musical chairs

Noun

musical chairs (uncountable)

1. (children's games) A children's game in which players circle a group of chairs. There is one chair fewer than the number of players. When someone who is not watching stops playing music, everybody sits down, and the player left without a chair is eliminated.

   Synonyms:

   trip to Jerusalem

2. (figuratively) Any activity which results in repeated, pointless shuffling of people or objects.
   • They were married though they needn't have married, and though both had sworn they never would be. It is hard to explain—in that game of musical chairs—why they should have stopped, finally, at each other.2012, Zadie Smith, NW, London: Penguin Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 23
   • The job market last year and earlier in 2022 was like musical chairs, offering record opportunities for hopping from seat to seat. Now many feel that the music is about to stop.2022 October 7, Emma Goldberg, “The Job Market Has Been Like Musical Chairs. Will the Music Stop?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 14 Oct 2022