endgame

Etymology

From end + game.

noun

1. (chess) The final stage of a game of chess, when there are few pieces left.
   Rooks become much more important in the endgame.
   The real end game consists of a position where the method can be analytically demonstrated by which the slightly superior force can win. April 12 1884, The Academy, Horwitz, page 256
2. (bridge) The final stage of a game of bridge, when there are few cards left.
   You can't really use squeeze plays until the endgame.
   Bridge writing tends to concentrate on the end game. 1952, Iain Macleod, Bridge Is an Easy Game, page 190
3. (by extension) The final stage of any game.
   Being stuck with two V tiles can make for an awkward Scrabble endgame.
4. (figurative) The final stage of an extended process or course of events, especially with the implication of the imminent realization of a masterful strategy or plan.
   What's his endgame, do you think?
   He had been a Commando during the war, had landed on Sword Beach and skirmished his way across the ravaged remains of Europe after D-Day before slogging out the endgame, attached to the 63rd Anti-Tank Regiment. 2015, Kate Atkinson, A God in Ruins, page 138
   Like optics, it’s one of those buzzwords, beloved by pundits, that implies its users are smarter than everyone else, because they see another level that most people don’t in political machinations. In meme parlance, you may ask “Why?” but ah, an intellectual asks, “What’s the endgame?” April 25, 2019, Heather Schwedel, “The Myth of the Endgame”, in Slate
   It is time for the United States and its allies to get directly involved in shaping Ukraine’s strategic objectives, managing the conflict, and seeking a diplomatic endgame. 2022-11-02, Charles A. Kupchan, “It’s Time to Bring Russia and Ukraine to the Negotiating Table”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
5. (video games) The gameplay available in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game for players who have completed all of the preset challenges.

adj

1. (fandom slang, of a ship) Having become canon by the end of the plot of a work of fiction or speculated to be intended to become such.
   TJLC’ers’ strong belief in Johnlock as endgame was intrinsically linked with their trust in the show’s creators, which enabled them to interpret the repeated denial of the subtext in Sherlock as part of the game. 2017, Suzanne Frenk, "Telling The True Story: Queerbaiting, representation, and fan resistance in the BBC Sherlock fandom", thesis submitted to Tilburg University, page 50
   I think the fans and I were pretty aligned with who we wanted as endgame couples. 2020, Marlene King, quoted in Sara K. Day & Summer Melody Pennell, "#PLLQueerTheory: Fans’ reactions to queer representation in Pretty Little Liars", The Journal of Fandom Studies, Volume 8, Number 2, June 2020
   One user, for example, posted, “Bughead haters can suck it. They’re endgame.” 2021, Emily Burkhardt, Verity Trott, Whitney Monaghan, “'#Bughead Is Endgame': Civic Meaning-Making inRiverdale Anti-Fandom andShipping Practices on Tumblr”, in Television & New Media