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NOT A LOTTERY TICKET
8-BIT FUTURES
"You are not a lottery ticket." — Choose your worldview. Shape your future.
INSERT COIN TO START
© Bill Santry
CHOOSE YOUR FUTURE STANCE
DO DETERMINATE OPTIMISM
You have a specific plan for a better future. Concentrate your bets. Build conviction. Compound advantages over time.
⬆ HIGH CEILING ⬇ MEDIUM FLOOR
★ Rewards: planning, conviction chains
✕ Punishes: pivoting, hedging
IO INDETERMINATE OPTIMISM
The future will be better — you just don't know how. Diversify. A/B test everything. Optimize process over substance.
⬆ MEDIUM CEILING ⬇ HIGH FLOOR
★ Rewards: breadth, experiments
✕ Punishes: tunnel vision
DP DETERMINATE PESSIMISM
The future looks bleak but you have a plan: ration, defend, build walls. Fortress strategy. Slow and resilient.
⬆ LOW CEILING ⬇ MEDIUM FLOOR
★ Rewards: reserves, defense
✕ Punishes: expansion, speed
IP INDETERMINATE PESSIMISM
Things will get worse and nobody knows how. Insure everything. Hedge. Comply. Survive by not trying.
⬆ LOW CEILING ⬇ HIGH SURVIVAL
★ Rewards: insurance, compliance
✕ Punishes: vision, boldness
YEAR 1 / 12 SCORE 0
ACTIONS: 3 / 3
◈ EVENT LOG
HOW TO PLAY
THE GAME: Each run = 12 Years. Each Year, pick actions to spend resources. An event fires. Your worldview shapes everything. Score tallied at end.
TIMER: Each year has a 30s countdown. Act fast — this is an arcade!
DO — DETERMINATE OPTIMISM: Chain consistent actions. Build Conviction. The plan compounds. High ceiling, but pivoting kills momentum.
IO — INDETERMINATE OPTIMISM: Use diverse action types. Build Optionality. 4 actions/year. Consistent but capped.
DP — DETERMINATE PESSIMISM: Hoard and fortify. Build Resilience. Shocks barely hurt you.
IP — INDETERMINATE PESSIMISM: Insure and comply. Build Bureaucracy. Only 2 actions/year. Survive everything, build nothing.
SCORING: Breakthrough + Wealth + Impact + Durability. Multiple endings per stance.
THE THESIS: Your worldview shapes outcomes through natural mechanisms — not luck. Feel why each stance leads where it does.