The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780593655658)

A philosophy of games to help us win back control over what we value

The philosopher C. Thi Nguyen--one of the leading experts on the philosophy of games and the philosophy of data--takes us deep into the heart of games, and into the depths of bureaucracy, to see how scoring systems shape what we care about.

Games are the most important art form of our era. They embody the spirit of free play. They show us the subtle beauty of action everywhere in life--in video games, sports, and boardgames--but also cooking, gardening, fly fishing, and moving. They remind us that it isn't always about outcomes, but about how glorious it feels to be doing the thing.

Scoring systems are at the center of modern games. They are also, in the form of metrics and rankings, at the center of our corporations and bureaucracies--where they tell us exactly how to measure success. They encourage us to outsource our values to an external authority. And they push on us to value simple, countable things. Metrics don't capture what really matters; they only capture what's easy to measure. The price of that clarity is you must outsource your values.

The Score asks us is this the game you really want to be playing?

Author: C. Thi Nguyen
ISBN-10: 0593655656
ISBN-13: 9780593655658
Publisher: Penguin Press
Language: English
Published: 01/13/2026
Pages: 400
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.34lbs
Size: 9.25h x 6.13w x 1.00d