What do you think?
Rate this book
Return Match
14 pages, Unknown Binding
First published February 1, 1980
2 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Philip K. Dick
2,006 books22.5k followersPhilip Kindred Dick was a prolific American science fiction author whose work has had a lasting impact on literature, cinema, and popular culture. Known for his imaginative narratives and profound philosophical themes, Dick explored the nature of reality, the boundaries of human identity, and the impact of technology and authoritarianism on society. His stories often blurred the line between the real and the artificial, challenging readers to question their perceptions and beliefs.
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 31, 2020
Game for the Game
In his short story Return Match, which was first published in Galaxy in 1967, PKD tells us something about what is probably one of the most influential human instincts, namely man’s capacity to engage in play, to explore its mechanisms and laws and to master them. This ludic drive is, of course, a double-edged sword because on the one hand it enables a person to enhance their faculties and widen their horizon, but on the other, it may also make them fall into an addiction, thus narrowing their horizon.
Joseph Tinbane is a police officer in Los Angeles, whose task unit is devoted to the break-up of illegal gambling casinos set up by “the outspacers“, aliens who are extremely ruthless in their operations and do not hesitate about blowing up a casino with all its guests inside just to cover up their traces and destroy evidence. From one of these operations Tinbane can salvage a mysterious gadget which a force technician later says is a pinball machine that uses the information it is getting through players in oder to defend itself against these players. Tinbane starts playing the machine, noticing how a small catapult is being erected inside the machine but for all that, he still wants to play on because he just wants to know how the machine is going to work, and, well, his perseverance is going to be … rewarded.
Although the ending of the story is somewhat silly (and predictable), the premise of the story is interesting: We humans are suckers for trying out new things, because it gives us both excitement and a feeling of satisfaction when we have accomplished a task and learned something new. At the same time, however, this urge, which is probably at the bottom of most progress that has been made in the history of man, makes us vulnerable, too, because sometimes there are risks not worth taking, and it already takes a lot of wisdom and experience to tell the difference between a challenge and a dead end. Tinbane finds himself involved in the game in a way he’d never have expected – which can be seen as a symbol of addictive behaviour – and there’s no telling when that game will be over for him. And when you look at youngsters staring away at their silly smartphone games, you’ll be asking yourself the very same question and maybe sometimes, like me, cannot help suspecting whether the smartphone might not be a covert strategy of aliens to subjugate our minds by and by …
Another interesting aspect in that Dick story is that the extraterrestrials do not seek to conquer Terra but have just come, stealthily, to exploit humans‘ weaknesses, or to turn their gift to play against them. Instead of hoisting the flag, they just want to set up shop, which is quite a modern approach, especially for “outspacers“ – at least, judging from what we know about them through other science fiction stories.
In his short story Return Match, which was first published in Galaxy in 1967, PKD tells us something about what is probably one of the most influential human instincts, namely man’s capacity to engage in play, to explore its mechanisms and laws and to master them. This ludic drive is, of course, a double-edged sword because on the one hand it enables a person to enhance their faculties and widen their horizon, but on the other, it may also make them fall into an addiction, thus narrowing their horizon.
Joseph Tinbane is a police officer in Los Angeles, whose task unit is devoted to the break-up of illegal gambling casinos set up by “the outspacers“, aliens who are extremely ruthless in their operations and do not hesitate about blowing up a casino with all its guests inside just to cover up their traces and destroy evidence. From one of these operations Tinbane can salvage a mysterious gadget which a force technician later says is a pinball machine that uses the information it is getting through players in oder to defend itself against these players. Tinbane starts playing the machine, noticing how a small catapult is being erected inside the machine but for all that, he still wants to play on because he just wants to know how the machine is going to work, and, well, his perseverance is going to be … rewarded.
Although the ending of the story is somewhat silly (and predictable), the premise of the story is interesting: We humans are suckers for trying out new things, because it gives us both excitement and a feeling of satisfaction when we have accomplished a task and learned something new. At the same time, however, this urge, which is probably at the bottom of most progress that has been made in the history of man, makes us vulnerable, too, because sometimes there are risks not worth taking, and it already takes a lot of wisdom and experience to tell the difference between a challenge and a dead end. Tinbane finds himself involved in the game in a way he’d never have expected – which can be seen as a symbol of addictive behaviour – and there’s no telling when that game will be over for him. And when you look at youngsters staring away at their silly smartphone games, you’ll be asking yourself the very same question and maybe sometimes, like me, cannot help suspecting whether the smartphone might not be a covert strategy of aliens to subjugate our minds by and by …
Another interesting aspect in that Dick story is that the extraterrestrials do not seek to conquer Terra but have just come, stealthily, to exploit humans‘ weaknesses, or to turn their gift to play against them. Instead of hoisting the flag, they just want to set up shop, which is quite a modern approach, especially for “outspacers“ – at least, judging from what we know about them through other science fiction stories.
December 26, 2018
It is amazing how intense PKD's stories can be even 50 years after their publication.
" The ending of “Return Match” is a bit clumsy, with Tinbane finding himself in a life-sized version of a pinball machine, as the target of a relentless assault, but there is still plenty to think about in this story. Much of it we have seen before. We have yet another example of dangerous automation (“Autofac,” “The Great C”). We have previously seen consumer goods being used as a weapon of war, or a way to fight with other means (“The Little Movement,” “War Game”). There are also numerous examples of conflicts between Terra and other worlds using non-conventional strategies (“The Crystal Crypt”). I do not want to say more about these themes. There are still a few new things going on in the story that are worthy of mentioning.
The alien threat has been transformed a bit. In this way, it is a bit more like “A Game of Unchance.” What seems to really interest the aliens is not the conquest of Earth, but just the chance to make some money. In this case they do it through a series of illegal gambling dens. The human characteristic they are most interested in hacking into is their desire for excitement and their compulsive character. In both stories, a game is the means to exploit human weaknesses. In “Return Match,” Tinbane is compulsive both about the game and about solving the mystery. Since the operation of closing down the casino was a success, there is no compelling reason to unlock the mysteries of the pinball machine, yet he is drawn in on a quest to discover its “tropism.” It is something interesting and out of the ordinary, much like the carnival in “A Game of Unchance.”"
" The ending of “Return Match” is a bit clumsy, with Tinbane finding himself in a life-sized version of a pinball machine, as the target of a relentless assault, but there is still plenty to think about in this story. Much of it we have seen before. We have yet another example of dangerous automation (“Autofac,” “The Great C”). We have previously seen consumer goods being used as a weapon of war, or a way to fight with other means (“The Little Movement,” “War Game”). There are also numerous examples of conflicts between Terra and other worlds using non-conventional strategies (“The Crystal Crypt”). I do not want to say more about these themes. There are still a few new things going on in the story that are worthy of mentioning.
The alien threat has been transformed a bit. In this way, it is a bit more like “A Game of Unchance.” What seems to really interest the aliens is not the conquest of Earth, but just the chance to make some money. In this case they do it through a series of illegal gambling dens. The human characteristic they are most interested in hacking into is their desire for excitement and their compulsive character. In both stories, a game is the means to exploit human weaknesses. In “Return Match,” Tinbane is compulsive both about the game and about solving the mystery. Since the operation of closing down the casino was a success, there is no compelling reason to unlock the mysteries of the pinball machine, yet he is drawn in on a quest to discover its “tropism.” It is something interesting and out of the ordinary, much like the carnival in “A Game of Unchance.”"
January 25, 2020
Strange story with (I think) lots of open questions and wonderings. Typical.
Dangerous toys hidden as innocent toys. Love it.
Dangerous toys hidden as innocent toys. Love it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews