The Game of Chicken?
Hi. Could you explain me the meaning or give me the prehistory of the phrase "the game of chicken"? Does this phrase really exist or maybe it's just a play on words?
I found that phrase in here: "But the Europeans didn’t take the change all the way — and in that gap lies the cause of Germany and Greece’s ongoing game of chicken".
Of course, I understand the whole idea but now I just want to know more about "the game of chicken". Maybe the game existed in past.
Thanks.

Question

Answer

"Chicken" is a (very stupid) game where two people will do something dangerous and the person who stops first loses. Often it's played by having two people drive toward each other in a car, or sometimes toward a cliff, and the person who steers away first loses. You see it in the movies, sometimes.

The name comes from the fact that "chicken" is a slang English insult that means someone is a coward. The idea of the game is the person who gets scared first and stops doing the dangerous thing is a "chicken."

This is a famous scene from the movie 'Footloose' where two very stupid boys play the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA4W1Ayd1jE

Answer

"To play chicken" is to play a game which involves risk to see who is "chicken" (cowardly).
The two most common versions are:
-Two people stand on the opposite side of a footpath and sprint directly at each other. The first person to slow down loses.
-Two or more people hold their breath underwater. The last one to come up for air wins.

You might hear about some more potentially fatal version in fiction, which I hope nobody would attempt in real life. For example, a bunch of people go skydiving and the last one to pull their chute wins.
It's not too hard to come up with your own version of the game.

Answer

I think it's more a concept than a game itself and sometimes this concept might be used to play certain kinds of games based on it.
In this link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_%28game%29) you'll find a good explanation of what this concept is all about.

Answer

"Chicken" is a (very stupid) game where two people will do something dangerous and the person who stops first loses. Often it's played by having two people drive toward each other in a car, or sometimes toward a cliff, and the person who steers away first loses. You see it in the movies, sometimes.

The name comes from the fact that "chicken" is a slang English insult that means someone is a coward. The idea of the game is the person who gets scared first and stops doing the dangerous thing is a "chicken."

This is a famous scene from the movie 'Footloose' where two very stupid boys play the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA4W1Ayd1jE