Maybe the characters who are "awake" during the final run get to leave the game.
If your cassette tape has been removed, or isn't playing, you're an NPC that round.
So far there are only 3 tape players- the one in the car, the silver cassette player and now the black one.
Does that mean during any particular run, no more than 3 players can play the game?
Then how does Doha fit into all this?