Invitation To The Game

Lisse and her group of friends follow the instructions on their invitations to The Game, taking a subway train to the Barton Oaks station. While on the train, they meet another group of unemployed people who are also going to The Game. They ask a girl in the other group what to expect from The Game, but she only tells them, “Each group’s experience is unique. And private” (59).

When they reach the station, Lisse’s group enters a room where a robot greets them. The teens change into “identical greenish-gray” coveralls (61) and boots. A man who seems to run The Game asks the teens to guess what The Game is based on their historical knowledge. Lisse suggests The Game is like the Roman gladiator games, repeating Charlie’s earlier comparison. The man instead says The Game is more like 20th-century “war games” such as paintball, football, or laser tag, but he tells them that, unlike the individualistic games of the past, The Game is “a cooperative venture” (62) in which the players search for clues.

He instructs the teens to lie down on hypnotic chairs that lull them into a hypnotic state.