a kid, and that isn't either of them. They are both too dumb to explain, or I would.

Sure you wouldn't rather play Mornington Crescent?

K.

[rachet.livejournal.com]

OK, I read this earlier, giggled and went to make brownies for the office....the whole thinking about The Game.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAA!!

[vass]

I first heard of the Game from uni students in their twenties, so it's not just teenagers. And I refuse to play it, so there.

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!

I've lost the game.

[cindysilver.livejournal.com]

You just made me lose for the first time in a month.

Wah.


;)

[morganmuffle]

Bother! Last time I lost was sometime in December, I think that's a record for me *g*

(it's a fascinating game, you'll find if you say it in a public place the oddest people will turn to you with a look of loathing...)

[rabican.livejournal.com]

Ah, the Livejournal Gambit. Classic.

Of course, now you're going to keep losing the game for a while.

[nickel234.livejournal.com]

That is awesome.

I lost the game. I am SO making others lose it, too. :)

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

I am fascinated by this game. It is a minimal game, in a certain sense: it has no rules beyond the bare fact of winning or losing. The other popular example is Werewolf (Mafia). That has more rules, but it's still completely free of, well, of *extra stuff*. The only game elements are being on a team, and being eliminated.

I don't know why I haven't heard about this one before. Thanks for mentioning it. PS: I lose.

My further thoughts on The Game are bloggified at http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2008/02/i-lose.html .

(The other *non*-popular minimal game I know is Mind Chess: players alternate saying "check" or "mate". The first player to say "mate" is the winner. But only if he says "mate" *right before the other player was going to.* It's a cute idea, but hard to play without cheating.)

I suppose Nomic is another well-known minimal game, if you scrap the classical two-tier voting setup and just start with "All players must agree on any change to the rules."