Previously: The Letter Ritual.
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I had never heard of the ritual game Purple Hearts until it showed up in my search analytics recently. It bears some similarities to a few other games we’ve looked at here at TGIMM over the years; like Concentrate, for example, Purple Hearts seems to be largely the provenance of sleepovers and the playground, although the actual gameplay is closer to that of Doors Of Your Mind/Red Door, Yellow Door/Black Door, White Door/the Game of Seven Doors.
But there’s quite a severe lack of information available about Purple Hearts. I’m not even sure how long it’s been around, as I’ve only found a handful of mentions of it online. The oldest version I’ve spotted is dated 2011; however, the most complete version — with enough details about the writer to allow us to attempt to date the game — was published on 2014. The writer of the 2014 version noted in her blog’s first entry, which went live in 2011, that she was married with kids at the time, and states in a later post that her wedding was in 2011. Her post about the game itself also suggests that she played it when she was a kid — which, in turn, suggests that it’s been around for quite some time (at least since the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, I’d estimate).
[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]
But the fact remains that I’d never heard of it until a few weeks ago — meaning I have no personal experience of it during my own childhood years of the ‘80s and ‘90s — and, since the small handful of other sources I’ve found don’t include enough information for me to attempt putting a date to the game, that’s all just one big guess on my part.
In any event, what separates Purple Hearts from the Doors Of Your Mind is that it’s more of a hypnosis game than a meditation one — although I suppose you could make the argument that meditation and hypnosis are close neighbors, if not straight-up versions of each other. They’re both relatively safe to play, but as always…
…Play at your own risk.
Players:
- One principal (the “Sleeper”).
- One partner (the “Guide”).
- Bystanders (optional, but recommended).
Requirements:
- A quiet, dark room.
- A pillow (optional).
- Candles (optional).
- Matches or a lighter (optional).
- An audio recording device (optional).
Instructions:
Sleeping:
- Begin at any time.
- Bring all participants and any supplies being utilized to the dark, quiet room. Close the door behind you.
- Close the curtains, if any.
- Dim the lights, if any. If using the candles, set them up around the perimeter of the room, light them using the matches or lighter, and, instead of dimming the lights, turn them off entirely.
- Seat the Guide cross-legged on the floor. If using the pillow, place it on the Guide’s lap.
- Position the Sleeper such that they are lying down on the floor, face up, eyes closed, and with their head resting on the Guide’s lap.
- If Bystanders are present, seat them comfortably and quietly in a circle around the Sleeper and the Guide.
- If using the audio recording device, turn it on and begin recording.
- If you are the Guide, place your fingertips on the Sleeper’s temples and begin to rub them in a slow, circular motion.
- If you are the Sleeper, relax your body, keep your eyes closed, and concentrate on your breathing. Allow your thoughts to drift. When the moment seems right, begin counting backwards from 100 to one.
- Once the Sleeper begins counting, the Guide and any Bystanders present should begin chanting the phrase “Purple hearts,” quietly, rhythmically, and repeatedly.
- Sleeper: Keep counting.
- Guide and Bystanders: Keep chanting.
- If the Sleeper falters or falls silent before reaching the count of one: The ritual has succeeded. Guide and Bystanders, cease your chant. You may proceed.
- If the Sleeper reaches the count of one: The ritual may or may not have succeeded. Guide and Bystanders, cease your chant. Before proceeding, have the Guide ask the Sleeper if they are asleep.
- If the Sleeper answers no: The ritual has likely not succeeded. Guide and Bystanders, cease your chant. Examine the Sleeper’s behavior carefully for confirmation.
- If they open their eyes, sit upright, or otherwise behave as they normally do while awake, the ritual has not succeeded. Do not proceed. Extinguish the candles, open the curtains, turn on the lights, and disband the group of participants. You may try again another time.
- However, if the Sleeper’s behavior is odd or uncharacteristic in any way, they may, in fact, be asleep, despite answering otherwise. Further questioning may be required from the Guide in order to determine the Sleeper’s true state. Suggested questions include, but are not limited to, inquiries about what they are, if they are not asleep; where they believe themself to be; and/or what they believe themself to be doing right at that particular moment.
- Sleeper: If you are NOT asleep, DO NOT PRETEND to be asleep. Answer honestly if you are still awake.
- If the Sleeper answers yes: The ritual has succeeded. Guide and Bystanders, cease your chant. You may proceed.
- If the Sleeper answers no: The ritual has likely not succeeded. Guide and Bystanders, cease your chant. Examine the Sleeper’s behavior carefully for confirmation.
Dreaming:
- If you are the Guide, now is the time to live up to your title: Guide the Sleeper through their dream.
- Ask them where they are.
- Instruct them to describe anything they see, hear, smell, taste, or feel, or otherwise experience.
- Have them narrate what they are doing and/or whatever is happening around them.
- Encourage them with verbal prompts when necessary — but also, listen. Listen to what they tell you.
- Pay attention.
- When the Sleeper begins to describe seeing purple hearts: It is time to wake them up. Proceed to Waking, Step 1.
Waking:
- Guide: To wake the Sleeper, instruct them to reach out their hand and grab the purple heart.
- Once the Sleeper has grabbed the purple heart in their dream, they should awaken in the physical world. Sleeper: When you have awakened, you may open your eyes and sit up.
- If using the audio recording device, stop recording and turn it off.
- Extinguish the candles, if using.
- Open the curtains.
- Turn on the lights.
- Leave the room — everyone.
- You may listen to the audio recording at your leisure.
- Note: If Waking does not go as planned, see If Waking Fails.
Additional Notes:
The presence of Bystanders is recommended. The more voices chanting “Purple hearts” during Sleeping, Steps 11 through 13, the better.
During Dreaming, a Bystander may take notes on paper about what the Sleeper describes, if desired. However, any Bystanders present must remain as quiet during this portion of the ritual as possible.
You may perform this ritual as many times as you like — as long as Waking does not fail at any point.
If Waking Fails:
If the Sleeper says they are unable to grab the purple heart, or if they fail to wake after doing so, the Guide should begin describing to the Sleeper a door.
Describe this door in as much detail as possible: Its height, its width, its color, its material, its age, its knob or handle, how it opens, whether it has a knocker — any detail you can provide. Be sure to describe the door as unlocked, easily opened, and smooth on its hinges.
Then, instruct the Sleeper that they may find this door within their current surroundings. Be firm and definite in this assertion: The door will be present, and the Sleeper will be able to access it. If the Sleeper has trouble locating it, help them to find it, describing to them exactly where it is in relation to themself.
Once they have found the door, instruct them to open it and step through it. Upon stepping through the door, the Sleeper should awaken in the physical world.
If the Sleeper is unable to awaken at this point…
…Make them as comfortable as you can.
They might be there for a while.
***
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***
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[Photo via Tama66/Pixabay]
Cat says
If me or my friend doesn’t wake up after trying the door, will they ever wake up? Or are they like, in a coma?
Ix says
Good thing you listened to them. Spirits tend to know what they’re doing,and it’s good you listened. Who knows what kind of entity might have taken advantage of the opportunity?
Emily says
I used to play this several years ago. I was always the guide. My friend Gina would go into the trance/dream state almost immediately. We did it the exact same way, however she only “dreamed” the first time. She saw a red door, went through it and woke up. Every time after that she would go to sleep and we would speak to her and ask her questions, but she would always come through & answer as someone else. She would come through with British accents, country accents, etc. and these voices would have no idea who Gina was. They said they were sleeping/dreaming too. We would talk to who would introduce themselves as Dan Howell & even Brendan Urie once. I’m not sure if this was just her subconscious “pretending” or something. But after several times a voice would come through and tell us that we had to stop. That “they” could see us and we would be in serious danger if we did it however many times more. Sometimes it would be 5 times or even 2. We always played it safe and stopped before it was “dangerous.” The last time we did it, the 2nd ritual she went into the voice came through and asked us why we continued to do this. It was dangerous, they said, and we should stop immediately. We did. And to this day we haven’t tried again, and I still have no idea who or what we were talking to or what we were doing.
_DrownedBlood_ says
SO if the door fails, and they have to stay there, like how do we get them out of the dream? I wanna play this with some friends and I planned on being the sleeper but I’m not trying to be sleeping beauty here.
Eva says
Wow, interesting! I would play this if I had someone to play it with, but most of my friends would probably say no due to what happened last time we played a mind game. Could you possibly do Red Door Yellow Door? It’s such a classic game and I would love to see how you write the instructions!
Ryker Laxenface says
I was the sleeper, it turns out that I never woke until 8 hours of sleeping, in my dream purple hearts were becoming death, and I thought I had died
a bird says
so like, did that happen after a failed door awakening? (I want to try this as the sleeper but I don’t want to sleep forever.)
Nobody says
Ooh, damn! Nice game! One question — you say that Bystanders are optional? Does this mean that the chant in Sleeping, Steps 11-13 does not have to be performed for the ritual to succeed? Of course, it would be recommended, but I don’t know if it’s necessary.
Totally playing this on Friday — I’ll try and update you all on how it goes!
dharmi says
Hey your posts are amazing. Please write about the Thumb game.
Peter Strahm says
Perhaps this is a silly question, but what are those “hearts” supposed to look like once you start seeing them? Are they supposed to look like the adorable drawings children make, or like the organ in one’s chest?
w e e b says
How long does the game usually last? Thanks.
Maya says
Oh wow this is so nostalgic. I used to do a variation of this with my friends at summer camp, there was one girl that taught us all, but we just called it putting someone in a trance. It never actually worked on me but I saw it work on my friends a few times. Also we would just slap each other to wake up lmao, we were a lot less careful about it, but man this was fun to read, brought a lot of memories back.
Hehe_13 says
This was great! I have been here since Three Kings, and you have been doing an awesome job. I would NEVER play these games, but I enjoy reading them!
– A very big fan
Lucia says
Thank you! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the site!
nina says
what if you just slap them awake or dump water on them if they won’t wake?