Lockdown games are dangerous but very fun
A friend of mine has become so bored of Lockdown 3.0 that he has created a new game called Middle Gear, loosely based on the driving TV show that featured three entitled idiots; Shorty, Geeky and Wanky.
In this game, he meets a friend after dusk on the M25 with mutually full tanks of petrol and they have a race around the now-traffic-free orbital road going in contrariwise directions before they see who can get to Brighton first. No need to stop with a full tank.
The only rule is that they have to promise to keep to the speed limit (hence the name Middle Gear). As we all know this is 80mph, the unofficial speed limit of the M25, and I’m led to believe it’s a lot of fun. There is never much between the racers at the finish on the seafront.
I can’t possibly comment on whether this is a good idea, but I do remember doing something similar many moons ago when I was a biker and the world was camera-free. Let’s just say that speed limits didn’t apply and bloodstreams weren’t exactly clean of extras.
This type of mischief is afoot everywhere. I particularly like the yoof culture of having parties and everybody going barefoot so people in the flats below can’t hear the fun above their heads. Videos of the Police chasing unshodden wrong ‘uns away from gatherings make the heart sing. You have to be young once, even during times of plague.
Everybody’s at it after seven weeks of confinement. That’s what humans do when they are restrained. There’s always some way of adapting that makes the experience a bit more cheeky and survivable. Again, I can’t possibly comment on that, but I know where all the shebeens are; always have done.
And so it is in the crypto space and those games people play. Whether it’s Musk being a court jester or naughty elf, with his Tony Stark power playing the markets or others, bored as hell, doing the same, we are in the megaverse all trying to score points and ‘winning’.
Last week, I played my own game and tried to lose money trading crypto, just because I was almost sick of seeing green gains every day. And I think I may have stumbled onto some genius, because I couldn’t lose a bean. Don’t even talk to me about Doge, I’ll never listen to Snoop again.
I made more gains trying to lose than I would have done if I’d stuck to my original long-term I-should-have-paid-into-a-pension-instead-of-presuming-I’d-die-young plan with my crypto coins.
You heard it hear first, try to lose with crypto and you will win… but I do not offer financial advice. Well, actually I do offer anti-financial advice, but you know what I mean.
Others are playing similar games with the vaccine. Again, I’m led to believe that there is a serious black market with vaccinations from those who volunteer to do all types of good things at food banks and the like.
Apparently in London, there is a loose social network around charities and volunteering that does the rounds at the end of the day wherever there is a centre that has some spare vaccine that would otherwise go to waste.
Subscribers are informed, then there is another type of race around the North Circular Road to get to a centre to get a jab. I imagine nobody keeps to the speed limit in that mad rush, but it kind of makes sense.
So, next week will undoubtedly bring more crypto games. Others such as Apple are allegedly about to announce their own bitcoin play and every other CEO on the planet is imploring their boards to integrate bitcoin into their strategies.
This is speculation, but not speculative. CEOs and traditional companies are not into this to make money on trading crypto, they want to integrate it into their payment systems, they want it be part of new money and bringing in new customers; they couldn’t give a toss how much it’s worth.
As usual, I am here for those companies if they want contrarian consultancy on how to win at crypto by trying to lose… but, hang on, I’ve just had a call about something about the M25.
Phew, thank God, it’s not a vehicle race, apparently it’s a rave on Saturday night near the M25… I’ll make sure I’ll leave my shoes at home and keep to the speed limit… hopefully it’ll be warmer by then. Party up!!
Monty Munford is a renowned Tech journalist and has his own podcast https://blockspeak.io
He used to be a keynote speaker/emcee/moderator/interviewer at prestigious events around the world until Covid destroyed his conference speaking career… until 2023. He has spoken at more than 200 global events.
He was previously a weekly tech columnist for Forbes in New York, the Telegraph in the UK and continues to write regularly for the BBC, The Economist, The FT and… City PM.