(Rice/pasta/potatoes are basically "free" as long as they are not cooked in oil; a third of each meal should be fresh fruit/veg, to discourage you from overloading on the free carbs; bread is very bad on the points system; you get one free calcium-containing product and one free fibre-containing product from an approved list every day, which has bizarrely led to me eating more cheese than ever before. I mainly picked SW over WW because of when the sessions were, rather than because I liked their way of doing it; in fact, to be honest I wasn't sure it would work at all, but so far it is.)
Anyway, I agree there are definitely "gamification" aspects which are true for these weight loss group sessions too. The point scoring; every week people get applauded for their weight loss and shiny stickers are handed out for the best that week or for reaching various milestones; and just turning up to group every week (which you have to to keep your membership current) means you can't chicken out of weighing yourself on a bad week, and sitting in a group provides your "encouragers" and "challengers" too, although possibly not as effectively as selecting one of each from your everyday friends.