Ahh, I see. To me, then, it sounds more like the government uses it as a kind of death sentence for the participants. They know that no one is likely to win so they can throw in the people who would otherwise be dangerous to society as well as those that the government sees as a threat to itself. And of course the people in power would use this to their advantage all the time, like in the case of my poker player, who was a nuisance to the wrong person. As far as the general population goes, if this thing is just slightly more than a rumor, and everyone knows the level of danger, then I think absolutely the government could use that to their advantage. They could easily send out more rumors like propaganda almost using the right sources, especially with the right amount of control over the media. But for the populace to buy into it, it would need to have some proof that this game exists for everyone.

I definitely like that there isn't one person or even a few people running the thing. It seems like it might be too massive for a small group to handle at all.

The other thing I just start thinking about: how do the players know where the orb is and where to take it? Do they get any sort of clue or do they just have to do all the guesswork on their own?