Learning Game Design with Arcade Berg

THE Game

I lose!

Congratulations. You are now playing the game (if you weren't already).

The Game is very simple.

1. You are always playing the game.
2. Every time you think about The Game, you lose.
3. Loss of The Game must be announced.

And now for some copy/paste from Wikipedia so I don't have to type in the same thing:

The Game is an ongoing game, the objective of which 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. How to win The Game is not defined in the rules; players can only attempt to avoid losing for as long as possible. The Game has been described alternately as pointless and infuriating, or as a challenging game that is fun to play.

[...]

Some players allow a grace period of 30 seconds to half an hour after someone has lost, during which a player cannot lose The Game again, or is not obliged to announce a loss[1] This is done in order to prevent a perpetual loss of the game.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(mind_game) (22/1/2010)

I honestly, as a game designer, think that The Game is brilliant. I've been "playing" it for years and losses can take anything from a few hours to several months to occur. The clever thing is that really, once invited you can't not play, except that you can refuse to announce your loss. But this is just like the Polar Bear trick:

- Don't think about Polar Bears.

Now you're thinking about Polar Bears!

Even the people who refuse to partake in the game and hence don't announce their loss, when they actually DO think about the game, they also think "I lose".

One could argue that the whole thing is stupid, and maybe it is, but there's actually some things to study and learn from here. There are three easy rules, it spreads like the plague, never ends and you're constantly playing.

Sorry, but you're playing.