According to Eric Berne, a game is a series of ulterior transactions with a gimmick , leading to a usually well concealed but well defined payoff.

1. Game
Analysis

2. Prepared By
Manu Melwin Joy
Research Scholar
School of Management Studies
CUSAT, Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
Kindly restrict the use of slides for personal purpose.
Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public
forms and presentations.

3. Contents – Part I
• Definition of games.
• Typical features of games.
• Different degree of games.
• Why people play games?
• Advantages of playing games.
• Positive payoff of playing games.

4. Contents – Part II
• Life Games.
• Marital Games.
• Party Games.
• Sexual Games.
• Underworld Games.
• Consulting Room Games.
• Good Games.

5. Definition of game
In simple language,
“A game is a process of doing
something with an ulterior
motive that:
– Is outside adult awareness.
– Does not become explicit until
the participants switch the way
they are behaving and
– Results in everyone feeling
confused, misunderstood and
wanting to blame the other
person.

6. Formula G
Berne discovered that every game goes through a
sequence of six stages.
Con + Gimmick = Response Switch Cross up Payoff
He called this sequence Formula G or Game formula.

7. Formula G
• Con – it is delivered non-verbally.
• Gimmick – It is a scripty weak
spot that leads someone to buy
into someone else’s con.
• Response – This stage of a game
consists of a series of
transactions. At social level, these
transactions seem like straight
forward exchange of information.
But at psychological level, they
repeat the Con-Gimmick
exchange that opened the game.

8. Formula G
• Switch – It happens when
one player changes his
role.
• Cross up – The confusion
happening during the
change of role is cross up.
• Payoff – Both players
collect their payoff of
racket feeling.

9. Definition of game
According to Ian Stewart and
Vann Jones,
“ A game includes those
sequences that follow all
stages of Formula G,
including the switch of roles
and moment of confusion
represented by switch and
cross up.”

10. Definition of game
Berne defined games differently at
different stages of his thinking.
“What ever fits the Formula G is a
game and whatever does not fit is
not a game.” - What do you say
after you say hello.
“ A game is a series of ulterior
transactions with a gimmick ,
leading to a usually well concealed
but well defined payoff.” –
Principles of group treatment.

11. Typical features of games
• Games are repetitive.
• Games are played without
adult awareness.
• Games always end up with the
players experience racket
feeling.
• Games entail an exchange of
ulterior transactions between
the players.
• Games always include moment
of surprise and confusion.

12. Different degrees of games
Games can be played at
different degrees of intensity.
First level game – it has an
outcome which the player is
willing to share with her
social circle. These make a
big proportion of the time
structuring at parties and
social gatherings.

13. Different degrees of games
Second degree game bring
heavier outcomes, of a kind
which the player would
rather not make public in
her social circle.
Third degree game, in
Berne’s words is one which
is played for keeps and
which ends in surgery, the
courtroom or the morgue.

14. Why people play games?
• In playing games, we are following outdated
strategies.
• Game playing was one of the devices we
adopted as young children to get what we
wanted from the world.
• But in adult life, we have other, more effective
options.

15. Why people play games?
• People play games to further
their life script.
• Berne suggested the sequence
by which we achieve this.
• At the payoff of every game,
the player experiences a racket
feeling.
• Each time he does this, he can
store the feeling away as a
stamp.

16. Why people play games?
• When the game player has built up a big enough
collection of stamps, he feels justified in cashing it
in for whatever negative script payoff he decided
upon as a child.
• Thus each person chooses her games to yield the
kind of stamps that will advance her towards the
script ending she has decided upon.
• As usual with scripts, the script story may be
played through in miniature many times during
the players life.
• People chose the degree of their games to suit the
degree of their script payoff.

17. Advantages of Game playing
In Games people play, Eric Berne listed six
advantages of game playing.
– Internal psychological advantage – maintain
stability of my set of script beliefs.
– External psychological advantage – Avoid
situations that would challenge my frame of
reference.
– Internal social advantage –Games offer a
framework for pseudo intimate socializing indoors
or in privacy.

18. Advantages of Game playing
– External social advantage – Gaming gives us a
theme for gossiping in our wider social circle.
– Biological advantage – It satisfy structure and
stroke hunger.
– Existential advantage – This is the function of the
game in confirming life position.

19. Positive payoff of games
• John James has developed the idea that games
have real advantages as well as scripty ones.
• He points out that every game brings a
positive payoff as well as a negative payoff.
• A game represents the child’s best strategy to
getting something from the world. When we
play games in adulthood, we are attempting to
meet a genuine child need. It is just that the
means of satisfying that need are outdated
and manipulative.

20. Life Games
• All games have an
important and probably
decisive influence on the
destinies of the players
under ordinary social
conditions.
• But some offer more
opportunities than others
for life long careers and
are more likely to involve
relatively innocent
bystanders.
• This group may be
conveniently called Life
Games.

21. Alcoholic
• This is usually a three
handed game.
• The central role is that of
the Alcoholic – the one
who is it.
• The chief supporting role
is that of Persecutor,
typically played by a
member of opposite sex,
usually the spouse.
• The third role is that of
Rescuer, usually played by
someone of the same sex.

22. Debtor
• Debtor is more than a
game. It is a script, a
plan for a whole
lifetime.
• Try and Collect (TAC) is
a mild money game
commonly played by
married couples.
• The obvious antithesis
of TAC is to request
immediate payment in
cash.

23. Kick Me
• This is played by men
whose social manner is
equivalent to wearing a
sign that reads “ Please
don’t kick me”.
• The temptation is almost
irresistible and when the
natural result follows, he
cries piteously, “ But the
sign says don’t kick me.”
• Then he adds
incredulously “ Why does
this always happens to
me?”

24. Now I Have Got You ,You Son Of A Bitch
• NIGYSOB is a two
handed game in which
the aim is justification.
• The best antithesis is
correct behavior.
• In everyday life,
business dealings with
NIGYSOB players are
always calculated risks.

25. See What You Made Me Do
• In Its classical form, this is
a marital game and in fact
is a “three star marriage
buster” but it may also be
played between parents
and children and in
working life.
• The antithesis for SWYMD
is to leave the player
alone or to throw the
decision back to him.

26. Marital Games
• Almost any game can
form the scaffolding for
married life and family
living.
• Some of these games
are tolerated longer,
under the legal force of
contractual intimacy.
• Marital games can only
be arbitrarily separated
from sexual games .

27. Corner
• Corner illustrates
more clearly than
most games their
manipulative aspect
and their function as
barriers to intimacy.
• Paradoxically, it
consists of a
disingenuous refusal
to play the game of
another.

28. Courtroom
• Courtroom is essentially
three handed, with a
plaintiff, a defendant
and a Judge,
represented by a
husband, a wife and the
therapist.
• In everyday form,
courtroom is easily
observed in children as
a three handed game
between two siblings
and a parent.

29. Frigid Woman
• In this game, the
husband makes
advances to his wife
and is repulsed.
• After repeated
attempts, he is told that
all men are beasts, he
doesn’t really love her
and all he is interested
is in sex.
• When he resigns, wife
tempts him and the
game continues.

30. Harried
• This is played by a
housewife who is
proficient in ten or
twelve different
occupations.
• The thesis of this game
is that she takes on
everything that comes
and even asks for more.
• This ultimately results
in her burn out and
being ready for
hospitalized.

31. If It Weren’t For You
• Briefly, a woman
marries a domineering
man so that he will
restrict her activities
and thus keep her from
getting into a situation
which frighten her.
• She takes advantage of
the situation to
complain about the
restrictions , which
makes her spouse feel
uneasy and gives her all
sorts of advantages.

32. Look How Hard I Have Tried
• This is a three handed
game played by a
married couple with a
psychiatrist.
• Husband is bucking for
a divorce and he comes
to the therapist to
demonstrate that he is
cooperating.
• He ends up by saying “
Look how hard I have
tried” and ask for
divorce.

33. Sweet Heart
• Husband exposes the
deficiencies of the
wife and save her
from embarrassment
of having to expose
them herself.
• He ends the comment
by saying “ Isn’t that
right, sweetheart?”.

34. Party Games
• Parties are for
pastimes but as
acquaintance
ripens, games
begin to emerge.
• Four typical games
which are played in
social situations
are given.

35. Ain’t It Awful
• Nowadays is a punitive
parental pastime (Ex :
Juvenile delinquency).
• Broken Skin is an adult
variation with the
slogan “what a pity”.
• Water cooler is the
child pastime with the
slogan “ Look what they
are doing to us now”.

36. Blemish
• It is played from the
depressive Child
position “ I am no
good” which is
protectively
transformed into the
Parental position “
They are no good”.
• Blemish provides
negative reassurance
to the players.

37. Schlemiel
• The Schlemiel makes the
first move to embarrass
the other person.
• If he shows his anger,
schlemiel can feel justified
in returning the
resentment.
• If he restrains himself, he
can go on enjoying his
opportunities.
• The antithesis is not
offering the demanded
absolution.

38. Why Don’t You – Yes But
• It occupies a special
place in game analysis
because it was the
original stimulus for the
concept of games.
• The agent presents a
problem and others
start presenting
solutions.
• Agent objects and all
the others give up
feeling bad.

39. Sexual Games
• Sexual games are
played to exploit or
fight off sexual
impulses.
• These are all
perversions of the
sexual instincts in which
the satisfaction is
displaced from the
sexual act to the crucial
transactions which
constitute the payoff of
the game.

40. Let You And Him Fight
• This may be a
maneuver, a ritual or a
game.
• IN each case, the
psychology is
feminine.
• As a maneuver, it is
romantic. As a ritual,
it is tragic. As a game,
it is comic.

41. Perversion
• Heterosexual perversions
such a fetishism, sadism
and masochism are
symptomatic of a
confused child and are
treated accordingly.
• Their transactional
aspects as manifested in
actual sexual situations
can be death with by
means of game analysis.

42. Rapo
• This is a game played between
a man and a woman.
• First degree Rapo or kiss off is
popular at social gatherings
and consists essentially of mild
flirtation. As soon has he has
committed, the game is over.
She signs off.
• Second degree Rapo or
indignation happens when she
draws satisfaction from
rejecting him.
• Third degree Rapo is a vicious
game which ends in murder,
suicide or courtroom.

43. The Stocking Game
• This is a game of Rapo
family. in it the most
obvious characteristic is
exhibitionism, which is
hysterical in nature.
• Women expose
themselves to arouse
men and make other
women angry.
• Any confrontation is met
with protestation of
innocence or counter
accusations.

44. Uproar
• The classical game is played
between domineering
fathers and teenage
daughters, where there is a
sexually inhibited mother.
• Father comes home from
work and finds fault with
daughter, who answers
impudently.
• Their voice raise and clash
becomes more acute. The
end of a game of uproar is
marked by a slamming door.

45. Underworld Games
• With the infiltration of
the helping professions
into the courts, probation
departments and
correctional facilities, and
with the increasing
sophistication of
criminologist and law
enforcement officers,
those concerned should
be aware of the more
common games prevalent
in the underworld, both
in prison and out of it.

46. Cops and Robbers
• Because many criminals
are cope haters, they
seem to get as much
satisfaction from
outwitting the police as
from their criminal gains
often more.
• The childhood prototype
of this game is hide and
seek.
• The thesis of the game is
“see if you can catch me”.

47. How Do You Get Out Of Here
• Inmates who really want
to free will find out how
to comply with the
authorities so as to be
released at the earliest
possible moment.
• But at the critical point,
they sabotage themselves
so as not be released.
• This is played in prisons
and state hospitals.

48. Lets Pull A Fast One On Joey
• The first move is for Black to
tell White that dumb honest
Joey is just waiting to be
taken.
• If White were completely
honest, he back off or warn
Joey but he does nothing.
• Just as Joey is about to pay
off, something goes wrong
and White finds that his
investment is gone.
• Then White, who was playing
his own rules in his own
honest way, finds that he has
to play Joey’s rules ,and they
hurt.

49. Consulting Room Games
• Games that are
tenaciously placed
in the therapeutic
situations are the
most important
ones for the
professional analyst
to be aware of.
• They can be most
readily studies first
hand in the
consulting room.

50. Greenhouse
• Recent graduates
present a so called
genuine feelings to the
group.
• The reactions of the
other members are
received very
solemnly.
• A questioning
intervention by the
therapist may be
strongly resented.

51. I’M Only Trying To Help You
• Therapist gives some
advice to the client. He
returns and reports that
the suggestions did not
have the desired
outcome.
• The therapist shrugs off
this failure with a feeling
of resignation and tries
again.
• One day, he cries out in
rage “ But I was only
trying to help you!”.

52. Indigence
• Indigents go from
agency to agency
seeking welfare funds.
• Even though they are
supposed to look for
other jobs, they devote
actually little time for it
and tend to remain in
their current position.
• Antithesis consists in
withholding the
benefits.

53. Peasant
• Socially, peasant is
played in an innocent
and a dissembled
form, both with the
motto “Gee You are
wonderful, Mr.
Murgatroyd”.
• The antithesis for the
game is that therapist
steadfastly refuses to
give advice.

54. Psychiatry
• The patient carefully
picks up weak
psychoanalysts, moving
from one to another,
demonstrating that they
cannot be cured and
meanwhile learning to
play a sharper and
sharper game of
psychiatry.
• The antithesis is the
view point that “I treat
them, but God cures
them”.

55. Stupid
• In its milder form, the
thesis of “Stupid “ is “ I
laugh with you at my
own clumsiness and
stupidity”.
• Seriously disturbed
people may play it in a
sullen way which says
“ I am stupid, that is
the way I am, so do
me something.”

56. Wooden Leg
• The thesis for wooden
leg is “What do you
expect of a man with a
wooden leg?”
• The person with real,
exaggerated or
imaginary disability is
content with his lot
and never tries to rise
above his disability.

57. Good Games
• A good game might be
described as one whose
social contribution
overweighs the
complexity of its
motivations, particularly
if the player has come in
terms with those
motivations without
futility or cynicism.
• A good game contributes
both to the well being of
the other players and to
the unfolding of the one
who is it.

58. Busman’s Holiday
• This is more of a
pastime than a game.
• It becomes a game if
work is secondary to
some ulterior motive
and is undertaken
merely as a show in
order to accomplish
something else.
• Even under those
circumstance, it keeps
its constructive quality.

59. Cavalier
• Upon encountering a
suitable female
subject, Mr. White
take every
opportunity to
remark upon her
good qualities, never
transgressing the
limits appropriate to
her station of life.
• The object is not to
seduce but to exhibit
his virtuosity in the
art of effective
compliment.

60. Happy To Help
• This game is the basis of a
large proportion of public
relations. But the
customers are glad to
become involved, and it is
perhaps the most
pleasant and constructive
of the commercial games.
• The choice of HTH
removes some of the
discredit since thee are so
many unpleasant ways of
competing available.

61. Homely Sage
• After retirement, people
move to small town and
hold a responsible
position.
• There it soon becomes
known that people can go
to him with their
problems of whatever
kind and he will help
them himself.
• He soon finds his place in
the new environment as
Homely Sage.

62. Thank You

63. Other TA topics available on slideshare
1. Strokes - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/strokes-24081607.
2. Games People Play - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/psychological-
games-people-play.
3. Structural Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/the-ego-state-model.
4. What is TA? - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/what-ta-is
5. Cycles of Development - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/cycles-of-
developement-pamela-levin-transactional-analysis.
6. Stages of Cure - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stages-of-cure.
7. Transactions - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/transactions-33677298.
8. Time Structuring - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/time-structuring.
9. Life Position - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/life-position.
10. Autonomy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/autonomy-33690557.
11. Structural Pathology - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/structural-pathology.
12. Game Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/game-analysis-33725636.
13. Integrated Adult - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/integrated-adult.
14. Stroke Economy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stroke-economy-
33826702.