The Game is a

mind game Playing mind games (also power games or head games) is the largely conscious struggle for psychological one-upmanship, often employing passive–aggressive behavior to specifically demoralize or dis-empower the thinking subject, making the ag ...

in which the objective is to avoid thinking about The Game itself. Thinking about The Game constitutes a loss, which must be announced each time it occurs. It is impossible to win most versions of The Game. Depending on the variation, it is held that the whole world, or all those who are aware of the game, are playing it all the time. Tactics have been developed to increase the number of people who are aware of The Game, and thereby increase the number of losses.

Origin

The origins of The Game are uncertain. The most common hypothesis as is that The Game derives from another mental game, Finchley Central. While the original version of Finchley Central involves taking turns to name stations, in 1976 some members of the

Cambridge University Science Fiction Society This is intended to be a complete list of articles detailing clubs, societies and other common leisure activities associated with the University of Cambridge, England. Sports General * Varsity match, the annual match for each sports team agai ...

(CUSFS) developed a variant where the first person to think of the titular station loses. The game in this form demonstrates

ironic processing Ironic process theory, ironic rebound, or the white bear problem refers to the psychological process whereby deliberate attempts to suppress certain thoughts make them more likely to surface. An example is how when someone is actively trying not ...

, in which attempts to suppress or avoid certain thoughts make those thoughts more common or persistent than they would be at random. How this became simplified into The Game is unknown; one hypothesis is that once it spread outside the

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area, among people who are less familiar with London stations, it morphed into its self-referential form. The creators of "LoseTheGame.net", a website which aims to catalogue information relating to the phenomenon, have received messages from multiple former members of the CUSFS commenting on the similarity between the Finchley Central variant and the modern Game. The first known reference to The Game is a blog post from 2002 - the author states that they "found out about it online about 6 months ago". The Game is most commonly spread through the internet, such as via

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, or by word of mouth.

Gameplay

There are three commonly reported rules to The Game: # Everyone in the world is playing The Game. (This is alternatively expressed as, "Everybody in the world who knows about The Game is playing The Game" or "You are always playing The Game.") A person cannot refuse to 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. This can be verbally, with a phrase such as "I just lost The Game", or in any other way: for example, via

or other

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

. Some people may have ways to remind others of The Game. The definition of "thinking about The Game" is not always clear. If one discusses The Game without realizing that they have lost, this may or may not constitute a loss. If someone says "What is The Game?" before understanding the rules, whether they have lost is up for interpretation. According to some interpretations, one does not lose when someone else announces their loss, although the second rule implies that one loses regardless of what made them think about The Game. After a player has announced a loss, or after one thinks of The Game, some variants allow for a

grace period A grace period is a period immediately after the deadline for an obligation during which a late fee, or other action that would have been taken as a result of failing to meet the deadline, is waived provided that the obligation is satisfied durin ...

between three seconds to thirty minutes to forget about the game, during which the player cannot lose the game again. The common rules do not define a point at which The Game ends. However, some players state that The Game ends when the

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

announces on television that "The Game is up."

Strategies

Strategies focus on making others lose The Game. Common methods include saying "The Game" out loud or writing about The Game on a hidden note, in graffiti in public places, or on banknotes. Associations may be made with The Game, especially over time, so that one thing inadvertently causes one to lose. Some players enjoy thinking of elaborate pranks that will cause others to lose the game. Other strategies involve merchandise: T-shirts, buttons, mugs, posters, and bumper stickers have been created to advertise The Game. The Game is also spread via social media websites such as

and

Reception

The Game has been described as challenging and fun to play, and as pointless, childish, and infuriating. In some

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s, such as ''

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'' and

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

, and in several schools, The Game has been banned. The 2009 ''Time'' 100 poll was manipulated by users of

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, forming an

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for "marblecake also the game" out of the top 21 people's names.

References

External links