The Game (mind game)
Encyclopedia
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. As of 2010, The Game is played by millions worldwide.
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." After you have announced your loss, some variants allow for a grace period, during which you cannot lose the game, which varies in time.
(also known as the "White Bear Principle"), in which attempts to avoid certain thoughts make those thoughts more persistent.
's number P, the number of minutes per month a person thinks about the number P.
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
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. As of 2010, The Game is played by millions worldwide.
Rules
There are three commonly reported rules to The Game:- Everyone in the world is playing The Game. (Sometimes narrowed to: "Everybody in the world who knows about The Game is playing The Game", 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 (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
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
announces on television that "The Game is up." 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.Psychology
The Game is an example of ironic processingIronic Process Theory
Ironic processing is the psychological process whereby an individual's deliberate attempts to suppress or avoid certain thoughts render those thoughts more persistent.-Mechanisms:...
(also known as the "White Bear Principle"), in which attempts to avoid certain thoughts make those thoughts more persistent.
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. Another is that it was invented in London in 1996 "to annoy people". The reported earliest known reference on the Internet is from 2002. The idea behind The Game is similar to Douglas HofstadterDouglas Hofstadter
Douglas Richard Hofstadter is an American academic whose research focuses on consciousness, analogy-making, artistic creation, literary translation, and discovery in mathematics and physics...
's number P, the number of minutes per month a person thinks about the number P.
See also
- Inside jokeIn-jokeAn in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
- MemeMemeA meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
- Mornington CrescentMornington Crescent (game)Mornington Crescent is a spoof game, featured in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, which satirises complicated strategy games....
- Streisand effectStreisand effectThe Streisand effect is a primarily online phenomenon in which an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely...
, where trying to suppress a thought makes it spread further.