We all know these people, those slick, smooth manipulators who seem to get away with murder, do as little as humanly possible and end up living the life of Riley. For a number of reasons our society is set up in such a way that it is very difficult for them to lose. It is as if life was a huge Game and they were the master players. What is the average person to do when confronted with such practiced charlatans?

It seems like the Players have absolute control over their Game. They created it, they dominate society's upper echelons, and as a result they are blessed with a permanent advantage. How can we hope to take them on?

What we need is a new way to play the game: a way to reverse our positions of power and take the advantage from the seasoned Players. They base their plays on their existing power, on their surety that we are the underdogs. Herein we may find our way to undermine them, since it is this confidence in their mastery which is at once the source of their easy profits and their greatest weakness.

Now dependant upon always acting from a position of strength, most Players are left floundering when that much-needed stability falls away. They have nowhere to run except to their habit for blustering their way out of trouble, a strategy which can only lead them into a worse predicament. By contrast we, as outsiders, lack the initial advantage of the Players, but we are blessed with intelligence and creativity, and it is upon these that we must rely for our ultimate success.

The good news for us is that most Players have only one strategy, and once it has failed they are left paddleless up the proverbial creak. The Players never imagine that they might be played, and therein lies our advantage. The reasons for this are twofold:

First, the average Player views the rest of us as fools, incapable of thinking tactically. Second, they see themselves as gifted with a shrewdness which the rest of us simply do not have.

For our strategy to work we must first convince the Player to buy into a false sense of security which we will create. To do this we must study our Players, learn what makes them tick, and adjust our approach to deal more specifically with the individual or group concerned. We must then watch how they operate, basing our movements on theirs. Players are never long idle - their constant agenda to seek out more wealth and power is forever propelling them on.

Since the Player thinks of himself as infallible he cannot learn from his mistakes, for he denies even the possibility that he has made any. Since he is also concerned only with himself and his own self-interest he will pay no heed to opportunities which do not affect him directly. As a result, when they do fall upon hard times, Players are notoriously under-prepared for coping with them.

Finally, not being able to engage in any situation in which they are not guaranteed success makes the Player into a coward and further restricts their range of movement. It is little wonder that the Players need this elaborate ruse, called the Game; for without it they would have nothing, and be nothing.