# "One Million Checkboxes," a strangely HORRIFYING game

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-million-checkboxes-a-strangely-horrifying-game/1003470>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [June 29, 2024, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-million-checkboxes-a-strangely-horrifying-game/1003470 "2024-06-29T01:39:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-million-checkboxes-a-strangely-horrifying-game/1003470/21 "2024-07-13T21:09:31Z")

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True, and that raises another issue: Given that the ultimate goal of this game was, effectively, to render it permanently unplayable, didn’t the use of illicit means to bring about this finality kinda ruin it for everybody, _including_ the cheaters? This should have been an epic struggle! The side that wants to let the game continue forever vs. the side that wants to end the game forever! Which outcome is more desirable? Which has the edge? How long will the game have to continue before one side claims victory or the other gives up in frustration? What if the game is ended after six months, would that be considered a valiant effort? A year? Two years? Instead, a bunch of lines of code slam the door shut after about two weeks. Blink and you missed it. This whole exercise seemed so…so _pointless._ 🙁

Ah well. Anyone got some funny screenshots to share from “solo mode”? 🙂

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**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-million-checkboxes-a-strangely-horrifying-game/1003470/22 "2024-07-13T21:17:06Z")

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I wonder how long it would take to finish a Minesweeper board which was 1000 x 1000…

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**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-million-checkboxes-a-strangely-horrifying-game/1003470/23 "2024-07-13T21:20:20Z")

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> [@DKW](#):
>
> This should have been an epic struggle!

The Reddit /r/place game that **leahcim** mentioned was more interesting. The final result for 2023:  
[![](https://placedata.reddit.com/data/final_2023_place.png?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=place&utm_content=t3_15bjm5o) ](https://placedata.reddit.com/data/final_2023_place.png?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=place&utm_content=t3_15bjm5o)

The game was still wholly dominated by bots by the end. But it required more finesse. Diplomacy. Different subreddits allied themselves, or went to battle against their enemies. Many carved out a space proportional to their influence. But sufficiently unpopular ones could be kept out completely.

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**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-million-checkboxes-a-strangely-horrifying-game/1003470/24 "2024-07-13T21:28:24Z")

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> [@Dr.Strangelove](#):
>
> The Reddit /r/place game that **leahcim** mentioned was more interesting. The final result for 2023:

Maybe this is what just happens when you create a collage of small pictures featuring primary colors, but that looks eerily similar to [the million dollar homepage](http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/).

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