Survival Game

The Survival Game is the battle royale organized by Deus Ex Machina in order to choose his successor as the God of Time and Space. Selecting twelve individuals, although one candidate consists of two people (Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami), Deus initiates the game in April, 2006. Each of the candidates are given the Future Diaries to use to predict their futures. The last man standing will become Deus' successor, the others must be killed or their diaries destroyed to be eliminate. Deus acts as the judge with his assistant Muru Muru handing out the diaries, and acting as his secondary judge. Two survival games in alternate worlds took place, the first won by Yuno Gasai and the second won by Yukiteru Amano, although the rules of the second game were altered by Deus himself, Minene Uryu surviving the second game.

Game Overview
The survival game has several rules which are vital to the diary owners and the game's progress:
 * All diaries predict the future in different ways.
 * Each owner is assigned a number from one to twelve and are referred to by their titles (e.g. "First"). Until their true identities are discovered through the diaries, the owners are referred to by their titles.
 * The futures of the diaries are not set in stone. If a diary owner or another person does an action that contradicts the entries on the diaries, then the future will change accordingly.
 * The diaries literally carry a person's future. If they are broken, then the diary owner will be erased through existence and removed from the game.
 * No diary owners are allowed to quit or retire from the game, although giving the diary temporarily to a third party is acceptable.
 * The game will officially end when only one diary owner is left alive. The winner shall become God.
 * Deus and Muru Muru must not interfere with the actions of the game. Both characters break this rule during the second game.

The official timeline takes place between April and July, ending on July 28th. Contradictory dates between the manga and anime make the starting date for the game difficult, but it is likely between April 21st and April 24th, on the day after Yuki receives his Future Diary from Deus. It appears that Muru Muru handed out the diaries to the diary owners in a random or reversed order, Yuki being the last one to gain his.

Occasionally, Deus holds meetings between the diary owners to monitor their progress and for the owners to ask him questions regarding the game. These meeting take place in the Cathedral of Causality.

Participants
Deus and Muru Muru act as the judges of the survival game, Muru Muru taking over Deus' role with his death to ensure the throne of god is filled. It is revealed that there is a third judge called the Observer, an artificial human designed to secretly observe the game from within. The Observer is actually Aru Akise.

There are technically thirteen diary owners although two are counted as one. The diary owners are:
 * 1) Yukiteru Amano - The First diary owner. A 14-year old elementary school student. He has the "Random Diary".
 * 2) Yuno Gasai - The Second diary owner. Another elementary school student, and Yukiteru's personal stalker. She has the "Yukiteru Diary".
 * 3) Takao Hiyama - The Third diary owner. A teacher who moonlights as a serial killer. He has the "Murder Diary".
 * 4) Keigo Kurusu - The Fourth diary owner. Chief inspector of Sakurami City's police force. He has the "Criminal Investigation Diary".
 * 5) Reisuke Houjou - The Fifth diary owner. A 5-year old toddler with genius intellect. He has the "Hyper Vision Diary".
 * 6) Tsubaki Kasugano - The Sixth diary owner. The priestess of the Omekata religious order. She has the "Clairvoyance Diary".
 * 7) Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami - The Seventh diary owners. A pair of lovers who are connected to the Mother's Village orphanage. They share the "Exchange Diary".
 * 8) Kamado Ueshita - The Eighth diary owner. Director and headworker of the Mother's Village orphanage. She has the "Blog Diary".
 * 9) Minene Uryu - The Ninth diary owner. A terrorist who targets religious organizations and structures. She has the "Escape Diary".
 * 10) Karyuudo Tsukishima - The Tenth diary owner. A dog breeder and owner of a dog care home. He has the "Breeder Diary".
 * 11) John Balks - The Eleventh diary owner. The Mayor of Sakurami City, and co-creator of the diaries. He has the "Watcher Diary".
 * 12) Yomotsu Hirasaka - The Twelfth diary owner. A blind vigilante. He has the "Justice Diary".

The First Survival Game
The first game occured when John Balks approached Deus with the proposal to help evolve humanity by giving them some of his power. Deus, knowing his own death was approaching, agreed and the two created the first Future Diaries. Deus decided to create the survival game to decide on a successor to his throne and title.

Order of Elimination
Unknown, only seen in flashbacks although Yukiteru Amano and Yuno Gasai survived in the end. They swore couple-suicide by swallowing pills, however Yuno feigned this, making her the victor.

Order of Elimination

 * 1) Takao Hiyama, The Third. He's killed by the joint efforts of Yuki and Yuno, with a dart piercing his diary.
 * 2) Yomotsu Hirasaka, The Twelfth. He's killed by Yuno who could use his blindness as an advantage to discover him and slice him in the neck with an axe.
 * 3) Tsubaki Kasugano, The Sixth. She's killed by Yuki who could successfully distract her men and throw a well-aimed dart on her diary, killing her instantly.
 * 4) Reisuke Houjou, The Fifth. Killed by the joint efforts of Yuki and Yuno, with Yuki timely saving and giving oxygen to Yuno, which allows her to stab Reisuke in the chest with a knife.
 * 5) Karyuudo Tsukishima, The Tenth. Killed by Keigo Kurusu, who found his whereabouts, while his own diary was with his daughter Hinata Hino.
 * 6) Keigo Kurusu, The Fourth. Shot by Yuki and futher cornered by Minene Uryu and Masumi Nishijima as he no longer is chief of police and with no chance of winning, he decides to commit suicide in exchange for Minene to take care of his family. Breaks his own diary.
 * 7) Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami, The Seventh. Through a successful plan and teamwork of Yuki and Yuno, Yuno can slice Ai in the neck leaving her weakened, Marco rushes to save her, but knowing that she will not survive he decides to die as well. Killed along a collapsing tower.
 * 8) Minene Uryu, The Ninth. Commites suicide-bombing to blow the bank safe used by John Balks to protect himself, to allow Yuki and Yuno to kill him. Although she's saved by Deus she's still disqualified.
 * 9) John Balks, The Eleventh. Secludes himself on a bank safe, which is bypassed by Yuno who cuts him with a katana.
 * 10) Kamado Ueshita, The Eighth. Cornered when Yuki's friends Hinata Hino, Mao Nonosaka, Aru Akise and Ouji Kosaka are killed by Yuki and Yuno. Ueshita resigns herself to her death and is stabbed by Yuno.
 * 11) Yuno Gasai, The Second. With the future altered by Yuki's actions, she no longer has a reason to restart the game. Yuki demands her to kill him to become God, but Yuno instead commites suicide by stabbing herself in the chest, desiring Yuki to survive as she loves him.