Previously: The Fox Window Game.
Note: Please don’t copy/paste, republish, or narrate this post on other websites, video platforms, etc. without permission.
If you don’t mind losing something you value in order to obtain something else, the Game Of Waiting ritual might interest you. It’s a bit of a gamble, of course; you have no control over what you lose, nor are you able to specify what you’d like to win. But if that doesn’t bother you — and if you’re intrigued by the idea of a supernatural tit-for-tat — well, here’s something you might think about trying.
In the mid-2010s, Indonesian internet forum Kaskus began hosting a number of posts and threads about ritual games. Many of them were games that were, at that point, quite well-known to English-speakers; the Kaskus threads, largely posted by a user going by the name Kittybell, translated them for Indonesian-speaking readers. In 2016, Kittybell started a Blogspot blog aimed at providing her translations a more permanent home, in the event that Kaskus ever went offline or what have you.
Kittybell — or Nikki, as she began referring to herself — only kept up the blog for about a year (although she did later start a new site in 2020 which is still active today); towards the end of it, though, she started posting some games that I haven’t seen anywhere else. She filed these games under the heading “The Book Of Occult Rituals”; they were, she wrote in November of 2016, rituals she had gotten from a no-longer-accessible post on an online forum somewhere whose original poster said he had found them in an old book he found in his attic.
[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]
There’s no way to tell whether this background is true, or whether it’s an elaborate setup Kittybell/Nikki came up with herself. But it’s spooky either way, and the rituals that allegedly came from this supposed book are… interesting.
They’re not particularly elaborate. The purpose of them isn’t always clear. But something about them — the simplicity, the bare bones nature of them, the empty spaces they seem to inhabit — it’s all… interesting.
The Game Of Waiting is one of these games. Unlike several of the others, this one, which Nikki originally titled simply, “The Book Of Occult Ritual – Wait,” does claim to accomplish something concrete; it’s not, however, clear what higher powers you’re appealing to in order to achieve this goal.
As such, it is perhaps not recommended that you actually try to play this game.
You don’t know what you’re messing with.
But if you must… play at your own risk.
Players:
- One principal.
Requirements:
- Matches or a lighter.
- Something that burns. (See: Additional Notes.)
- A calendar.
- A clock or time-keeping device.
Instructions:
Making The Preparations:
- Choose the day on which you plan to play. To do so, first, consult your calendar and choose an upcoming date that is, for you, “special” in some way: It might be your birthday; it might the day of a specific cultural celebration or holiday observance; it might simply be a date that is meaningful for you. Then, mark on your calendar not the special day itself, but the day before the special day — the day before your birthday; the day before the celebration or holiday; the day before the day that is meaningful for you.
- This will be the day on which you will play the game.
- Now: Wait.
- Wait for this day to arrive.
- Do not miss it.
- But while you wait, you need not be idle. During this time, gather together the remainder of your supplies: The time-keeping device, the matches or lighter, and the item that will burn. Keep them somewhere convenient.
- Wait.
Lighting The Flame:
- When you awaken on your chosen day — the day before the special day — do this before you do anything else: Take up the matches or lighter, and set the item you have chosen to burn alight.
- Focus your gaze on the flame. Look deeply into its center as it burns. Keeping your focus on the flame, speak aloud — gently; not too loud — the following words: “Tomorrow is a special day. Make it really special.”
- Now: Reach out with your dominant hand.
- Reach towards the flame.
- Briefly, touch your index finger to the fire as it burns.
- When you pull your hand away, the game begins.
Letting It Burn:
- From now until midnight, you may go about your day however you wish. There are only two rules: First, do not fall asleep until the game has concluded. And second, do not — DO NOT — let the flame you have lit go out.
- As long as these rules are obeyed, you may do whatever you like. You may sit in the room in which you have lit the flame all day, to ensure it does not go out; you may move throughout the world, taking the flame with you; you may do neither of these things, and instead do something else.
- Whatever you do, wait.
- Do not fall asleep.
- Wait.
- Do not let the flame go out.
- Wait.
- When night has fallen, keep an eye on the clock.
- Wait.
- Wait.
- Wait.
- When the hands on the clock near midnight, watch.
- Watch the flame.
- Wait, and watch.
- At midnight:
- If the flame remains lit: The ritual has failed. Extinguish the flame and dispose of the items you used to make it. Go to sleep. You may try again another time.
- If the flame extinguishes on its own: The ritual has succeeded. Leave your supplies where they are, and now — finally — sleep.
- When you wake up in the morning on the special day, you will find that an item of value to you has gone missing. Do not search for it; you will not find it. In its place, however, you will find two items, equal in value to the item you lost.
- These items are your prize.
- Take them, and be content.
- This is what you wanted, is it not?
Additional Notes:
Due to the use of burning materials, this game is considered a fire hazard. If you must play, please take common sense fire safety precautions before beginning. We are not liable for anything that may occur, should you choose to play this game.
The item or items you use to create the flame (in the Requirements, “something that burns”) may be any of a variety of different things. It may be a candle, which you light and leave burning for the duration of the game. It may be kindling or firewood, which you pile into a fireplace and light to create a merry, crackling fire which burns for the duration of the game. It may be a lantern, which you light and carry around with you for the duration of the game. The choice is yours; choose wisely.
You need not light the flame the very moment you awaken on the day you have chosen to play. You also need not light it in your bedroom, or wherever you have woken up. If you have chosen to light a fire in your fireplace as your flame, for instance, you may wake, rise from bed, dress, take yourself to the room in which your fireplace is located, and begin lighting the fire then, if you like. “Before you do anything else” means simply before you begin to go about your day in earnest.
You need not stay in the same location as the flame for the entire duration of the game, although it obviously not advisable to leave a burning flame unattended. It is recommended that you stay within the presence of the flame throughout the game, but it is not required that you do so.
If you fall asleep, the game is automatically forfeit.
If the flame goes out before midnight, the game is automatically forfeit.
Do not attempt to keep playing after a forfeiture.
That would be cheating.
Concerning The Items Of Value:
“Of value” does not necessarily mean monetary or financial value.
What is valuable to you?
That is all that matters.
Are you prepared to take that gamble?
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[Photo via Jasmyn Favager/Unsplash]