# The Counter > Three shifts, six documents, one stamp. Citizens queue up, each with their own patience, and you are the clerk handing each of them exactly the paper they asked for before they grumble out of the door. **The gist.** The Counter is a playable satire about time lost in queues: pick the citizen, then the right document, against the clock and against human patience. Meet the quota in all three shifts and the counter closes victorious; let more than 5 people walk out in one shift and it jams. ## The game The game is a deterministic time-management arcade game, with the same order every time. In the interactive version, you pick the citizen with mouse, touch or arrow keys (or A and D), then press the requested document or keys 1–6. P pauses, Enter starts the shift. Rules: each citizen asks for one of six documents — ID card, Certificate, Certified copy, Binder file, Fiscal stamp, Standard form. Everyone has a patience bar that drains over time; when it empties, the person walks out without papers. A wrong document costs 25 points and a quarter of the person's patience. The shifts demand quotas of 8, 12 and 16 citizens served, with arrivals getting faster. A shift ends when its quota is met; more than 5 walkouts in one shift jams the counter and ends the game. Scoring: 100 points per citizen served, plus a patience bonus of up to 50, minus 25 for each wrong document. Game scores are not a measure of anything but your own skill with the stamp. ## What a shift at the counter teaches you In the game, everyone asks for one thing and asks clearly, with an icon attached. In real life, the person in the queue asks for "a paper", the clerk asks "which paper?", and the answer is "the one you need". The patience bar is the only realistic part: it drains just as fast in both worlds. The quota rises from shift to shift because pressure does too: on Monday you are polite, on Tuesday you are efficient, on Friday you are a stamp with a pulse. And the 5-walkout rule states a management truth: speed is not what kills you, it is the people you lose along the way. ## Method and limits The Counter is an original satire: the citizens, names, queues and the stamp are invented, and the game quotes no statistics and describes no real institution. The best score stays in the reader's browser, on their device. Text: Marius Comper (). Romanian edition: .