Rules

You are playing The Game.

Everyone is playing the game. They always have been and always will be. Participation in a game requires neither consent nor awareness of its existence.

Only when someone has told you about The Game does it become possible to lose, unless you independently create The Game.

The creator of The Game was the first person to realise that he was playing, and was therefore the first person to lose.

Loss is temporary. As soon as you forget about The Game, you start winning again.

It is possible for people to simultaneously lose The Game.

Causing others to lose The Game more than you is the only way to "win" The Game.

Rule 2 can be interpreted in a number of different ways depending on:

When during the thought process of thinking about The Game constitutes loss?

(i) Whenever you think about The Game.

One interpretation is that any thought involving The Game constitutes loss. Therefore, the objective of this version is to forget about The Game. Experienced players can think about, and even discuss, The Game without realising they have lost. Not announcing this loss violates Rule 3. Whether or not a thought is about The Game is hard to define.

(ii) Whenever you remember that you are playing The Game.

There is a point at which you realise you are playing The Game without realising this means you have lost. Loss at this point would mean that the objective of this version is to forget that you are playing The Game. It is still possible to not realise that you have lost this version of The Game.

(iii) Whenever you then realise that you have lost.

When you become aware that you should lose, you lose. This version of The Game has seemingly paradoxical properties. The objective is to not realise you have lost. Unfortunately, the rule "Whenever you realise that you have lost, you have lost" does not explain how you lose to new players. However, this version of The Game prevents accidental cheating.

(iv) Whenever you realise you have thought about The Game.

It is possible to realise that you have thought about The Game without realising you have lost. This version still allows accidental cheating but significantly reduces it.

After reading these possibilities, you could well have forgotten that you are always playing The Game. No matter what version of the rules you play, you are playing The Game. You are thinking about The Game. You know you are thinking about The Game. Lose The Game. If you haven't just lost The Game, hopefully you have now. Only a true master could read this whole paragraph without losing The Game.

Do you lose when you are told about The Game by someone who has just lost?

There are 2 possibilities:

i) Yes

In accordance with Rule 2, you lose if you think about The Game (see above), even if this is because you have been told by someone who has just lost. Many people play that you do lose, but that loss does not have to be re-announced. This results in it being beneficial not to be around other players of The Game (in addition to the fact that them losing reminds you of the existence of The Game in the long term). It should be noted that hearing someone else announce their loss does not necessarily cause you to lose as you may not think about The Game.

ii) No

A new rule needs to be added to incorporate immunity if the trigger for rememberance was someone else losing. This rule would also have to take into account messages that are left about The Game.

Can you keep losing?

Some variations allocate a period of time, or "grace period", after losing The Game, during which you cannot lose. This is often based on preventing repetitive or continuous loss.

i) No grace period

Some players would argue that they do not need a grace period to prevent repetitive loss. Involving time limits may in fact increase the rate of loss by associating The Game with when in becomes possible to lose again, as well as other time related occurrances.

ii) The grace period is 15 minutes long

You must tell everyone you can that you have lost.

It is possible to explain The Game to someone without realising that you have lost. Whether this counts as cheating or not depends on your interpretation of rule 2.

Every loss must be announced to at least one person.

P.S After reading this post or any of it you are all now playing "THE GAME". You have 15 minutes to forget. 2 points for me!