Thinking a lot about ratchets lately. Internal and external. Ratchets are more fundamental than clocks. Things that can only grow in one direction, and reversed only via destruction.
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Zip ties are ratchets designed to be destroyed! This has to be a good metaphor for you
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Ratchets in games are interesting! You generally want to drive a game toward conclusion, so there are a few ways to do that.
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A) sometimes you need to just end a game that has gone on too long and reached a degenerate state; in Magic if you run out of cards you die, in Dominion if three supply piles become empty the game snap ends.
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Would building properties in monopoly count? I think there’s got to be an irreversible counter or something to qualify as a true ratchet

