Characteristics

Games
Games are sets of ulterior transactions with a well-defined psychological payoff.  A con (con artist) is involved since the agent pretends to be doing one thing while he is really doing something else.  The con hooks into the mark’s weakness (eg, greed, fear, sentimentality) and pulls a switch to get the payoff (feelings of superiority).  Examples of games: “I’m Only Trying to Help You”, “Slug Him”, “Whammy”.  In the end the con only get counterfeit-gold trading stamps (gold = good, genuine feelings).
In the end, games, like scripts, are artificial structures which limit spontaneous and creative intimacy.
All games have four features:
 1. Hooking the Mark.  The con works when there is a weakness it can hook into, a handle or “gimmick” to get hold of in the respondent, such as fear, greed, sentimentality, or  irritability. 
 2. The Switch.  After the “mark” is hooked, the player pulls a switch.
 3. The Crossup.  A period of confusion or crossup in which the mark tries to figure out what has happened to him.
 4. The Payoff.  Consists of feelings which the game arouses in the Mark and the Agent (eg, con artist gets pleasure in making the mark look stupid, frustrated, angry, etc).
Example:
Patient (con): “Doctor, I’m I going to get better?”
Doctor (sentimental): “Of course you will.”
Patient (pulling with switch): “What makes you think you know everything?” (rather than saying ‘thank you’).  The Doctor’s shows his ‘off balance’ reaction which gives the con his payoff (feeling superior).

Racket
A racket is when a con artist exploits another’s emotion to use to get results, typically an unpleasant feeling (anger, hurt, guilt, scared, inadequate, righteous, triumphant).   The currency of transactional ‘rackets’ are called trading stamps.  

Trading Stamp
Kids easily understand the trading stamp concept: “when the page is full of stamps, I’m entitled to one free suffer.”  People start a game in order to make people make them feel mad, hurt, guilt, or fight – which later add up to one free suffer all the way up to one free murder.

Crooked spouses can con each other by pulling out used or counterfeit trading stamps.  One spouse forgives a transgression (an affair).  Later the prosecuting spouse waves the canceled stamps in front of the bad spouse who doesn’t let it be known they are canceled and still shows shame which lets the prosecuting spouse get a free 'anger'.  The other spouse complicates the matter by giving out counterfeit 'thank-you' stamps.  The first thank-you we’re true stamps of golden gratitude, but after that the later thank-you were “fool’s gold” – which the prosecuting spouse, in his drunken foolishness, cherished like the real thing.  When sober the matter was settled, but once the prosecuting spouse becomes drunk again, both spouses become crooked with each other.  He blackmailed her with phony reruns, and she paid him off in kind.

Some people save “brown” stamps, the “bad” feelings are often reluctant to accept “gold” stamps when they are offered in the form of compliments or “strokes.”  They are quite comfortable with the familiar, bad, old feelings, but do not know where to put good ones, and so they will turn them away or ignore them by pretending not to hear.  Instead of ignoring them, collectors of ‘brown’ stamps can turn the most sincere compliments into veiled insults:  “My, you look good today!” comes with the ‘brown’ reply, “I knew you didn’t like the way I looked last week.”  Or “My, that’s a beautiful dress!”  eliciting: “So you didn’t like the one I wore yesterday!”  With a little practice, anyone can learn to transform compliments into insults – spraying crap over a pleasant gold stamp to turn it into an unpleasant brown one.

‘Natural’ reactions are not natural, they are learned or decided upon at an early age.  For example, in responses to ‘when the going gets tough’ the family teaches the child how to react:
Loser Position: feelings of anger, being hurt, guilt, being scared, inadequacy, escape (drugs, alcohol).
Winning Position: ‘we find out what to do about it.’  Involves taking responsibility and not fooling oneself that he or she is a ‘victim’.

Sweatshirts
Indicates the patient’s favorite pastime, game and feeling, his nickname, what he does in the front room and the back room, what kind of a mental world he lives in, what kind of ending his script calls for, his hero, his totem. 

Actual sweatshirt states which gang the person belongs to; gives indication to his philosophy, his life motto and how he is likely to respond to certain stimuli.
Front-side: “Hell’s Angels”, “The Losers”, “Black Panthers” (Back-side: they're all riding on the streetcar called “Fuck You”).

Common script sweatshirts are “Kick Me”, “Don’t Kick Me”, “I’m Proud I’m an Alcoholic”, “Look How Hard I’m Trying”, “Buzz Off”, “I Am Fragile, “Need a Fix?”

Some sweatshirt come with a kicker on the back:
Women wearing “I’m Looking for a Husband”.  Backside: “But You Don’t Qualify”'
Man wearing “I’m Proud I’m an Alcoholic”.  Backside: “But Remember It’s a Sickness”
Transsexuals wearing flamboyant “Don’t You Think I’m Fascinating?”.  Backside: “Isn’t That Enough”

Clubbish sweatshirts:
NOKTIS: “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” is a fraternity with many branches.  In the ‘Melancholy Litvaks’ Club’ branch, the stage of its inhabitant is a little wooden building, sparsely furnished with rundown furniture.  There are no pictures on the wall, only a framed motto reading “Why Not Kill Yourself Today?”  The library is full of pessimistic philosophers.  The point of NOKTIS is not the total amount of trouble, but the fact that Nobody Knows.  The NOKTIS makes sure that nobody ever finds out, either, because if anybody did know, then he couldn’t say “Nobody knows, “ and his sweatshirt would lose its point.

YOCTAN: “You Can’t Trust Anybody Nowadays”.  To prove his slogan and reinforce his position (I’m O.K. – They’re not O.K.) the YOCTAN players picks untrustworthy people, makes ambiguous contracts with them, and then collects brown stamps when something goes wrong, which confirms his position that “You Can’t Trust Anybody.”  In extreme cases he may feel entitled to a “free” homicide, justified by repeated betrayals at the hands of people carefully chosen for their untrustworthiness.

For the therapist, the YOCTAN is a tricky breed.  Enticed by the challenge to help the YOCTAN, the losing therapist, after the dust settles, sees the backside of the YOCTANs sweatshirt: “Now Maybe You’ll Believe Me.”  If the therapist is alert he must be careful not to move too soon, or the patient will say:  “See, I can’t even trust you.”  Then when he walks away, the kicker is still valid, so he wins either way.

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