The Ghost In My Machine

Stories of the Strange and Unusual

The Most Dangerous Games: Deadman’s Tag

by

Previously: The Living Doll Game.

This game goes by a number of names; Deadman’s Tag is the most prevalent, but you might also find it under the title of Dead Man Tag, or simply referred to as How To Play Tag With The Dead. Regardless, though, you’ll almost certainly recognize its form: It’s a classic childhood game… although the ante has been upped considerably.

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The game of tag has existed for centuries — we have evidence of it that dates back to the second century AD — and, as a result of its longevity, there are almost as many versions of it as there are cultures in the world. Deadman’s Tag is probably best likened to Manhunt: Played outside and in the dark, it’s as much a game of hide-and-seek as it is a game of tag. The darkness adds a sense of thrill to the activity, as does the predatory nature of its framework… so when you add an “It” which may not be of this world? Well, let’s just say that it doesn’t get more thrilling than that.

It’s also, of course, a lot more dangerous.

As always, play at your own risk.

Players:

  • At least three participants. There are no principals.

Requirements:

  • One flashlight per participant.
  • One timekeeping device per participant. (Optional, but recommended.)
  • A playing field. Ideally, the playing field will be outdoors, spread out over a very large area, and equipped with spaces or geographic features that may be used as hiding places.

Instructions:

The Invitation:

  1. Begin shortly before dark on a night with little to no moonlight. An overcast, cloudy night or a night on which the new moon falls are ideal.
  2. Gather all the participants together with their flashlights and timekeeping devices at the playing field.
  3. As a group, decide where home base will be. Home base must be a physical object in the area you can touch; an easily identifiable rock, tree, or other unique geographic feature is ideal.
  4. As a group, decide how long you wish to have to hide once the game has begun. This length of time should be measured in seconds; a number between 10 and 100 is recommended.
  5. Wait until night has fully fallen.
  6. When it is fully dark, assemble all the participants at home base and face out into the darkness.
  7. Choose one person to speak the following: “We invite you to play a game of tag. Home base is [name your home base]. When the game begins, we have until the count of [name your length of time] to hide. Then you may look for us. Once we have all returned home, the game is done.”
  8. Then, in unison, call out together, “You’re It!”
  9. Scatter. Run. Hide.
    • If using timekeeping devices: Refer to them to track how long you have left before It comes looking for you.
    • If not: Estimate the passage of time as accurately as possible through the method of your choice.
    • In both cases: Use your time wisely.

The Main Event:

  1. Your goal is to make it back to home base without getting caught. Do whatever necessary to accomplish this goal. The following pieces of advice may prove useful:
    • You may move around and/or change your hiding location as much or as little as you desire.
    • Do not hide or move with any other participants.
    • Your flashlight may be used whenever necessary; however, it is recommended that you use it as sparingly as possible. Nothing makes someone easier to find in the dark than a bright light indicating where they are.
    • If, at any point, you sense someone else nearby, you may do one of two things:
      • Remaining hiding where you are;
      • Or, leave your current hiding place and either attempt to find a new one or run directly to home base.
    • NOTE: Whomever — or whatever — you sense nearby may not be one of the other participants.
    • Above all: Whether hiding, moving, or running for home base, remain as silent as possible.
  2. When you see an opening to get to home base, take it.

Olly Olly Oxenfree:

  1. When you return to home base, touch it with your hand and call out the word, “Safe!” NOTE: You MUST both physically touch home base and call out “Safe!” in order for your return home to count.
  2. Wait for the other participants to return to home base.
    • NOTE: Before proceeding, confirm that all the participants assembled at home base are the same participants with whom you began the game. If they are not, DO NOT PROCEED.
  3. When all the participants have returned home, face out into the darkness once more.
  4. Choose one person to speak the following: “We win. The game is over. Thank you for playing.”
  5. Disperse.
  6. Go home. But in the future, when you’re alone in the dark… be careful. Your opponent might try to begin another game with you — whether you want to play or not.

Additional Notes:

The game’s difficulty may be scaled or increased by making the following adjustments:

  • Choosing a cemetery as your playing field;
  • Deciding upon a brief length of time with which to hide;
  • Playing without a flashlight;
  • Playing without a timekeeping device;
  • And/or playing with just one participant.

However, it is NOT recommended that you play this game with only one participant. See: If A Participant Is Caught.

Do NOT attempt to finish the game if the participants gathered at home base at the end are NOT the same participants with whom you began.

Do not assume there is only one It.

If A Participant Is Caught:

Avoid interacting with that participant at all costs.

If they have been caught, you’ll know.

You might be able to strike a bargain to get them back, but be warned — souls don’t come cheap.

If the participant who has been caught is you…

…I hope you trust your friends.

And I hope they’ll have your back when you need it most.

Deadman’s Tag: FAQ.

***

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[Photo via Marco Bianchetti/Unsplash]

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nice one!
    But I have a question:
    -What do you mean by don’t stay at a dark room, I mean if you were sleeping in your room of course you will turn off the lights, or if the electricity was gone you will stay in the dark. Is that mean you will play again with him?

    Reply

  4. *shivers*
    My biggest question is whether or not you can see whomever you’re playing with (the non-human participant(s), that is). Do they manifest physically so you can track their location? Or are they non-corporeal, and therefore you have to sense where they are?

    Reply

    • It says to avoid getting near, hiding with, or associating with all participants during the game. I’d take this as a hint that whom/whatever you’re playing with is capable of possessing a human being, or assuming human form (manifesting physically). But they could also be non corporeal. Since it’s possible that you could be playing with more than one It, I’d use all senses to the best of your abilities. This game is of high-risk, so you can’t be too careful in this one.

      Reply

  5. What do we get from playing this game? I mean, is it just for fun or is there some sort of a reward or granting of a wish or desire or something..?

    Reply

    • No. It is just the tempation of fate. I remember reading Lucia’s answer to a similar question: Not everything has a prize, but everything has a price.

      Reply

  6. So what happens if it’s not the same people you started with? What do you do since you can’t finish the game in this event?

    Reply

    • I don’t know about you but I guess we’ll go and look for our friend, then as a group we’ll return all together to the the home base.

      Reply

  7. If it’s not the same people you started with, does that mean a participant was caught and is the new “it” and whoever else is there is the now freed spirit? Is it that or something else? If it’s something else, Who would be in place of the original participants in this event?

    Reply

    • You have the highest chance of discovering the original story in its official written language: Japanese. All English translations have been obliterated or rearranged and paraphrased in a way that it is not harmful to oneself or others when reading it (it’s one of several methods to contain the curse). Although I’m not sure why you would want to read something so risky and dangerous, I hope you find what you’re looking for.

      Reply

  11. Why would trusting your friends come into play if they’re caught? This is just speculation, but do they essentially become puppets for whatever entity/entities you were playing with? Can the entity control that friend and use him/her for its own purposes?

    Reply

  12. The ending couldn’t have been better.
    It just couldn’t have.
    Make sure that the “friends” who play this game with you really are your “friends”, guys…. they say they have your back, but only time tells if that’s true. Like, if you’re the one who gets caught…..
    You’ll know.
    I just hope that it won’t be too late.

    Reply

    • I don’t personally believe in satan, but maybe a deal with him? Or at least a demon (I do believe in demons, but not in a christian way)

      Reply

  15. The end left me with Chills…
    My only question…
    If I return to my base and I find that one of the friend is someone else, what should I do? What happened to my friend?
    How to get a friend back? Any examples?

    What if I cheat by hiding under the staircase of my house and then touch it as soon as the time is over? Or can I st the time period for 1~5 seconds?

    I’m never trying it. Not because I am afraid. It’s just that I happen to know my friends very well…

    Reply

    • “I’m never trying it. Not because l am afraid. Its just that I happen to know my friends very well.” Now THAT have me chills! But I completely get where you’re coming from. Hell, I don’t even trust my own flesh and blood to do right by me in a game like this unfortunately…

      Reply

    • 1. Your friend’s a puppet. There’s nothing you can do, he/she’s a freaking puppet.
      2. Er, search for some of that black magic and witchcraft stuff. Probably Deal with the Devil, I guess?
      3. That’s a stupid idea. Never do it.

      Reply

  18. For how long will we have to continue to run and hide?
    I mean like….it can’t go on for eternity!!!

    Reply

  19. what do you mean that you know your friend has been caught?
    basically if you don’t start with the same people you started with you’re screwed perhaps call out the name of your friend see if they come running,maybe they lost track of time, or summat, that or call the police. When they say if you get caught you have to trust that your friends will help you.

    Reply

    • And, oh goodness, if you find out that there is someone at home base that you didn’t play with, would that mean you all would have to stay there until the last participants return? What if they’ve been caught?

      I suppose what I’m dancing around is this; in this case, would you and your friends be stuck at home base forever?

      Reply

      • On a lighter note, I can imagine two entities arguing over who’s It.

        “They spoke to me!”
        “No, I could swear the humans called out to me!”
        “Over my dead body!”

        Reply

  21. My only question is, if you’re running for “home base” is it possible for the spirit to catch you from behind? ‘Cause not to be cocky, but I’m fast asf and I feel like if I had to go full sprint I could outrun this spirit. So I just wanna know if the spirit is either like inhumanly fast or super slow.

    Reply

  22. This one’s creepy, like very creepy. Just one little piece of advice I would like to mention- the closer you hide to home base, the easier it is for “It” to find you. Take that as you will.

    Reply

  24. As a Vietnamese, this reminds me of a folk game in Vietnam. That game is called “ma lon” (Literal translation: “Can ghost”, or “Ghost in the can”) which is a much safer version of this game. I will share it below (Warning: Long read)

    In this game, if you do things with proper respect and proper order, you will be summoning ghosts of children to play tag with you. They just want to play, so the game is fairly safe. The worst you can get from this game is swollen ankles.

    Requirements:
    – More than one participant, typically children (1 makes it near impossible to win, the more participants, the easier the game gets)
    – An empty can (like condensed milk can, not coke cans)
    – Enough candy or small sweets to fill the can as offerings (or the offerings can be placed on a small plate)
    – 1 stick of incense: The time it takes for the incense to burn is your game time, so if you are not confident in your stamina, snip it short beforehand. Absolutely do not use a whole pagoda-pillar-type incense.
    – A cup (or anything with holding capabilities) with rice or sand to plant the incense in (yeah, we Asians use rice for everything)
    – A lighter, or a few matches to light the incense
    – A wide, spacious area with few obstacles to make it easy to run. You can’t hide in Vietnamese tag. Best locations are church yards (pagoda and temple yards in Vietnam) and cemeteries.
    – A small water bottle (optional)

    Procedures:
    1. Set up your cup base and the incense stick standing right side up at the location of choice. It’s best to begin the game at midday (Vietnamese believe 12:00, both AM and PM are active hours for spirits, midday being when they go find food and offerings and midnight being their spirit life).
    2. Place the can and the offerings in front of the incense and light the incense.
    3. Have all participants come around or in front of the incense stand and clasp their hands together like in praying.
    4. Have one chief speaker (or all speak in unison, but that can be tricky) chant:
    (Loose translation, I don’t even know if this game works outside of Vietnam. There are many versions of the chant, so I figure as long as it’s inviting and respectful, it should work.)
    Can ghost, can ghost,
    Come here and play.
    Come have our offerings,
    And play tag with us.
    Can ghost, can ghost,
    Come have a game.
    Stay when the fire is lit,
    And now, we begin.
    5. The can should begin to move and chase the players. Scatter. Now it’s like a traditional game of tag, except that only the spirits will ever be “It”. It is advised not to run in straight lines as the spirits have a harder time making tight turns. If the can, the spirit, gets you, it will continue to knock your ankles with the can with no end until you can shake it off running or someone else taunts it. Worst case scenario, your ankles will hurt so badly you won’t be able to move properly for days. Also, the spirit can climb, too. Do not think you are safe on a tree.
    6. The game should continue until the incense goes out. There is one major It which is the moving can. There might be more than one It going around, you will know. There are as many spirits summoned as participants. At least two spirits are guarding the incense.
    7. If you are going for the put out the incense route, make sure all participants agree beforehand so that no one have health issues while running and it’s easier to do so with cooperation. A common method: When you try to put out the incense, “someone” will stop you, they will try to chase you away and fight you. Hence, have many participants lure all the guards away one by one. Note that the guards never stray too far from the incense when luring. Then one guy can struggle to snatch the incense and dip the tip into sand to put it out or pour water on it.
    8. The game automatically ends when the incense burns out. Though, if you feel skeptical, clasp your hands and pay the kids some respect for their time. Then do what you want with the offerings and base cup. The cup can be used for other things and you can have the offerings. However, Vietnamese people believe eating offerings for the dead not of your family to be bad luck so they are typically thrown away. We also typically have cups dedicated for incense burning.

    Warning: You can pretty much make up your own freestyle chant as Vietnamese kids have done for ages. Still, you must be respectful. Some stupid teens made the news as they tried this game with curse words and spat on the incense and ended up getting dragged by the hair by an adult spirit.

    I do not know if this ritual sometimes works, sometimes not as I do not have confidence in running (fatass me). However, people in the rural areas play it all the time.

    Reply

  25. I’ve read a lot of games, Miss Lucia, and I have wondered- Would you ever try one of these games yourself? If you did, which one would you pick? Just curious, since I’ve been here, and read the games for a good while but hadn’t created an account until now. Thanks!

    Reply

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