‘The Game’ was invented in 1976 by members of the Cambridge University Science Fiction Society!

We're sorry to make you lose the game so you can learn about where it started. The Game is one of the simplest distortions of game logic ever invented. Simply thinking about The Game causes one to lose. Due to the futility of The Game and the inevitable loss, The Game can be seen as a statement of the human condition.

The Game results in a double negative, where by trying to not do something one ends up doing exactly the thing they were trying not to do. It came about through discussions by the Cambridge University Science Fiction Society on game theory. This information is from The Game's official site, but take it with a grain of salt.

• It seems to have started as a variation of a Tolstoy passage where he describes someone tasked with someone not thinking about a white bear
• Then came another one called "Finchley Center," in which two people name London Underground stations. The winner of the game is whoever says Finchley Center first. Doesn't make much sense right? 
• In 1976, a variant was created in which the first person to think of Finchley Center loses. This is the first official variant of The Game.
• The Game later made an appearance in a 2002 blog by Paul Taylor of West Midland. Once it made it onto the Internet, the simplicity of its concept and execution made it really viral and took the life it has today.

Check out the official website for The Game (source 1) that gives you tons of time wasters so you can avoid thinking about The Game

(Sources 1, and 2)