Whamageddon Saves No One From Tears This Holiday Season

“Armageddon” is a heavy word. Weighing in at 10 letters, the Hebrew-derived noun has the heft to break an opponent in Scrabble. The term also carries significant cultural weight—evoking images of biblical battles between good and evil, a chaotic world on the brink of destruction, or Bruce Willis making the ultimate sacrifice in Michael Bay’s magnum opus.

Yet Armageddon seems light as a snowflake compared to Whamageddon. Upping the “ageddon” ante with a more-intimidating 11 letters, this viral game has festive fanatics around the world trembling in fear every time a note of holiday music fills the air. The goal of the game: Make it from December 1 until Christmas day without hearing the heavily rotated holiday hit “Last Christmas” by Wham!

Like most things that emerge in the internet era, the history of Whamageddon is fuzzy. Some sources track its origins back to the forum GTPlanet in 2010. Wherever the idea was sparked, the challenge has caught on like the hell fires of Armageddon—snowballing from hipster tradition to mainstream media coverage. There’s even a Whamageddon website outlining the rules of the game for newbies.

While it might sound easy to evade a single song, “Last Christmas” vines across culture like a plague during December (it’s the second-most-streamed song of the season)—stacking the odds against any poor soul trying not to get Whamageddoned. Still, is there any sweeter victory than making it through the holiday season without hearing what one perspicacious podcaster once dubbed the worst Christmas song of all time?