The Telephone Ritual
The Telephone Ritual, which hails from Japan, bears some similarities with The Shoebox Telephone; however, it uses both a mobile phone and a regular landline instead of a phone made out of a shoebox, and you don't get to pick who you call. It's also a heck of a lot more dangerous. Before you start, you'll have to make sure you're alone in the house; don't try to play with anyone else home. Also, make sure you're comfortable with hanging out in your bathroom and staring into the depths of your toilet for an extended amount of time. (Yes, really.)
When you're ready to play, first, turn off all the lights in your home and lay down a line of salt outside the bathroom door. (According to some magic practitioners, salt can be an effective tool for protecting yourself from negative energy.) Then grab your phone and a flashlight, lock yourself in the bathroom, and use your mobile phone to call your home number. Doing so might result in… well... something picking up the other end. If that happens, hang up immediately. If you see a change in the surface of the toilet bowl water or hear a noise from somewhere inside your house, hang up immediately
The Answer Man
Too freaked out to try one of these games on your own? The Answer Man requires 10 players, so maybe there's safety in numbers. Gather everyone together into a circle; then have all players take out their phones and call the person to their left, making sure you all hit “send” at the same time. Most of you will probably get a busy signal… but it's possible that one person might get through to the Answer Man.
Whoever gets through to the Answer Man can ask whatever questions they want of him — but know that for every question you ask, he'll get to ask one in return. His questions aren't always easy to answer, but you must answer them truthfully and accurately. If doesn't like your answer, you're going to have a bad time, so make sure you're fully prepared before playing.
You might want to use inexpensive burner or pay-as-you-go phones to play this one, by the way. If you manage to get in touch with the Answer Man, you'll need to destroy the phone you used to talk to him afterwards.
Otherwise he might be able to reach out to you whenever he wants immediately
The Midnight Game
I will freely admit that I have no earthly idea why anyone would actually want to play The Midnight Game. It sounds (theoretically, at least) extremely dangerous, and “winning” it doesn't seem to bestow any benefits on you. Maybe it's for the thrill of the whole thing? Or something? Allegedly it was used as a punishment for those who dared to transgress the laws of society during ancient times, but I suspect that's just a fiction tacked onto the story to make it freakier. It does, however, make use of a trope that can be encountered in different forms all over the world: That of the boogeyman — the monster whose name is involved in order to keep us in line.This particular game is an all-night event. After you summon the Midnight Man to your place of residence via the sort of blood magic it's not generally recommended that anyone do (ever), you spend the rest of the evening moving about your house and trying to avoid him. What happens if he catches you? Well, depending on who you ask, he'll either trap you inside a hallucination of your worst fear for a few hours, or he'll rip out your innards.
If you make it through the game unscathed, though, don't assume you're safe from the Midnight Man forever. He might still be there, lurking in the shadows, waiting — just waiting — for the chance to visit you again.
Comments
Post a Comment