game over

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From game and over.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ɡeɪm ˈəʊ.və(ɹ)/, X-SAMPA: /geIm "@U.v@(r\)/
• (US) IPA: /ɡeɪm ˈoʊ.vɚ/, X-SAMPA: /geIm "oU.v@`/

Phrase

game over

1. (video games) A message that appears on the screen of a computer or video game when all of the player's lives have been lost and the game must be started again from a checkpoint, the time runs out, or save point, or when the game has been successfully completed.
   • 1984, Robert Maxxe, Arcade

     Before I could figure out what the hell was the object of the game, I hear the thing go boom-boom, and the screen lights up with a sign: game over.

2. (by extension) The end of some ongoing situation due to either failure or success.

   If your wife finds out about us, it's game over!

   • 2004, Ryan Russell, Stealing the Network: How to Own a Continent, page xxi

     Once we started attacking that network from the inside, it was pretty much game over.

Translations

message that appears on the screen of a computer or video game when all of the player's lives have been lost

• Azeri: oyun bitdi (az)
• Esperanto: finita ludo (eo)
• French: partie terminée (fr), game over (fr) m
• German: das Spiel ist zu Ende (de)
• Japanese: ゲームオーバー (ja) (gēmu ōbā)

• Korean: 게임 오버 (ko) (geim obeo)
• Norwegian: game over (no)
• Russian: игра закончена (ru) (igrá zakónčena)
• Turkish: oyun bitti (tr)

the end of some ongoing situation due to either failure or success

• Portuguese: fim de jogo (pt) m