# The game
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 1, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877 "2006-08-01T14:28:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/1 "2006-08-01T14:28:02Z")
Just wanted to share with all of you one of the joys I experience having 3 teenagers.
Over the past couple of years, “The Game” has swept their high school. Not very complicated. Essentially, if you think of The Game - you lose, whereupon you must state aloud that you just lost The Game. When one person loses The Game, there is a grace period (generally about 20 minutes) during which thinking about The Game does not mean you lose. But after the grace period, if you think of The Game, you lose and must announce the fact.
BTW - once you learn of The Game, you are automatically playing. So, I’ll count on all of you who read this checking in here to announce when you lose…
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/2 "2006-08-01T15:54:59Z")
Hmmm…so, when you announce that you lose, doesn’t that make everyone else think of the Game, thereby losing as well?
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### Author:  [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/3 "2006-08-01T16:00:25Z")
Here’s The Game as I know it: [The Game](http://thegame.sleightgeek.com/).
Nothing like The Game you’re talking about.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/4 "2006-08-01T16:05:35Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#):
>
> Hmmm…so, when you announce that you lose, doesn’t that make everyone else think of the Game, thereby losing as well?
Yeah - but that is why there is a grace period, giving every one time to stop thinking about The Game before the next person loses.
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### Author:  [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/5 "2006-08-01T16:09:23Z")
I lose
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/6 "2006-08-01T16:19:05Z")
Dinsdale! You made me lose. _Five_ months had passed since I last thought of it. :smack:
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/7 "2006-08-01T16:21:32Z")
> [@Bobotheoptimist](#):
>
> I lose
Bwa-ha-ha!
Now tell your friends…
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/8 "2006-08-01T16:24:47Z")
> [@Dominic Mulligan](#):
>
> Dinsdale! You made me lose. _Five_ months had passed since I last thought of it. :smack:
My kids will be thrilled to know The Game is played in Scotland. Would be fun to hear how widespread it is. There seem to be isolated pockets, with huge gaps in between. My kids and their friends are trying to spread it as much as possible. Where and when did you hear of it?
Their dream is to have something happen like the President stopping in the middle of his State of the Union speech, slapping his forehead and saying, “I just lost The Game!”
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### Author:  [@Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_And_Candy)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/9 "2006-08-01T16:28:35Z")
Dude, you’re not supposed to _talk_ about The Game. Though you know The Game has lost a significantly large part of it’s “cool” factor when parents are playing it now. :-\
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### Author:  [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/10 "2006-08-01T20:26:09Z")
I just lost the game, damn you.
I think you should put a warning in the title. It should be voluntary to join the game, it can be quite annoying at times.
The SDMB made me lose the game a short while ago. Someone wrote about the viking religion:
“So the whole Norse world view is…you can’t win. You can’t break even. And you can’t quit the game.”
Which interestingly fits the game perfectly too.
I am also seriously considering throwing out the 1980 Queen Album, even though its great.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/11 "2006-08-01T20:46:37Z")
Teenyboppers really care that much about Hunter Hearst Helmsley, aka Mr. Stephanie McMahon?
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### Author:  [@theunfounddoor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theunfounddoor)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/12 "2006-08-02T19:24:18Z")
I just lost
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-game/366877/13 "2006-08-02T19:59:27Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> Their dream is to have something happen like the President stopping in the middle of his State of the Union speech, slapping his forehead and saying, “I just lost The Game!”
Right, and immediately afterwards he’ll fart, then yell “Safety!” That, or run for the nearest doorknob with his Secret Service guards in hot pursuit, wanting to give him a beatdown.