Rules of the Game (1093 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 2 on 26 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <diamond0sea.at.yahoo.com> (View user info) at 2006-01-01 01:38:45 EST
1. The Game is played no more than once a year and is always played on January 1, before 5 AM.
2. The Drain-O, bleach, etc. must always be a lethal dose but can never change the coffee's
appearance.
3. Leaving clues is not allowed. Breaking the poisoned cup or dotting the others takes fate out of
the mix.
4. Once a cup is sipped, it must be finished.
5. Never tell a soul.
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Rules are made to be broken. I am logical, I wrote these rules on the first morning of a New Year. I wrote these rules when my life truly changed. I intended to follow them to the letter, but I could not hold it all in. No one who knows me personally knows of these rules, nor of the Game, but you can keep a secret. I trust you, the anonymous, faceless blank, the person I will never meet. This is purely cathartic.
At 25, I knew it was all downhill. By that age, I had never been in love, had done too many drugs, and had nothing else to look for in my hopeless, tiny life. On New Year's Eve, my friends and I were drinking beers and smoking pot, joking like college kids. We were gambling with pennies and complaining about work, sitting on top of a dirty New York City roof and thinking -praying- we were going places. In an inebriated haze, I managed to have a moment of total clarity. As I watched the mini-roulette wheel roll around and the Texas hold 'em flop turn over, I discovered that fate knew best. I knew that I should leave my life in her hands.
I sobered up a bit and walked back to my shitty little studio. That night, I played for the first time. I put six empty Styrofoam cups on a silver tray and placed the tray on my kitchen counter. I lifted the bleach from under my sink and sloshed a large amount into the leftmost cup. I made a pot of coffee and messily poured a generous measure into each container. Russian Roulette. The cup with bleach stood out like a depressed cheerleader. I added milk to each cup. When they all looked the same, I knew that I was ready to begin. I mixed up the cups, turned the tray, mixed and turned some more. I lifted a cup and drank with impunity. I lost. I won. I lived.
Now I am 31. It is New Year's. The cups are ready. There has not been a single year that I chose to skip my Game. And not a single person has guessed my sport. Boyfriends, brothers, best friends and family have continually failed to scrutinize my marked absence at New Year's parties. None have ever suspected my New Year's ritual. And why should they notice? I am not truly suicidal, just capricious and apathetic. You understand what I mean, don't you? I mean, it's not really so difficult. Right?
Never mind, never mind. I am just trying to justify, trying to ensure that I'm ready. Statistically, I should not have been able to go six years without sipping death. This year, my odds of picking the poisoned cup are higher than ever before and I don't know how I feel. I suppose I am exhilarated, but I'm not sure. The annual adrenaline that courses through my veins early January first is tainted this year by a touch of fear. And though I am sure you can understand that fear, I cannot. Nothing has changed in the past six years. Fate is still the same, my motives are unchanged. I was never scared before.
I need to do it; that is all there is to say. I am resolved, I am sure. It doesn't really matter, anyway. Right? Right. I don't need you to answer that one for me.
I mix the cups, trying to allow underlying apathy to rule my movements. My hands shake, betraying my uncertainty. Fate knows best, fate knows best. My hand dangles over the six uniform cups. I lift one to my lips at random, shut my eyes, and sip. I choke. Poison. I set the cup down. Is rule four as unimportant as five? Can I stop now? Do I even want to? No . . . no. . . no. Fate called this for me. I am resolved, I am sure. You can't stop me.
I plug my nose and pour the drink down the back of my throat. Pain worms into my stomach, I clutch my abdomen in agony. I breath for the last few times, I manage to stay calm. The game is over. I win. I lose. I die.
User Reviews
Submitted by SPECIALk (user info) at 2006-07-26 01:15:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2006-02-14 21:37:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2006-01-01 05:28:08 (#)
Ranking: 2
You are equally likely to live or die each year. They are independant trials.
Submitted by ih8u2man (user info) at 2006-02-14 21:16:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/84022
Submitted by Shmee51 (user info) at 2006-01-07 14:51:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
C'est belle
Submitted by honoursystem (user info) at 2006-01-05 09:11:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nicely done.
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-01-02 16:09:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Good stuff.
-Dave
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2006-01-02 02:08:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by matnotharry (user info) at 2006-01-01 19:00:12 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by jagmcmanus (user info) at 2006-01-01 02:07:19 (#)
Ranking: 2
oh this game sucks, lets play hungry hungry hippos
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hahahhaha
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yes.
Submitted by kimberly (user info) at 2006-01-01 19:13:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
good
Submitted by Siren (user info) at 2006-01-01 19:07:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by matnotharry (user info) at 2006-01-01 19:00:12 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by jagmcmanus (user info) at 2006-01-01 02:07:19 (#)
Ranking: 2
oh this game sucks, lets play hungry hungry hippos
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hahahhaha
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Word.
Submitted by matnotharry (user info) at 2006-01-01 19:00:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by jagmcmanus (user info) at 2006-01-01 02:07:19 (#)
Ranking: 2
oh this game sucks, lets play hungry hungry hippos
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hahahhaha
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2006-01-01 18:12:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
awesome! I think I'll do this next year.
Submitted by Draqus (user info) at 2006-01-01 18:06:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by KatHunter (user info) at 2006-01-01 11:20:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This ruled.
Submitted by Doberish (user info) at 2006-01-01 11:01:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I did really like this, though I'm dissapointed that I couldn't be the first Mr Pedant and point out that it isn't true that statistically, your chance of picking wrong increases each year.
Kinda fight-club-esque
Submitted by Bob_Dole (user info) at 2006-01-01 07:02:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
it's too early... i got nothing.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2006-01-01 06:44:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I was getting pissed off throughout reading this, firstly because I hate it when fatalism is seen as making life choices based on the results of unrelated little bullshit experiments, and secondly because you thought the odds were increasing each year. But then you died at the end and I realised you didn't actually expect us to believe this was true.
Here. Have a +2 out of spite.
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2006-01-01 05:28:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You are equally likely to live or die each year. They are independant trials.
Submitted by Hirilnara (user info) at 2006-01-01 04:53:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2006-01-01 03:12:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
well think of it this way...everytime you roll the dice, you have the same chance of getting a certain number. so you just have to multiply the first chance by the number of times...if im remembering this correctly.
doesnt really matter. this was good stuff so ill allow it, judge mills lane style.
Submitted by ripple (user info) at 2006-01-01 02:47:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
haha probability was never my strong suit . . . i was thinking in terms of rolling 6 ones in a row on a dice; i though each time, it's more likely that one of the other numbers comes up.
apperantly not.
happy new years.
Submitted by Stabkill (user info) at 2006-01-01 02:12:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Sounds good to me.
Submitted by jagmcmanus (user info) at 2006-01-01 02:07:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
oh this game sucks, lets play hungry hungry hippos
Submitted by PoTtY (user info) at 2006-01-01 02:04:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
LOLZ I BET I CAN GUESS WHICH ONE!
Submitted by Nick_Dog (user info) at 2006-01-01 02:04:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice game. Truelly scarely.
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2006-01-01 02:02:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
6 cups...5/6 are ok...83.3% chance each time.
.833^6 = .334 = 33.4% chance of survival.
god i havent done probability in like 4 years.
i think thats right.
whatever.
I enjoyed this.
Submitted by a_reader (user info) at 2006-01-01 01:43:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Eerie, but statistically, the odds of you lasting 6 years are more than you think. As long as you continue to fill 6 cups every year, the odds of you dying do not increase as each year passes. That said, you have a 16.7% chance of dying each year. If I could remember any of my probability and statistics course from my junior year of high school, I'd do the math and figure out your chance of survival.