Parable of a rigged game

[davidgmills]

In 1969 I was a freshman in college. That year I was required to see a foreign film (in French with subtitles as I recall) called "Last Year in Marianbad (sp?)." The main character of that film played a game which he never lost. Neither the audience or the people who played the main character knew whether the game was rigged or whether it was a legitimate game. But winning every time looked suspicious.

One of my suite mates was obsessed by this game. He had to know whether it was rigged or not. He spent the next several days doing nothing but playing this very simple game. He was one of the brightest people I have ever known. He was persistent. And finally he figured it out. It was in fact rigged and taught us how to play the game.

Over the last 35 years I have played that game thousands of times against some very bright people and have never lost until I showed someone how to play. It is not a game of chance and it is not a game of slight of hand. It appears to be a game that is fair but it is definitely not.

Call me a chump, but I have never played this game for money. It would be like legalized stealing. The game is so simple I could teach a six year old and he would have Bobby Fisher pulling out his hair.

Here is the game. Take sixteen objects. I usually use 16 cards, or sixteen coins, or sixteen marbles. The objects are placed in four rows. Here's what it looks like.

The first row -- one object
The second row -- three objects
The third row -- five objects
The fourth row -- seven objects

Here are the simple rules. Whenever it is your turn, you may pick up as many objects in any one row as you like; i.e., the one in the first row, up to three in the second, up to five in the third and up to seven in the fourth. Whoever has to pick up the last object loses. How simple could it be? You would never expect this game to be rigged, but it is. It seems like a game of wits; instead it is a game of fraud.

In fact, suppose I said let's play a different game. In this game there is one object on the table and whomever's turn it is to pick up that object loses, and the catch is, it is always your turn to go first. You would never play such a game. Of course the game is rigged in my favor. If it is your turn, you are going to lose every time.

What people don't understand is that the game of sixteen objects and the game of one object are the same. You just don't know it and I do. And I know how to make the game of sixteen objects the game of one object and you don't. What a game of fraud!

As I said I have played this game of fraud thousands of times and have never lost, unless I wanted to. If I wanted to play for money, I could make real suckers of people and intentionally lose every sixth or seventh game.

So when I hear people say, I am sorry, there was just not enough proof of fraud in this election to convince me that it would have made a difference, to those people I have to say, you would not know fraud if it was staring you in the face. That is what fraud is.