Game of chicken

The game of chicken (also referred to as playing chicken) is a "game" in which two players engage in an activity that will result in serious damage unless one of them backs down. It is commonly applied to the use of motor vehicles whereby each drives a vehicle of some sort towards the other, and the first to swerve loses and is humiliated as the "chicken". (A famous variant of the game is seen in the film "Rebel Without a Cause," in which two characters drive towards a cliff.) In practice, this sort of game, if played at all, is most likely to be played amongst adolescents or aggressive young men, though it is not at all popular. The principle of the game is to create pressure until one person backs down.

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The phrase game of chicken may also be used as a metaphor for a situation where two parties engage in a showdown where they have nothing to gain, and only pride stops them from backing down. Bertrand Russell famously compared the game of chicken to nuclear brinkmanship.

Related Topics:
Bertrand Russell - Nuclear - Brinkmanship

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