# How would you win The Running Man (Stephen King's novella)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334 "2011-12-07T02:39:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/121 "2011-12-21T22:45:12Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > Something I noticed upon re-reading the book. The TV show really does a terrific job in ratcheting up the hate against Richards. Especially when he kills the cops he’s evaded. The police have roadblocks against him, and are willing to (and do) shoot on sight. It got so bad that > > The crowd murders his wife and child > > What happens if he actually makes the 30 days? Do they bring him up on stage, give him his check, and then tells the viewing public: “He made his 30 days, everyone stop hating him now. Including you cops.” You misread. The book doesn’t say who murdered this wife and child, but it happened the first day (they’d been dead for ten days by the time he’s told about it), so it’s very unlikely to have been the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/122 "2011-12-22T15:44:54Z")
Next is the important question: How do we turn it into a game show today and make lots of $$? But that’s for another thread. Random question, when in the mailing process does a package get postmarked? Is it before or after the address is checked? If you put the network address as the return address, put a “bad” address on it and put it in the mailbox when it got “returned” to the network would it have a postmark? ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/123 "2011-12-22T17:23:56Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > Random question, when in the mailing process does a package get postmarked? Is it before or after the address is checked? If you put the network address as the return address, put a “bad” address on it and put it in the mailbox when it got “returned” to the network would it have a postmark? Yes, I believe they are marked on arrival to the sorting facility. However, you could conceivably send made-up letters to other companies and ask for catalogues or promo materials and such, and include a reply envelope addressed to the network with the postage paid and a tape stuck to the bottom. Sure, they’d know where it came from and be able to track it down, but most companies probably don’t keep random envelopes around for several days so it could well have been disposed of by the time they get there to investigate, and in either case you’ll have gotten plenty of time to move on from where you sent it in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/124 "2011-12-23T02:05:03Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > It’s not mentioned in the book, but I think a real-world consequence of this game with such a large prize would be the development of organizations/companies who are on the side of the contestents, keeping them safe from the Hunters. Even if it costs $100 million to keep Richards safe, you’re still earning $900 million (less whatever you want to give to Richards). I really doubt the dystopian state would let such an organization or company exist for long. And if it did, it would surely be infiltrated by undercover hunters. Haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but: Why is the running man required to send in two tapes? Why not just one? And is it possible they lied to him when they told him that his wife and son had been murdered, just to make him lose hope and/or give up? ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/125 "2011-12-23T02:16:26Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Why is the running man required to send in two tapes? Why not just one? > > And is it possible they lied to him when they told him > > that his wife and son had been murdered, just to make him lose hope and/or give up? They don’t really say why the two tapes, other than “thems the rules”. And to your second question: [spoiler]Nope. They ask him to join their team as a Hunter, since he was so good at it. He says his family will be in danger if he becomes a Hunter. The network informs him they’re already dead. He quickly dismisses it as a trick, because he could find out on his own easily enough. He doesn’t join their team.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/126 "2011-12-23T02:57:49Z")
> [@Voluble](#): > > 11: Buy a giant Twizzler outfit and stand in parking lots handing out candy like you are part of some promotion. By FAR my favorite idea mentioned. “In other news, we finally have our first Running Man winner. He hid out for a month dressed as a weenie tot handing out corn dogs.” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/127 "2011-12-26T08:46:10Z")
I was encouraged to read The Running Man because of this thread. One thing we’re forgetting is that the game is rigged from the very beginning. Potential running men are subject to a battery of physical and psychological testing. You’re not going to be selected if you’re the type of person with a strong network of contacts you can rely on. You’re not going to be selected if you’re well educated. (Richards had intelligence but no real education.) You’re not going to be selected if you’re not part of the lower class. The only way to win The Running Man is not to play. ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/128 "2011-12-28T14:12:35Z")
In the book, Richards guessed that the Network would stage his death and then quietly continue to hunt him if he made it to 25 days. There really is no winning. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/129 "2011-12-28T15:09:20Z")
> [@Astral\_Rejection](#): > > In the book, Richards guessed that the Network would stage his death and then quietly continue to hunt him if he made it to 25 days. There really is no winning. And especially not in Richards’ case, because he’s only doing it for his wife’s sake; once he learns she is dead . . . ---
**Author:** ![mayeeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@mayeeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mayeeta)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/130 "2011-12-29T21:34:16Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I was encouraged to read The Running Man because of this thread. One thing we’re forgetting is that the game is rigged from the very beginning. Potential running men are subject to a battery of physical and psychological testing. You’re not going to be selected if you’re the type of person with a strong network of contacts you can rely on. You’re not going to be selected if you’re well educated. (Richards had intelligence but no real education.) You’re not going to be selected if you’re not part of the lower class. > > The only way to win The Running Man is not to play. I read someone quoting this book in a newspaper, so I search about it. It looks interesting, but I was not about to read it simply because my library doesn’t have this book. It is actually this thread that push me into buying the book. I read the first half and the ending, and I’m glad to have found it. I think all the running men know this game is rigged, and they are going to die. They just want to earn as much as possible for their family. If they have a choice, they won’t play the game. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/131 "2011-12-30T03:18:33Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > Inspired by an old [The Long Walk](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=402710&highlight=%22long+walk%22) thread. > > Here’s the game show scenario, according to Stephen King’s novella (not the movie): > [ul] > [li]You must survive 30 days to win a billion dollars. That’s pretty much the only rule. The countdown does not stop for anything. You cannot back out or quit. [/li][li]You have a large cash expense account. You can travel anywhere in the world, wear disguises, use weapons, hide, whatever, for those 30 days. You do have a one-day head start before they announce you to the world.[/li][li]There is an elite tracking team, called the Hunters, who will kill you once found.[/li][li]The TV-watching world is looking for you; they get rewarded for spotting you and alerting the Hunters. [/li][li]Law enforcement is looking for you; but you can kill them legally for bonus money during the 30 days. You won’t be punished for any criminal acts occurring in those 30 days. If caught, though, the cops will turn you over to the Hunters.[/li][/ul] > > No rules-lawyering. The game ends with you dead or the 30 days are up. The government is a 1984-style crapsack dystopia. You are the masses’ bread and circus, and the biased media are not on your side. You cannot plead with the powers-that-be over the sanctity of life. You will not find groups protesting this barbaric game. You cannot find refuge over state lines or internationally. You cannot hire an attorney to find loopholes or stop the game. You can find allies, but you’ll put them at considerable risk. In the book, those harboring or helping you will be put to death. > > You’re thinking, “I’ll just hide somewhere remote for 30 days. Find a cave and stock it with supplies”. Yep, you can, so long as you follow one teeny-tiny corrollary: You have to send two videotapes of yourself daily. They can only be sent through the postal service. If you do not, you forfeit your reward (but not the hunt). > > A major plot point in the book, both negative and positive, so you COULD read the book or wiki summary. But that’s no fun. > > Don’t totally despair! The book was written in 1982, so internet, smartphones, message boards, and round-the-clock news channels weren’t huge. Your progress is updated only during the (nightly?) show, and the tapes have the usual postage delay. Don’t be a chicken, it’s only 30 days and you do have a good travel & expense budget (in cash) and legal immunity. > > You win, and you get a billion dollars. “The only winning move is not to play” Naturally, but for this exercise, you’ve already started. > > Minus 100 and counting… I think the game was rigged to make it impossible for the contestant to win. The end of the novel really made that perfectly clear, I think. The protagonist must have known it was hopeless, which is why he killed himself in an act of destruction that eerily predicted 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334/132 "2011-12-30T05:04:11Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > I think the game was rigged to make it impossible for the contestant to win. The end of the novel really made that perfectly clear, I think. The protagonist must have known it was hopeless, which is why he killed himself in an act of destruction that eerily predicted 9/11. Except that the protagonist won. He could have survived and became the head hunter for the Network but he chose a different path. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-win-the-running-man-stephen-kings-novella/605334.md?page=6)