User:Jamie.johnstone/The Game

The Game refers to a cult-game that, in theory, all people living are apart of. It is an on-going, and never-ending battle between people who are "playing" to make each other "lose the game". The only way to lose the game, is to think about the game and so forth, there is not way to win.

History
The origins of The Game are difficult to trace as originally it was spread by word of mouth. There are currently three claimed creators of The Game:


 * Jamie Miller
 * Dennis Begley & Gavin McDowall
 * Two Anonymous Brothers from Australia

Jamie Miller
Jamie Miller claimed to have created The Game in 1996. A forum posting on the Skotos forum on 12/06/2002 is a repost of an original posting by Jamie Miller that explains the history of the game:

''The game was conceived one lonely evening, about six years ago by myself, Jamie Miller. It was upon this night that I decided to dedicate my life to annoying Humanity at all cost. The Game is my most successful, and cheapest, method of non-lethal terrorism to date. Up to this year, 2002, I have met people nationally who have been affected by the game. Testimony to the spread of the phenomonae can be gained from Prick, and maybe Muso, if i've told him yet.'' -

Dennis Begley & Gavin McDowall
A subscriber to The Game, Mike Codling, claimed the following in an email:

"I’m sure I was told of the game in either ’93 or ’94 by either Dennis Begley or Gavin McDowell, two sound engineers who live and work in the south-west of England. The game quickly propagated through many of my friends.

It was explained thus as the ‘East Finchley’ game:

Three young men, following a heavy night out in the west end, accidentally took the wrong branch on the northern line, and found themselves stranded at East Finchley. As they had no money, they decided to wait on the platform until the first morning service to take them back into town. To help the time pass, they decided to play a game, and one suggested that they should try to forget about where they were, and that they were playing a game, and the first one to think about the game, or about East Finchley, was the loser. -

Further references cite the following e-mail, received from Adrian McCrickard on 20/09/2007: "Here is the correct story of the origin of the game.

The 'East Finchley' story has some elements of the truth in it, although it was actually Finchley Central.

It is called 'Finchley Central'.

The game was taught to me by one of the three guys on the platform that night. They were just waiting for the train after a night out. Obviously you can't stay in the station all night as they were closed after 12ish. Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name (if it comes to me, i'll let you know) but he was a scientist (physics I think) from Esher. He had a yellow Triumph Spitfire and collected vintage port. We both worked for BNFL at Risley, Warrington and I was renting a room in his house. This was in 1982 and I seem to remember it was invented while he was at university which would have made it 1979-81.

I have noticed people in the forums trying to come up with ways of winning the game. Well, there is one. It is called 'Finchley Prime'. It was devised some months after the original game. The idea is that if you say the word 'winning' in normal conversation without pre-meditation, you win. The catch is, obviously you either don't realise you've won or you do realise them immediately lose. Damn!

I have just seen the Game World Championship page. This is operating on an erroneous supposition. Just because you are not losing does not mean you are winning, you are only playing, and you can only play once you are aware of the game.

Hopefully this will clear up the confusion over the game's origins. And we can all start calling it by its proper name now." -

Two Australian Brothers
Two Australian Brother's, who have since remained anonymous, are noted on various websites as claiming the following:

"'In May 1996 my friend's [two twin brothers] came into class and told us all about this game they said they'd invented during their absence (they had the chicken pox) called 'the game'... there are about 25 other people in the class at the time.'"

A person later claiming to be one of the original twins commented as follows:

"'we did play a version of the game but i certainly don't claim i created it.' - Anonymous"

Based on this it unlikely that the twins created The Game. However, this suggests The Game existed in Australia in 1996.

Cult Information
The rules, ideas and strategies the subscribers to this cult game follow:

The Rules

 * You do not talk about The Game.
 * If you think about The Game, you lose The Game.
 * When you lose, you must tell all those around you.
 * You can not stop playing The Game once informed of the rules.
 * The only way to win The Game is if the Prime Minister of England goes on international television and "loses the game".
 * You can only explain The Game when asked the right questions. eg. What are the rules of The Game? How do you play The Game? What is The Game?
 * If you are asked about The Game, you MUST explain the rules.
 * When you die, you see your high score.
 * The Game resets as soon as you forget about it.

In conclusion, the only way out of The Game is to forget about The Game but if you do that you're winning The Game, which means you can't be out of it, since you're winning it.

Cult Facts

 * The Game created the universe as a means of being played.
 * Whilst in the little known alabamian town of Bessemer, you cannot lose the game, even if you do remember it.
 * (UK/Australia only) Should the current prime minister declare that he or she has lost The Game, all other players win the game and scores are reset. In many variations, this is the only way of winning.
 * Many people say, "I lost the game- 1...2...3.." and then hit the nearest object.
 * If a player sees another player lose on live TV, in a forum on the Internet, or hear them losing on live radio, then they win the game, until they realise they've lost.
 * In Soviet Russia, The Game loses YOU!!.
 * The first person to clap after some one else says "I lost The Game" wins The Game until they realize that they thought about The Game and therefore lose.
 * If you lose the game and there is no person within earshot to announce it to, you must text/email at least one person telling them, in this way you transfer your losing making you win until you realize that you have won, when you lose again, etc.

Winning The Game
The Game is technically impossible to win as by winning (and there are various ways of "winning") you are remembering the game and therefore losing it.

Popular Ways of Announcing a Loss
The most popular ways of losing the game are:
 * "I lose"
 * "I lost my seagull."
 * "I lost"
 * "You lose"
 * "Dammit The Game!"
 * "You won... But oh wait, you just lost!"
 * "D'oh!"
 * "You sunk my battle ship"

Objective of The Game
In conclusion, the objective of the game, is to forget that it exists or lose it as little as possible.

Strategies of The Game
Winning the game is impossible, as has already been established. The only thing that you can do in order to save your soul from "eternal damnation" is to make other people lose more. The most obvious way to do this is to say something like, "I lost the Game"; but thats boring, dull and soon gets repetitive. The best players are the ones who can think of the most imaginative way of making other lose, like:


 * "I regret to inform you that you have just lost the game."
 * "Your playing status has changed from winning to losing."
 * [tap on shoulder] "I'm very sorry, did I just make you lose the game?"
 * "Your winning streak has just been terminated."
 * Make your 'friend' associate random things (like cats, or pens) with the game?
 * Put notes saying on the the above in pages inside your friend's books.

For veterans the game has begun to be less about yourself losing but more of the sad soul who you are making lose and the best way to do this is by puns.
 * "I hear you have a chemistry exam! Will your magnesium being losing electrons?"
 * "Actually I'm reading John Milton's Paradise Lost right now"
 * "You read computer sciences at Cambridge? Much on game theory?"

The simplicity of the loss on the losers part is often more infuriating in this way.

Cultural References
The Game can be looked at as a take on life, showing that no matter how hard you play, you always lose in the end (see Death).