Chain Factor

Chain Factor is a manifesto expressed as a puzzle Flash game -- like all previous manifestos but explicitly so. It's move mechanic involves matching a numbered tile with a row or column that has the same number of other tiles, a very metagram mechanic. Your nouns and verbs must match, which then eliminates the nouns in a zen embrace.

Frank Lantz dropped me a link to this after a frank discussion of whether or not markets are games (conclusion: whatever they are, they're fucked). When I first looked at it, it came complete with a list of roles that people can occupy in a non-hierarchical society, a sort of proposed hybrid of socialism and capitalism that would be the inverse of what we have now, a highly hierarchical hybrid of socialism and capitalism (also known as Fascism). The game barrels through any risk of pretension however, in that is is mathematically a very pure expression of a non-hierarchical economy. Each number-piece has its own role to play, its own optimized tendency. Bigger numbers are better off higher up, since you can always eliminate them by failsafe at progressively higher column heights. Smaller numbers are better off down below, but if not you should dispose of them handily by placing them in horizontal rows along the top. The exceptions here are the sevens and ones, which should always be on the bottom and top, respectively. Even in this paradisaical world of mutual clearing one must still look out for number one, specifically the disc with the one on it. That sumbitch will destroy you. If you let a layer of them form it's pretty much game over, unless you've playing on the RPG-like "Power Mode" where the cost-effective Promotion ability allows you to dispense with them wholesale.

A polished, deep classic that despite being wholly abstract, has a lot of relevance if you want to look for some.

Ed.: And how does "ARG" come into it? Supposedly, there are unlockable powers for use in 'power mode.' "The keys are public secrets, hidden in plain sight among the visual trash of today's marketing-mad culture," says the FAQ.... Some discussion on the game's forums about the ARG puzzle-solving aspect. From my perspective, the interesting bit here is that the ARG involves unlocking powers used in one of three modes of the game (and perhaps not the most interesting one). If they managed to pry substantial marketing bux out of agency idiots for this, well, good on them, say I.