1 Comments

4chan's most anarchic message board, /b/, is defined by its users desire to out-___ each other. Everyone's trying to be the funniest, the freshest, the most shocking, the grossest, the saddest or the coolest.

The board has organically developed a series of games that capture this mentality, games that have spread beyond 4chan to other forums. Browsing the threads where these games go down is a great way to discover some of the freshest stuff on the web.

You Laugh You Lose


The grandaddy of them all. In this game, players try to post images that will make other forum members laugh. The racist images above are the unofficial mascots of You Laugh You Lose threads. For example, here's a (NSFW!) non-4chan forum thread that has adopted the game.



You Bawww You Lose


Post the saddest pictures you've got to make people cry. Sad-looking pets are popular, as well as cute comics that emphasize the overwhelming futility of life. This image of a dog lying down by his dead master is perfect. Another favorite is sad webcomics.


You Rage You Lose


Post something that will make everyone angry. It's usually a YouTube link to a video like this or this. These threads are about "snobbish" rage, not anger at anything truly horrific. They're more about stuff that's just incredibly annoying, like tween girls talking in high-pitched voices about their Justin Bieber fandom rather than, say, terrorism or corporate corruption.


You Wat You Lose


The term "wat" is another way of saying WTF. It's your reaction when something is so stupifyingly nonsensical that you can formulate no other words. In this game, try to post stuff that makes absolutely no sense, the more absurd the better. Videos from Japan, like this one (NSFW), are featured prominently.


You Fap You Lose


Just another opportunity for guys to share porn.


You Fall in Love You Lose


In this game, 4channer guys highlight cute, not necessarily sexy girls. If you fall in love, you're out of the game. Scene queens like her and her are popular.


You Save You Lose


Frequently played on /wg/,4chan's wallpaper thread, this game encourages users to post their coolest pictures in an attempt to get others to save them. Photos of nature scenes, sci-fi landscapes and anime characters are popular entries in this game.


You Barf You Lose

I'm not going to post an image for this one. The point of this one is to post gory photos of auto accidents, mutiliated limbs, birth defects, all forms of scatology and other disgusting imagery in an attempt to gross people out. I guess I can see why people enjoy the thrill of seeing something gross, but these threads are too much for me.


You Nostalgia You Lose


Post images from your childhood and try to elicit a wave of nostalgia. The trick is to find something like an old toy or tv show so obscure that only a few people will recognize it, then lord your insider knowledge over the rest of the posters.