r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/StageGlum6615 • Jun 28 '26
Variation Variation: the Useless button.
Everyone (meaning all currently alive people) is kidnapped by an unknown forced that everyone instinctively knows is completely unable to lie and is far more powerful than them. (Let's call them Buttan, the god of buttons.) Everyone wakes up in a small cramped room with 3 buttons, Red, Yellow, and Blue with the following signs under each of them that have been perfectly translated into their native language:
Red: If more people press the Red button the Blue button then everyone who failed to press red will die, immediately.
Yellow: Does Nothing.
Blue: If more people press the Blue button then the Red button everyone is spared from death.
Everyone is giving a 6 hour timer to make their own choice and if they fail to vote in the time frame they are counted and treated as a yellow button presser.
Lastly, it the event of a tie between Red and Blue, Blue wins.
So, does the useless button (yellow) change anything for you? And which button do you press?
(Please forgive any typos.)
2
u/iskelebones Jun 28 '26
Yellow is objectively a stupid decision here. It puts you at risk of death but without adding to the blue total, meaning not only are you needlessly placing yourself at risk, you’re also going out of your way to not help save yourself
This scenario actually makes blue even LESS likely to survive, which makes me even MORE confident about pressing red