Previously: Frequently Asked Questions, Vol. XXII.
As has become tradition: Our annual summertime installment of our The Most Dangerous Games: FAQ series, in which I attempt to answer any new questions about the ritual games and rules-based urban legends we look it in our always-a-crowd-pleaser The Most Dangerous Games feature that have popped up since last summer. (Y’all had a lot of questions about the sleep situation in El Juego De La Ventana this time, for some reason!)
As always, a few notes and disclaimers:
First, the questions highlighted here are all drawn either from the comments sections of the games to which they apply, or, in two cases, they’re questions I received via TGIMM’s contact form. If you’ve got a question about a Most Dangerous Game you’d like an answer to, the best way to put it up for consideration is to drop a comment with it on the specific game’s page.
[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]
Second, these aren’t be-all, end-all answers; they’re what I think is most likely to be the case for each one, based on what’s known about the games themselves, common threads between games, accounts from those who have played the games, folklore and additional research, and the, uh, decade-plus experience I have examining these sorts of things. (I have spent a lot of time thinking about these kinds of legends.) Just, y’know, heads up about that.
And lastly, I’ll get these added to the Master FAQ as soon as I can. Also, here’s your reminder that I also have a book about ritual games, Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, out now from Chronicle Books! Check it out if you’re into this kind of thing!
Ready? Here we go.
El Juego De La Ventana (The Window Game):
How come you aren’t allowed to sleep? The best disguise is the real thing, after all.
The same reason you’re not to fall asleep during the Midnight Game, or the Eye In The Shadows, or under specific circumstances in the Candles Game, and so on and so forth: It’s not safe.
Falling asleep during a ritual where you’re inviting something otherworldly to share your space with you is… not the wisest of moves. At best, you’ll be asleep for something important and miss it. At worst… well, consider that when you’re asleep, you’re often defenseless — physically and mentally. Do you really want to open yourself up to that kind of danger? If you’re choosing to play this game — or any of these games, really — you’re already taking a huge risk. Making it even less safe for yourself is a surefire way to set yourself up for losing.
And losing… is generally not recommended.
Best keep your wits about you. To do that, you’d better stay awake.
How would the guest know whether or not we’re actually asleep when we’re supposed to appear as if we are?
You’d have to ask it. (This is not recommended, of course.)
How do you know that the ritual has failed and the guest hasn’t come? Is there a sign or amount of time where you’re free to assume the ritual failed and go to bed? Are you still supposed to stay awake the entire night in case the ritual didn’t fail? Or is the only way the ritual can fail is through the window being closed in Preparing for Bed Step 8?
There is no set amount of time that determines if the ritual failed other than the sun having risen. The safest course of action is to stay awake the entire night while pretending to sleep. Just… in case.
What if that thing manages to break the window?
Keep pretending to be asleep. Do not open your eyes. Do not get out of bed. And… hope for the best.
The Music Box Ritual (The Shadow’s Lullaby):
Although it’s not stated, is it okay to do this ritual again, if I have already successfully completed it once?
Generally speaking, unless it’s explicitly stated that you’re NOT to play the game again, you can probably try. However, if you do attempt to play a second time — and I’m not saying I recommend that you do, mind you — then definitely don’t use the same music box. Find a different one. In fact, go ahead and find a new candle and a new mirror, too, while you’re at it. It’s not usually the best idea to reuse objects that have been used for a ritual once before in another ritual or attempt.
The Yellow Pen And White Paper Game:
Could the 2D world be a fictional world of my own creation? Or would it have to be an anime/manga that already exists?
Some versions of the game specify that it should be a particular anime or manga world, while others do not. If you want to try with a fictional world of your own creation, go ahead; worst case, it just doesn’t work. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that.
Say your parents check on you, could you cover yourself with a blanket? And if you can’t how can you do these things? Go to a sleepover and once you are ready for bed, make sure to tell people not to check on you, for it makes it hard to sleep? ‘Cause that’s what happens with me. Do I tell my parents that I shall be under my blanket all night and wait till they fall asleep to uncover myself? I sleep downstairs in our basement, what would I do?
In this case, someone witnesses your form, even if covered by a blanket, still counts as having been seen. (If you cover yourself with a blanket, you might not be able to see them, but they can still see you — they can see the outline of your body beneath the blanket. That counts as being seen.)
If you cannot ensure that you will not be seen or witnessed by anyone, whether covered by a blanket or not, then do not attempt to play this game.
By “yellow” pen, does the ink strictly need to be a saturated yellow hue? Or would other pen types (metallic, glitter) or others like gold or bronze also work? What about those multi-colored pens with multiple colors of ink, including yellow?
The ink must be yellow. It can probably be a sparkly yellow, but it should not be gold or bronze. If you use a multi-colored pen — by which I’m assuming you mean something like this — the only ink color that should be used is the yellow ink.
What happens if you choose not to go through the door, should the ritual succeed? Is there any way to terminate it at this point?
You don’t have to step through the door; you can close it, if you like. If you choose not to go through, close it, remove the paper from it, and destroy the paper.
The Black God Ritual/Kurokami’s Technique:
What if I am only 600 feet above sea level… will it still work?
Nope. You must satisfy the elevation requirement for the game to work — that is, you must be at least 261 meters or 857 feet above sea level. (See also: General/Miscellaneous, “What happens if I do [thing that goes completely against the rules of the game]?”)
How To Experience Your Inner World:
Is this another variation of Red Door, Yellow Door?
Not exactly, I don’t think — not in the way that, say, Doors Of Your Mind, the Game Of Seven Doors, or Black Door, White Door, are. There’s no Guide for this one; it’s single-player only. But it’s the same kind of game — one that’s functionally sort of a meditation game, and which utilizes a door as a symbol for how you access what might be lurking within your own mind.
What if I sleep in the living room, would that count as a bedroom? I sleep on the couch as my actual room isn’t available, so would the “door to my bedroom” be any door I want it to be since all the doors in my house connect to the living room? Could I hypothetically go outside?
If your living room is also your bedroom, use whatever door you consider to be the main door to it. If the main entrance to your home — the front door, if you will — opens directly into the living room, I would use that. Your mileage may vary, though, so you can always give it a try with whatever door you think is best; if it doesn’t work, you can always try again at a later date with a different door.
What if I see a woman with long and straight black hair wearing a white, flowing dress inside the room after I opened the door?
That’s an oddly specific image (have you been thinking about the Elevator Game a lot lately? Or watching Ringu or Ju-On on repeat?), but the action you should take in this case is the same action you should take upon finding anyone else in the room when you enter it: Leave immediately, close the door behind you, and, in the real world, wake up. (This procedure is laid out in the Additional Notes section.)
Shiomajinai (Salt Magic Ritual):
I have a question, involving a potential harmful effect on a third party. If I phrase it like “I’m lonely because this person is being distant with me,” would it work or it would be considered harmful to the other person (because they may not have the desire of getting close to me)?
By “your wish may NOT actively seek to harm another person,” it means wishing something intentionally malicious upon another person. In that sense, “I’m lonely because this person is being distant with me” isn’t necessarily malicious.
However, whether it is malicious might depend on more details of the situation. For instance, if you previously did something that harmed or wronged the other person, and they’re staying away from you for their own physical, mental, or emotional safety, then arguably yes, this wish would be malicious. (E.g. being around you would harm them, so wishing for them to be around you is actively harming them.)
Some additional thoughts:
Generally, you probably want to avoid constructing your wish as an “I am this because of that” type of sentence. Recall that in the example concerning loneliness given in the “Regarding Your Wish” section (towards the bottom of the game’s page), the optimal form of the wish is presented not as “I’m lonely because I don’t have many friends,” but as “I don’t have many friends” or “I don’t have a partner.” So, in your specific case, you might consider phrasing your wish not as “I’m lonely because this person is being distant with me,” but “This person is distant with me,” or “This person and I are not close.” The idea is not to state your feelings about your circumstances, but to state your circumstances as accurately and factually as possible.
At the same time, it’s also worth considering whether you would really be fulfilled or satisfied by someone becoming close to you not because they themself wanted to, but because you attempted some sort of cosmic interference via performing a wishing ritual—that is, it may not really be their own choice; it’s sort of a choice you’re making for them. Are you… okay with that?
All wishing rituals come with some heady philosophical concerns, but this is especially the case when it involves interpersonal relationships. Just… something to think about.
The next question is somewhat related:
Can we be specific with our wishes or no? E.g. I wish for a box of chocolate in my house after a few weeks? Do we have to follow the format in the Additional Notes?
The format for the wish does need to be as described in the rules — that is, it must be phrases as a sentence stating your current circumstances, not the circumstances you’re wishing for. So, if you want to wish for a box of chocolate, your wish would take the form of something like this: “I don’t have a box of chocolate.”
Failing to follow this format will, at best, ensure that the ritual doesn’t work and that your wish doesn’t come true. (Again, see also: General/Miscellaneous, “What happens if I do [thing that goes completely against the rules of the game]?”)
The Shoulder Tap Game:
Do you know what happens if one of the participants looks in the center of the room?
Nothing good, that’s for sure. (See also: General/Miscellaneous, “What happens if I do [thing]? Please give details.”)
Soldier-san (The Soldier Game):
What do you mean by “safe space,” and what exactly will you need to do after reaching the safe spot?
Correction: It’s not that you need a “safe space” to run to; that’s not a phrase that appears in the rules for Soldier-san. You need to run to safety. That’s very different. Safety is a condition, not a location — it’s a thing you are, not a place you go.
You’ll need to use your best judgement to determine when you have run far enough to become safe. Once you’ve determined that you are safe, then you can continue on with your life.
Just… make sure you have achieved safety.
The price for misjudging here is steep.
The Lady In The Castle Ritual:
Can the rooms in the castle change if the Listener thought of what the castle looked like, since it’s in their mind, but then the Storyteller tells them how the inside looks after they open it?
Well, ideally, the Listener shouldn’t be getting ahead of the Storyteller in that way; they shouldn’t yet be in spaces the Storyteller hasn’t brought them to yet, so they shouldn’t be imagining the insides of areas or rooms the Storyteller hasn’t informed them they’ve reached. The Storyteller is the guide for this experience; the Listener should be following the journey as laid out for them by the Storyteller.
That said, though, the spaces the Listener has been brought to are as mutable as the mind itself, so yes, it’s likely that the details of the castle and its environs may be constantly evolving as the Listener journeys through them. Additionally, there is room for embellishment from the Storyteller.
Some of the details are important, though — the presence and style of the bed and its occupant, for instance — so if you’re the Storyteller, do make sure you hit upon these details as you lead the Listener.
The Welcome Home Game:
What happens if I blink during the part where you have to stare at the paper without blinking or looking away for one minute?
At best, the ritual will simply fail to work. (One more time, see also: General/Miscellaneous, “What happens if I do [thing that goes completely against the rules of the game]?”
If you say to the spirit that they can come visit whenever they want before closing the ritual, can your house become haunted?
I mean… probably? It’s not advisable to give something otherworldly full and unfettered access to your home. It’s usually a “give an inch, they’ll take a mile” kind of situation, so if you give them basically everything… well, maybe don’t do that.
And that’s what we’ve got this time ’round! ‘Til next time, folks; in the meantime, if you’ve got a question about a game that hasn’t already been answered in the Master FAQ, leave a comment on the game’s page.
And, as always: Play at your own risk.
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Follow The Ghost In My Machine on Bluesky @GhostMachine13.bsky.social, Twitter @GhostMachine13, and Facebook @TheGhostInMyMachine. And for more games, don’t forget to check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available now from Chronicle Books!
[Photos via Bertsz, congerdesign remixed by Lucia Peters, 65234, jasongillman, Michael_Pointer/Pixabay]
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