game over

English

The message originated on pinball machines and has been very widely used in video games.

(video games) A message signaling that the game has ended, usually because the player failed (for example by losing all of their lives) but sometimes following successful completion of the game.
- 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.
(by extension) The end of some ongoing situation, especially in failure.
If your wife finds out about us, it's game over!
- 1986, Aliens:
  That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?
- 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.
- 2025 August 20, Paul Clifton, “A driver's eye view of East West Rail”, in RAIL, number 1042, page 30:
  "Game over," Waddicor warns. "Look at the fuel gauge. Someone's forgotten to fill up." The heavily laden train has come from Freightliner's Maritime Terminal in Southampton's western docks. Waddicor reckons there might not be enough diesel in the tank to complete the journey.
(by extension) Death.
When you have cancer, you pretty much have two options: chemotherapy, or game over.

message

end of some ongoing situation

game over (plural game overs)

(video games) An appearance of a game over message.
When you die too many times in this game, you get a game over.

game over (third-person singular simple present game overs or games over, present participle game overing or gaming over, simple past and past participle game overed or gamed over)