Roommate chicken refers to the condition where a group of people sharing a living space each avoid doing a household chore for an extended period because each believes it's someone else's responsibility. The idea is that eventually the situation will reach a critical mass where the guilty party will cave in and do the chore.

Roommate chicken（暂译为“室友耍赖游戏”）指的是这样一个状况：一群人共享一个居住空间，而在一段很长的时间里，每个人都躲着不做家务，因为大家都认为做家务是别人的事。到最后，实在忍受不下去的时候，自认有愧的一方会退一步，把家务都给做了。

Chicken is the name of a game, which is an influential¹ model of conflict for two players in game theory. The principle of the game is that while each player prefers not to yield to the other, the outcome where neither player yields is the worst possible one for both players.

这里的chicken是一个游戏的名字，是游戏理论中对双方玩家很有影响力的一个游戏模式。这个游戏的原则是，虽然游戏双方都不愿意屈服于对方，但是双方都不认输的结局对两方玩家来说却是最糟糕的结局。