2 truths and 1 lie
It seems to be in the same category of games as truth or dare, where the player voluntarily situates themselves in a situation where one is compelled to expose oneself.
What is most interesting is the 'compelled' part in a game like this, one is forced to do things they wouldn't normally do in other settings - tell a hard truth or do something daring.
or is it?
In a game of 'truth or dare', nobody is really compelled to do anything; there is no armed guard at the door - anytime, anyone can simply stand up and leave, there is no consequences ; there is no consequences if you pass a lie off as truth - the other players wouldn't know the difference.
Yet, very seldom do people do that -
it is striking how the average person, the same group of people who fail to keep their promises and regularly participate in back-stabbing take these game rules so, so seriously.
The most likely explanation I can think of is that the game is an excuse; a collective excuse to do things we all want to do but are scared of the consequences. you can tell a 'truth' or do a 'dare' any day, any minute, but we are too scared shitless to actually do that and then be held accountable.
So, a little social ritual like this gives us permission to say things and do things by doing it the form of a game and pretending that we are not in control.
The pretense is flimsy - of course we are in control. why would someone genuinely set on keeping a secret enter a game where the whole point is to spill them?
True, that it is how people get to know each other
But this seems like a unecessarily complicated, extremely round-about, and ultimately not very effective way to go about it.
If a truth needs to be told, why not just tell it?
If something is to be done, why not just do?
If a truth is told under the guise of being given under coercion, doesn't that take away the essense of words and message as a gift, given voluntarily?
Not mentioning that, having thought through all that, the game seem to lose much of its illicit excitement.
OR, the other way of understanding is that is practice - like practice wheels for a bicycle, whose ultimate function is to support your balance until you no longer need it;
that is a more positive outlook on truth-telling games, that it is practice for a future version of ourselves who would no longer need them, because telling the truth would be the default then, and before we reach that point, these absurd little rituals act as peer-support.