Much has been written and spoken about Finite and Infinite games. Both the incredible book by James P. Carse and the concept that he expands upon in that book. Most discussion around the concept of finite and infinite games is pretty surface level and I feel like many of the most interesting concepts are overlooked, so I will be exploring some of those over the next few days in my writing.

But since this is the first piece I’ll do a short overview of the concept as I understand it from the the book.

so there are two kinds of games: 1) Finite 2) Infinite.

Finite games are played within boundaries. They must have a precise beginning and a definite ending. They have a specific area in which the game must be played. They have clear winner. And they have rules that the players must agree to.

Infinite games, however, are played with boundaries. none of the restrictions for finite games hold for infinite games. If there are rules that must be adhered to for finite games they must not change during the course of play. but for infinite games the rules must change.

Because, ultimately, if finite games are played to win, Infinite games are played to to keep the game going.

Rules only exist so that we can end up with a winner. There is nothing that says that we need to obey rules. “If there were, there would have to be rules for those rules , and so on.” But rules also inevitably bring an end to the play, They are a self-terminating mechanism. And when you’re only goal is to keep the game going, to keep playing, you will eventually come to the place where the rules only hold you back, where the boundaries must expand.

Rules are such an interesting concept. rules as boundaries, boundaries as rules. Because not all boundaries are chosen, not all rules are “agreed” to. So the trick with infinite play is to incorporate those boundaries or limits into play, to make them part of the game.

One of the best examples of an infinite game (which i’ll explore more in this series) is that of culture. Culture does not exist to any specific end. You do not play with culture to win. But culture is always facing the limitation of physical exhaustion, extinguishing or being consumed by other cultures, and of course the death of those who play within that culture. So one of the rules that many cultures include is that of storytelling. That players must keep the culture alive by telling stories that embody the vibe of that culture. Stories can outlast any human or object that a story might be written about.

When exploring this binary of finite and infinite games and how they each relate to rules, we run into the fact that many players don’t realize that the rules don’t actually have to be followed. That all players are, in fact, infinite players. Rules can seem as concrete as physical limitations like death. to disobey a rule can be as scary as jumping to your death.

I definitely have struggled against rules all my life. And it’s difficult to know when it’s more beneficial to play by the rules imposed or to disobey them and write new rules. That’s why it’s helpful to remind yourself that you are always playing an infinite game with many little finite games as the lego blocks by which you can build a beautiful little universe. if those rules are holding you back, if they are bringing your infinite play closer to an end, it might be time to pick some different rules.