• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Stories
  • Games
    • View All
    • FAQ
  • Encyclopaedia
  • About
  • Support TGIMM
  • Shop
  • Contact

The Ghost In My Machine

Stories of the Strange and Unusual

The Most Dangerous Games: The Corner Game

May 9, 2016 by Lucia

Previously: The Closet Game.

Our homes are supposed to be safe spaces — the only places in the world that are truly ours, where anyone inside plays by our rules and where we call the shots. But one of the things that I find so fascinating about so many of these kinds of games — these games we shouldn’t play, games like the Corner Game — is the way they take our homes and they strip them of their safety. They make the familiar strange, turning our places of comfort into places of danger. Wonder, yes… but also danger.

An empty, abandoned room

According to hakei1211, the Corner Game can be found all over Naver; to me, that suggests that it might be Korean in origin, although since I haven’t been able to trace it back to one original source, that’s mostly an educated guess on my part. For what it’s worth, there’s a similar game in Japan, but it’s not quite the same one we’re looking at here; that one involves each player tapping the next on the shoulder, whereas here, you’re not to touch each other as you rotate around the room.

[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]

Regardless, what I do know is that the Corners Game is, at heart, a summoning ritual. The idea is to call forth the kinds of entities that are drawn to corners: Those who typically inhabit ceilings, but who like to use the corners of rooms to come down closer to their human prey; those who occupy the corners themselves; and so on and so forth. (Japan’s the Girl from the Gap may be one of these, although possibly not; I suspect she’s at least a relative, if not a full-blown corner dweller.) The systematic rotation is said to pique these entities’ curiosity, thus inspiring them to appear.

I assume you’d do this just to be able to say that you’ve seen a ghost. Whether or not it’s worth the risk, however, is up to you. And as always…

…Well, you know how it goes.

Players:

  • Four principals.

Requirements:

  • An empty room. The room must have four corners — no more, no less.

Instructions:

The Prelude:

  1. Clear the building in which your game room lies. There should be no additional people inside the building; nor should there be any pets. The only living bodies present should be those of the four principals.
  2. Extinguish the lights in every room of the building except the game room.
  3. Enter the game room. Upon entering, speak your own name aloud three times.
  4. Designate one principal as the Speaker. From this point forward, no one but the Speaker may speak.
  5. Close the door of the room. The four principals should now be inside the game room with the door shut tight. Do not speak.
  6. Turn out the lights. Do not speak.

The Main Event:

  1. Each principal, including the Speaker, must chose a corner of the room. More than one principal may not occupy a single corner. Do not speak.
  2. Each principal must position themselves in the corner, standing upright and facing the wall. All principals’ backs should be toward the center of the room. Do not speak.
  3. Once all principals are in position, the Speaker must count to three. No other principals may speak.
  4. After the third count, all principals must rotate clockwise to the next corner. Do not turn around; all principals’ backs should remain toward the center of the room. Do not speak.
  5. Once all principals have completed the rotation, repeat Main Event step 4. Continue to repeat Main Event step 4 until it is time to enact the completion procedure.
  6. If, at any point, a principal disappears:
    • The Speaker should indicate to the remaining principals to enact the emergency procedure.
    • The emergency procedure is as follows: Each principal must speak their own name backwards three times, then turn around and press their backs to the wall. The principal closest to the light switch should then turn on the lights. The previously vanished principal should reappear when the lights are turned on.
    • Do not speak.
  7. If, after enacting the emergency procedure, an additional figure may be observed in the room:
    • The Speaker should indicate to the principals to enact the completion procedure. Do NOT, under ANY circumstance, speak to the additional figure.

The Completion Procedure:

  1. All four principals must gather at the light switch, ideally behind the additional figure.
  2. Each principal must speak their own name backwards three times.
  3. Turn on the lights. Hope for the best.
  4. If you’ve all made it, open the door and exit the room. Give it some time before you attempt to re-enter. And… try not to be alone in there with the lights off from now on.

Additional Notes:

If at any point during the rotation process, one principal bumps into another, turn on the lights and wait. You may try again after a few moments. Do not speak.

It is recommended that the principals develop a pre-determined signal that does not involve speaking to indicate whether one principal has vanished. One suggested method assigns each principal a number before the start of the game; then, after each rotation, each principal knocks on the wall their corresponding number of times in succession. After all principals have been determined to be present, the Speaker then commences the next rotation. If a sequence of knocks is missing, however, the Speaker should clap once loudly to signal to the principals to begin the emergency procedure.

Should anyone but the Speaker speak, you will find yourselves in terrible danger. Don’t do it. Just… don’t.

Regarding the Completion Procedure:

All four principals are required to perform the completion procedure. If the fourth principal disappears, but does not reappear after the lights have been turned back on…

…You’re on your own.

The Corner Game: FAQ.

***

Follow The Ghost In My Machine on Twitter @GhostMachine13 and on Facebook @TheGhostInMyMachine. And don’t forget to check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available now from Chronicle Books!

[Photo via IX K/Flickr]

Filed Under: Games Tagged With: corners, empty rooms, games you shouldn't play, summoning rituals, the corners game, The Most Dangerous Games

Primary Sidebar

Top Stories

‘Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark’ Is Now Available From Chronicle Books!

15 Creepy, Scary Phone Numbers To Call That Actually Work (UPDATED For 2023)

The Backrooms, Explained: How To Make Sense Of The Internet’s Favorite Non-Reality

About

The Ghost In My Machine is an internet campfire of sorts. Gather round, because it wants to tell you strange stories, take you on haunted journeys, and make you jump at unexpected noises.

Continue Reading >

Support

Like what you read? Support The Ghost In My Machine!

 

Support

Follow

Facebook Twitter

From the Vault

  • Bloody Mary & Other Games We Shouldn’t Play

    Scare Yourself Silly

  • This Man

    Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t

  • The Dionaea House

    Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t

  • The Noise Coming From Inside Children

    Scare Yourself Silly

  • NoEnd House

    Is It Real?

  • Killswitch

    Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t

  • The “Lost” Mickey Mouse Cartoon

    Is It Real?

  • 200 Phenomena In The City Of Calgary

    Scare Yourself Silly

View All >

Letters from the Beyond

Enter your email to receive blog posts and updates by email

  • Stories
  • Games
  • Encyclopaedia
  • About
  • Support TGIMM
  • Shop
  • Contact

Privacy Policy

We use cookies to give you the best online experience. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of all the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT