The object of the game, Skinner, is to make people do stuff you want them to do. Kind of like this, but with a pure heart:

How to play
The simplest way to play Skinner is to do nice things for other people. I like to play Skinner using Twitter but you can play it anywhere.

The way I play it is to find juicy bits of stimulus (links, LOLcats, faux-rhetorical questions, set-up lines for gags etc) and then Tweet about them. If my ‘target’ (follower) ReTweets or comments, then I count myself as having won.

eg I have a friend/follower who loves Cooking and Literacy. I come across a link which is entertaining, well-written and informative about Cooking and Literacy, so I share it. The friend/follower later says something positive or ReTweets it - yay! I’ve won a Skinner point.

eg I work with somebody who’s always asking questions. Rather than answer the questions, I feign ignorance but surreptitiously guide this person down a route so that they learn about it themselves. Eventually, they twig what I’m doing and say, “Hey, you’re doing this on purpose!” More yays, and another Skinner point for me.

That’s about it.

Basic Gameplay

Players (or ‘Skinnerers’) set psychological ‘traps’ for their opponents (or ‘Skinnerees’). When target Skinnerees ‘spring’ said traps victory is claimed using one of the following methods:

• Giving yourself a point and totting it down mentally
• Shouting (or writing in capitals/LOLspeak) some variation of the following: “I k4n haz Skinner!!!!1!” “You’ve been Skinnered!” “SKinnnnnneeer!” (in the style of Superintendent Chalmers) “Seymour!” (in the style of Seymour Skinner’s mum) etc
• Allowing yourself a small but measurable amount of endorphin (see drinking games)
• Any other alternative befitting the immanent, contingent and barely nature of the game (see below in “Some facts about Skinner”)

If Skinnerees ignore the trap (or, even worse notice the trap) then the tables are turned, Skinnerer becomes Skinneree and victory is not only claimed but revelled in.

So, in the Mr Always-with-the-Questions example above, if I were to feign ignorance and Monsieur Qu’est-ce-que-c’est-le-Google immediately said, “Hey, you’re trying to secretly teach me again, dagnabbit!” then ?????-san would be entirely justified in giving me a metaphorical wedgie and weeing in my bath (also metaphorically).

Note: if victory is falsely claimed by either Skinnerer or Skinneree the result is considered void because it is likely that (a) one or more of the players doesn’t have awareness at even a subconscious level that they are playing, OR (b) one or more of the players are playing according to different versions of the rules.

What is a trap?
The ur-trap is the song, Zo-san. It is said that one of the original Skinnerers noticed that his wonderful wife would sing this song whenever he hummed the first few notes, often without really being aware of it. This became a great source of amusement to one or both of them, for a while.

Now, as the game of Skinner has evolved and matured, a trap can be anything which causes an opponent to act semi-voluntarily in a positive way.

Some facts about Skinner:
Skinner is a game for 1 to infinity people. The laws of Skinner are immanent and contingent (mostly because these are two of my favourite words). Perhaps a better description of Skinner is that it falls loosely into the category of a barely game.

Some words on the morality of Skinner:
It should be obvious from the above that Skinner can be a force for good or evil. Not least because of the similarities and resultant confusion between Skinner and the anti-games Pavlov, passive-agression and Sadistic Cruelty. I’ll explore this in future posts through a series on Skinnerism.

Final Notes:
Skinner is primarily a barely game. But it’s also a contingent, immanent sport. Contingent, immanent sports are characterised by the fact that the best players are not those with the greatest innate talent for gameplay, but those with the strongest aptitude for manipulating the rules to their own advantage.