is a 1672 anthology compiled by Japanese poet Matsuo Bashà Â, in which each haiku is followed by critical commentary he made as referee for a haiku contest. It is Bashà Â's earliest known book, and the only book he published in his own name. The work contains 60 haiku by 36 poets, including two by Bashà  himself.
The format is based on a children's game where two seashells were placed side by side and compared. Bashà  compares pairs of haiku by different authors in the same manner in the book. According to scholar Sam Hamill, The Seashell Game shows Bashà  "to be witty, deeply knowledgeable, and rather light-hearted."
Bashà  compares the following pair of verses on the topic of colourful autumn leaves:
In his commentary, Bashà  declares that the first poem "ranks thousands of leagues" above the second.