Is Ultimate Frisbee A Finite Game?

or an Infinite Game?

(and why does it matter?)

30 Years ago, the Director of Religious Studies at New York University, James P. Carse, wrote a very influential book entitled Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility. Carse argues that Finite Games are serious while an Infinite Game is playful.

"There are at least two kinds of games.

One could be called finite, the other infinite.

The finite game is played for the purpose of winning,

an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play,

...and bringing as many persons as possible into the play.

Finite players play within boundaries;

infinite players play with boundaries."

There are also two kind of players. Finite Players (see Kenny Dobyns) and Infinite Players (see Kyle Weisbrod). As motivational speaker and marketing consultant Simon Sinek points out in his 2015 Ted Talk, a system of finite players vs. finite players is stable, a system of infinite players vs. infinite players is stable, but a system with finite players vs. infinite players is unstable.

In other words, Sinek accurately predicted (30 years after the fact) Uglimate*. All you have to do is watch the epic 1989 Finals between Tsunami and NYNY to witness how unstable Ultimate had become. The play by play announcers kept track of the calls, with NYNY winning that battle 121-119 while winning the championship 21-19.

*Titanic’s Steve Mooney in 1986: “The history of Spirit of the Gamewas shattered once and for all when Windy City spiked and smashed

their victory trophy. Goodbye Ultimate and long live Uglimate, the fast-paced, exciting new sport disc game.”

Sinek also accurately predicts in the talk that the Infinite Players would ultimately prevail (in the form of the UPA deciding to go with Observers rather than Referees and choosing to stick with the status quo in the rules vs. adopting Finite-Games centric rules modifications). He basically argues that companies that are based on a Finite Games mentality eventually run out of steam and go out of business whereas organizations based on Infinite Games ideology are therefore not finite and persist.



What is interesting and important to realize is that the original blueprint for Ultimate Frisbee's Spirit of The Game [directly or indirectly] came straight out of an Infinite Games movement that pre-dated the very first game of Ultimate at Columbia High School in New Jersey by over two years!



Most Ultimate players are unaware that there was a movement that created a entirely novel genre of games that were designed to be fun for all and inclusive, irrespective of physical or athletic ability, intelligence, gender, race, etc.. This new genre of games were called New Games and the entire genre of New Games could undeniably be described as Infinite Games. ALL New Games are Infinite Games.



It's critical for any advocate of the SOTG in Ultimate to understand and accept that the rules and SOTG are inseparable and that if they are going to argue in favor of SOTG, they should understand specifically what it is that they are supporting. SOTG is not just about Good Sportsmanship, it's about infusing most of the game with an Infinite Games type fun-at-all-costs mentality. Fun is a subjective experience and yet it's been made the objective of a Finite Game. That's CRAZY!!!!

One of the driving intentions in creating the rules for Ultimate Frisbee rules was to eliminate the "win at all costs" mentality typically found in other sports but i n creating the framework, what did deciding to make Double Teaming the thrower illegal have to do with eliminating "win at all costs"?



Absolutely nothing.



Read on.....

Play Hard. Play Fair. Nobody Hurt.



Does that sound familiar? That is the slogan of The New Games Foundation, the NGO that was formed by the founders of the New Game Movement that ushered in an completely new genre of games that were designed to imbibe a new spirit of cooperation and inclusion rather than the mentality of win first, ask questions later.

The spirit in which these games were intended to be played by was such an important factor that in fact, some documentation refers to the Spirit of New Games and as you'll see below, there is a direct link between the Spirit of New Games and SOTG in Ultimate!!

Read this carefully: