For a tattoo, you want to be awfully careful! I would suggest: "In the game of life, there are no winners--just people who think they've won." But I don't understand the meaning. Does your friend mean that the people who think they've won are foolish? Or that they are wise? Does "There haven't been any winners in the game called life yet" mean that are never any winners, life is not a game and can't be lost or won? Or does it mean that someday there _will_ be a winner? I would be very, very, very careful. Whatever wording your friend comes up with, he or she should be sure that people who read it understand what he is saying.

I suppose that "there have been no winners" could refer to the inevitable mortality of all living beings. To some, every extra day is a win, to others finding their one-and-only is a win, or giving birth... How about: "LIfe is not a game, but everyone can be a winner."

As a Native English speaker from the United States, I agree with you that this sentence is not phrased well and lacks "some beauty" of the language. All my life, I have heard the phrase, "There are no winners in the game of life." I am assuming that your friend meant to say that. However, the second part of the phrase doesn't make any sense to me. I tend to think that Dan Smith's suggestion above "-- just people who think they've won" is probably what your friend meant to say. There are no winners in the game of life -- just people who think they've won.

You say in a comment: "The meaning is that many people think they've won the game, but in reality life is not a competition, and, simply, there can't be any winners." How about this? "In the game of life, if you think you can win, you don't know how to play."

1. There hasn't yet been any winner in the game called life, although some people seem to think otherwise. 2. There's never been a winner in the game of life, though some seem to think otherwise. 3. Life's a game without a winner, but some think otherwise. You may use number 3 so your friend doesn't suffer that much! :)