Play The Game!

Last night, I found and introduced a new game to the family. It's just stupid fun that will bring our summer plenty of silliness.

Our game is called "The Game" and was taken from the awesome book UNBORED: The EssentialField Guide to Serious Fun by Joshua Glenn & Elizabeth Foy Larsen.

I've heard that The Game was invented by members of a science fiction club at Cambridge University in 1977. This may or may not be true. What's an incontrovertible fact is that The Game is a diabolically clever (and annoying) past time.

 There are three rules:

1. You're always playing The Game. So is everyone else in the world, even if they don't realize it yet.

2. If you think about The Game, you lose The Game.

3. Whenever you lost The Game, you must say the following phrase aloud, to whoever happens to be nearby: "I lost The Game." Doing so, of course, causes everybody to hears you to lose The Game. They groan and throw things at you.

How do you win The Game?

   You can't! The best you can hope for is to avoid losing - for a few days, weeks, months. Someone or something will eventually make you lose.

   Most players suggest that after you lose The Game, you can't lose it again for a certain period of time - perhaps an hour. This makes sense, because otherwise once one person in a room loses The Game and says so, everyone else in the room will lose The Game an say so, which will cause everyone in the room to say so, which will cause everyone else in the room to lose The Game and say so...on and on without end. Some schools have banned The Game precisely because it can sometimes cause an ongoing disruption - particularly when a student loses The Game during a test, and says so.

How do you make others lose The Game?

   You can make others lose The Game via text or email, or by passing a note - or by wearing a T-shirt that says, "You Just Lost The Game." The only problem is that whenever you make someone lost The Game in this fashion, they'll say "I lost The Game." and then you'll lose, too.

   An even sneakier strategy is making other players lose The Game, while you are not around. Write the phrase "The Game" on a piece of paper and sneak it into a friend's schoolbook, or their desk, for example. Some players write "the Game" or "You just lost The Game." on dollar bills, on stickers, on web pages, and other places people might stumble upon. You might get into trouble for some of these strategies - so avoid vandalism and graffiti.

And there it is... big stupid silly fun! Don't be surprised if, at random times throughout the summer, you lose The Game by reading this blog.