Finite Games

At the end of the Super Bowl last weekend there was an odd moment a minute from time.

A New York Giants player found himself rushing towards the goal line and couldn't stop himself from scoring a touchdown. You may think that would be the dream of every American - to score a touchdown and help win the biggest prize in American sport.

The problem was by scoring the New England Patriots then had a slim chance of scoring down the other end in the remaining time. The correct strategy was to not score but keep the ball and wait until the last moment to score a field goal.

The problem of not wanting to score (at least for a period) is a quirk that happens toward the end of games. The same happens in soccer now and again - a team will rather keep the ball than score.

It happens elsewhere also, every relationship or 'game' we have is finite, there's always an end game and it's always plays out differently to what's gone one before.