| Chapter 9: Time |

| 9.4. When play ends

Short of something like a power cut, the game can only end when one of the two participants chooses to end it: either the player, by deciding that enough is enough, or us.

If we decide that a conclusion of some kind, happy or not, has been reached, we can herald that moment with phrases like so:

> end the game in death
> end the game in victory
> end the game saying "You have come to a full stop"

The phrase "end the game in death" is equivalent to ending it saying "You have died", and similarly victory simply means announcing "You have won". (Note that the actual ending does not follow instantly, but rather, at the next available opportunity, which usually means when the current rule has finished.)

The more general phrase allows any text (short, please) to be used:

> Instead of eating the fish, end the game saying "You have been poisoned".

The rulebook "when play ends" is the matching bookend to "when play begins". It is followed when the game decides to end (not when the player simply gives up and quits), and before any epitaph like

> *** You have been poisoned ***

appears. For example:

> When play ends, say "Oh dear."

In such a rule, the phrase "resume the game" will cause play to continue exactly as if no ending had been reached at all:

> When play ends when the game ended in death:
> say "Oh dear. Still, here's another chance.";
> resume the game.

The conditions "the game ended in death" and "the game ended in victory" can be used by "When play ends" rules to distinguish the outcome, if it matters.

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| Example Big Sky Country Allowing the player to continue play after a fatal accident, but penalizing him by scattering his possessions around the game map.

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