

In games where the players keep resources (e.g.

This can occur in several ways, including the following: (Both the Human Snowball and Snowball Lie tropes also refer to this.) This article provides a more in-depth examination of the issues surrounding the phenomenon, and also provides some ways to avoid it. Often referred to as "snowballing", as the player's growing power becomes reminiscent of a snowball that constantly grows larger as it rolls down a snow-covered hill, and as it grows larger and gains more surface area it gathers more snow ever faster. Depending on the implementation this trope can also, paradoxically, reduce the frustration of a protracted loss, since it will Mercy Kill you quickly if you make a mistake as the progressive pile-up of advantages ends the game. A good chess player will rarely make a big-enough "blunder" to give the opponent immediate victory, so it's necessary for small advantages to accumulate in the long term.

But it can be important in multiplayer games that have become Serious Business- chess being the classic example. In multiplayer games, it's more complicated if it places too much weight on initial decisions, it can lead to games being decided very early on, reducing what happens afterwards to relatively boring mopping-up. In a single-player game, this can create a situation where early advantages accumulate to the point where the game becomes very easy later on, while early mistakes make it harder and harder to recover this can make the game boring for more skilled players and frustrating enough to drive away everyone else.
