You Just Lost The Game

A few years ago I was introduced to a little game by my supervisor at work. This game didn't require any dice or cards or even any game pieces. All you need to play the game is a mind and a mouth.

You are now playing the game.

I should point out that this game did not originate with my supervisor - although many other random things did originate from her mind. This game possibly started in the mid-90s and is played by millions worldwide. And you can't stop playing the game - that's one of the rules.

In fact, let me explain the rules of the game as simply as possible:

1. Once you learn about the game, you're playing the game. You can never stop playing the game.
2. If you think about the game you lose and you have to announce it to someone.
3. After a brief reset period (some say a half-hour, some say 30 seconds), the game is on again.

Still confused? The game is not to think about the game. If you remember that you're playing a game to not think about the game - you lose. There's no way to stop playing the game.

If you're still confused about what this game is all about, you can always look it up on Wikipedia - the source of all knowledge.

It kind of reminds me of a day back in high school when I was in my psychology class. The bell rang and all of us students were gathering up our stuff to leave when our teacher stopped us. She turned and slowly wrote the number 107 on the chalk board, then turned and smiled at us. We were a bit confused. "This is your homework assignment," she said. We were more confused. 107? What could that mean? My mind raced trying to figure out what the cryptic 107 meant. After a short pause she continued, "I want you to forget this number." D'oh!

Obviously, I failed this assignment because I still remember that blasted number! And, now that you know about the game, I'm sorry, faithful readers, but you're playing it. . .and there's no way to stop playing it.

And I hope, years from now, when you suddenly think of the game and you vaguely remember reading about the game somewhere, that you remember this blog and return to post a comment that you lost the game, which will, in turn make me lose the game. Wow. That was a long sentence.

You have 30 minutes to forget this blog post.

Good luck.