Games People Play

Preface 
THIS book is primarily designed to be a sequel to my book Transnational Analysis in 
Psychotherapy,1 but has been planned so that it can be read and understood independently. The 
theory necessary for the analysis and clear understanding of games has been summarized in Part I. 
Part II contains descriptions of the individual games. Part III contains new clinical and theoretical 
material which, added to the old, makes it possible to understand to some extent what it means to 
be game-free. Those desiring further background are referred to the earlier volume. The reader of 
both will note that in addition to the theoretical advances, there have been some minor changes in 
terminology and viewpoint based on further thinking and reading and new clinical material. 
The need for this book was indicated by interested requests from students and lecture audiences for 
lists of games, or for further elaboration of games mentioned briefly as examples in a general 
exposition of the principles of transactional analysis. Thanks are due in general to these students 
and audiences, and especially to the many patients who exposed to view, spotted or named new 
games; and in particular to Miss Barbara Rosenfeld for her many ideas about the art and meaning 
of listening; and to Mr. Melvin Boyce, Mr. Joseph Concannon, Dr. Franklin Ernst, Dr. Kenneth 
Everts, Dr. Gordon Gritter, Mrs. Frances Matson, and Dr. Ray Poindexter, among others, for their 
independent discovery or confirmation of the significance of many games. 
Mr. Claude Steiner, formerly Research Director of the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars 
and presently in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan deserves special 
mention on two counts. He conducted the first experiments which confirmed many of the 
theoretical points at issue here, and as a result of these experiments he helped considerably in 
clarifying the nature of autonomy and of intimacy. Thanks are also due to Miss Viola Lilt, the 
Secretary-Treasurer of the Seminars, and to Mrs. Mary N. Williams, my personal secretary, for 
their continued help, and to Anne Garrett for her assistance in reading the proof. 
SEMANTICS 
For conciseness, the games are described primarily from the male point of view unless they are 
clearly feminine. Thus the chief player is usually designated as "he," but without prejudice, since 
the same situation, unless otherwise indicated, could as easily be outlined with "she," mutatis 
mutandis. If the woman's role differs significantly from the man's, it is treated separately. The 
therapist is similarly without prejudice designated as "he." The vocabulary and viewpoint are 
primarily oriented toward the practicing clinician, but members of other professions may find this 
book interesting or useful. 
Transactional game analysis should be clearly distinguished from its growing sister science of 
mathematical game analysis, although a few of the terms used in the text, such as "payoff," are now 
respectably mathematical. For a detailed review of the mathematical theory of games see Games & 
Decisions, by R. D. Luce and H. Raiffa 
—Carmel, California, May 1962 
REFERENCES 
1. Berne, E. Transnational Analysis in Psychotherapy. Grove Press, Inc., New York, 1961. 
2. Luce, R. D., and Raiffa, H. Games & Decisions. John Willey & Sons, Inc., New York, 1957. 
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