Previously: 54 Scary Ritual Games To Play At Night.
Have you ever wanted to introduce yourself to your own double? Your doppelganger? An alternate version of yourself? Well, good news: These ritual games to meet your double will let you do that — if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief a little bit, that is.
There are rich folkloric traditions of doubling and doppelgangers in a huge variety of cultures and belief systems, extending long, long into the past. In some stories, seeing your own double is a good thing; they might be able to help you out of a tight situation or point you in the right direction if you’re confused about what actions to take. In others, they might be visions of your future, which, y’know, might be good or bad, depending on whether you’re okay with not being able to unlearn what you’ve learned from them. And in still others, they’re much more ominous — an omen of your own death, for instance.
[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]
All of which is to say, there are a vast number of reasons you might be interested in meeting your double or doppelganger — and just as many reasons to avoid them.
If you truly can’t help yourself, these rituals all claim to introduce you to your own self, or something that looks like your own self. Just, y’know… make sure you’re prepared to deal with the consequences.
Because no matter how much your double looks like you, it isn’t you. The only one who bears the responsibility for your actions is yourself. Are you ready and willing to do that?
If not, turn back now.
If yes… read on.
Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For: Games To Meet Your Inner Self
When I say “ritual games that will let you meet your double,” the kinds of games that probably come to mind first are the ones in this section: Rituals that put you face to face with yourself — whether it’s an actual duplicate of yourself, or whether it’s an aspect of yourself that you might have to dig a little bit to find. All of the “yous” in these are, in fact, you; the reason you play these particular games is to learn something about yourself.
They’re also safe-ish. As always, no ritual should ever be considered 100 percent safe — but there’s less danger here than there are in some of the… other types of Meet Your Double games we’ll discuss in a bit. (See: The Monster Is You.)
How To Meet Yourself In A Parallel World
Are you ready to take a journey into your own mind? Would you like the chance to learn something important — to get a burning question answered — while you’re there? Then this method for meeting yourself in a parallel world might be the game you’re looking for.
Originating on the Korean message board Thredic in 2021, How To Meet Yourself In A Parallel World has much in common with games like Doors Of Your Mind (and all its variations) and In The Eye Of The Giant; in essence, it’s sort of a guided meditation more than anything else. Once you’ve made it to yourself, you’ll have the opportunity to ask yourself a single question.
You’ll need a friend to help you play — but make sure whoever you choose, it’s someone you trust completely: They’ll be your guide, and responsible both for getting you to your destination safely and making sure you return at the end of it.
As for the you you’ll meet while you’re on this journey? It’s… up for debate who or what it actually is. Your subconscious? A representation of things you already know, but need a little help digging out? An actual parallel universe version of yourself? A you that doesn’t exist, but might have, had the circumstances been right for it? You be the judge. Whatever you think, though, remember: You only get one question. Make it count.
How To See Your Occult Twin
You’ll need time and patience to performed this ritual, which typically translates from the original Indonesian as something like “How To See Your Occult Twin.” It’s been floating around the internet for close to 20 years, at this point — practically forever in online time — although it does also seem to have folkloric roots that stretch back much further.
Enacted over the course of eight nights, this ritual game involves putting together a sort of bundle representative of yourself, placing it outdoors near your home, and then waiting, counting down the nights as they go. On the eighth night, it’s said, you’ll be able to catch sight of yourself. You’re to observe them, but not approach them: Just watch them carefully, and take note of what they do. If you’re wise enough, you’ll be able to deduce something about yourself based on what your double did on that eighth night.
Be careful if you see your double performing actions you yourself have never, ever performed in your before, though. If that’s the case — you haven’t summoned yourself. You’ve summoned something else. And it may not be friendly.
Calling A Doppelganger Phone Number
Admittedly, this one is less a ritual and more just an activity you can do if you feel like it — but then again, maybe it’s appealing for precisely that reason. In any event, the story goes a little something like this: In some places — Japan, in particular — you can dial certain mysterious phone numbers and magically connect to… yourself.
Exactly what happens when you do so varies by account. According to some, you simply have a talk with yourself, or simply listen to yourself repeat what you just said back at you. According to others, staying on the line long enough will result in your doppelganger’s voice beginning to deviate from repeating your own words back at you, saying some… troubling things, instead. And, of course, if you dig into the folklore of the doppelganger, you’ll find much, much more concerning possibilities: It’s said that seeing your own double is an omen of your fast-approaching death — so what might hearing your own double mean?
Doppelganger phone numbers do actually exist — although what they are in reality is quite different from what they are in the stories that circulate about them: They’re test lines, playing your voice back at you in an effort to determine the quality of your connection (what’s known in the vernacular as an echo test). But if you’re feeling curious, you can find some possible numbers to try here.
Meet Your Double, Elevator Version
If you’re here, reading this, now, I’m willing to bet you’re familiar with the Elevator Game — the now-infamous ritual game purporting to take you to another world. And assuming that’s the case, I’d also be willing to bet you might find a method for meeting your double that utilizes an elevator of interest, as well.
It’s relatively easy to play; all you need to do is go to a building with an elevator that reaches at least 10 floors at a certain time of day, use the elevator buttons to input your birth date, and then press the open and close buttons at the same time. When the doors open, you should see… someone familiar waiting on the other side.
I’ve only seen this one posted one place — the r/threekings subreddit at the end of December 2018 — which, combined with the fact that it mostly seems to cobble together elements of other, extremely well-known ritual games, makes me think that it’s probably a creation of its poster. They have, however, seemingly deleted their account — and indeed, deleted it just a day after posting the ritual, according to its earliest Wayback Machine capture — so there isn’t even a username attached to it.
Either way, though, it makes for an interesting experiment. So, if you have access to a building with an elevator that goes to 10 or more floors, and you can get into both the building and the elevator at 2am, this one might be worth trying for you.
Double Mirror Rituals
Not to be confused with the Triple Mirror Game, these various games involving two mirrors reflecting back at each other ad infinitum purport to show you yourself in a variety of different ways. In most of them, however, it has something to do with your death.
You might, for instance, look at yourself in a double mirror setup at midnight on the dot and see your future self reflected back at you — though if your future is… let’s call it not expected to extend very far, you’ll see your own dead face reflected back at you. Or, if you wait until 3:33am to look in a double mirror, you’ll see not your future all, but your face as it will look precisely at your moment of death — whenever that’s slated to occur.
Is it wise to play any of these games? Probably not. You know what they say about curiosity and cats, after all.
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Rock, Paper, Scissors is normally a two-person game. Arguably, this version of it still is a two-person game… but the other person is your own reflection.
…Or is it?
This one is simple to play; all it requires is access to a bathroom that has both a shower and a mirror in it. You’re meant to take a quick shower — just long enough for the mirror to fog up — and then clear a spot on the mirror that reveal only your hands reflected back at you. From there, the rules should be familiar… except maybe not.
This game is something to play if you wish to challenge yourself (literally) — or just something that looks like you.
For what it’s worth, this is another one that originated on Reddit under dubious circumstances, so I’m willing to bet it’s just a made-up story, rather than something its original poster actually played in any meaningful way. That said, though, it’s fun in the way that Bloody Mary is fun, so hey, if you’ve got some free time and a location that fits the requirements, there are worse ways to waste a few minutes.
Safety In Numbers: Games To Meet Your Guardians
Unlike in the previous section, the games in this section don’t necessarily put you in touch with aspects of yourself. Your guardians, however — spiritual guardians; supernatural guardians; however you prefer to think of them — are still meant to be bound to you, though, so I’d argue they’re thematically relevant enough to take a look at here. Who doesn’t like to know they’re being looked after by some protective force for good?
How To See Your Guardian Spirit
Like several other games on this list, this easy-to-perform ritual from Japan — 2ch, specifically, as is often the case with Japanese internet-based ritual games — sees you taking a journey inside your own mind. It is, however, quite a short one; all it requires is for you to imagine a staircase you know in real life, and picture yourself walking up and down it 10 times. After the 10th trip, looking up towards the top of the staircase should reveal to you your guardian spirit.
Your guardian spirit isn’t a double in the traditional sense; in all likelihood, they aren’t going to look like you at all. But they are, in many ways, still an aspect of yourself — and, as is a common thread in these kinds of games, rituals, and stories, whatever form they take will tell you something important about yourself.
You just have to make sure you’re paying attention.
The Guardian Game (How To Meet Your Supernatural Guardian)
In contrast, this Guardian Game is rather complex to pull off. For some, it might be straight-up unplayable; it requires a great deal of materials to perform, and has a huge array of red flags to look out for as you go.
If you have the means and the wherewithal to do it, though, the Guardian Game might put you in touch with something powerful, indeed — something which is meant to be watching over you. You can even talk to this one, if you like, although there are certain things you are not, under any circumstances, to ask them.
You can also only play this one once — never again after that. So: If you opt to try… you’d better do it right. No cutting corners on this one, no matter how complicated it gets.
The Monster Is You: Games To Meet Your Doppelgangers
Of course, not all doubles are good; not all doubles are kind; and not all doubles have your best interests at heart. Some doubles expressly aren’t you; they just design themselves to look like you, because they know being faced with “yourself” will make you an easier target for them.
Sometimes, they can be harnessed, these doubles-that-are-not-you, and put to work for you. But the danger is high, and the price is steep.
Tread carefully.
How To Speak With Your Penumbra
Originally posted to the r/threekings subreddit by Redditor u/Swiatowid in May of 2016, this method on how to speak with your “penumbra” positions your other self as almost an antagonist, of sorts. It is, the original post states, “everything you are not” — your exact opposite in all ways. But it also “does not exist outside of you,” meaning it’s still part of you — just… maybe a part of you that’s a little unfamiliar to your conscious self.
That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the Mr. Hyde to your Dr. Jekyll, but it does put something of a damper on the whole thing — especially if, as the post notes you can do, you opt not just to speak with your penumbra, but let it run your life for a bit.
I… wouldn’t recommend doing that, for what it’s worth.
The original poster claimed that they had learned this ritual from a psychologist several years prior to their decision to post it; I’m… a little skeptical of the claim, as this doesn’t really seem like the kind of thing an ethical therapist would suggest as an appropriate treatment. The game’s introduction also goes on to root it in Freudian theory, which is generally not ascribed to anymore. (It works for literary analysis, but is… a bit less helpful in real life or actual therapy situations.)
The post is still a fun read, though, as long as you’re willing to take it all with a fairly substantial grain of salt.
The Monster In The Mirror Game
If you’ve got a room in your home with a mirror and no windows — and you probably do; many bathrooms are designed precisely with these specifications — plus access to a few other everyday items like a flashlight, then you can play the Monster In The Mirror Game. (Yes, it’s really that easy.)
As its title might suggest, this one sees you summoning a monster in a mirror — except here’s the thing: The monster in the mirror? It’s… you. Or an aspect of you. That’s your reflection staring back out at you, after all, isn’t it?
I should note that the Monster In The Mirror Game made its first appearance on the r/nosleep subreddit — meaning that, even though the rule of NoSleep is that while you’re there, everything is true, even it’s not, it’s almost certainly just a story. There’s a chance it might not, be of course; this particular post appeared in 2014, during an era of NoSleep with fewer rules, and subsequently a time at which you’d be more likely to find things straddling the line between truth and fiction than you might now. (2014 was, after all, within just a few years of the publications of such seemingly true NoSleep posts such as the original account of the Three Kings game and the story of the Smiling Man.) But NoSleep is generally a horror fiction subreddit, rather than a true story one, so it’s likely the Monster In The Mirror’s original post is horror fiction, too.
The crux of the game itself is an actual phenomenon, though: The strange face illusion — the same thing at play in Bloody Mary. So, yes, you can play it for real. And yes, you might even see a monster in the mirror when you play it.
Whether it’s just an illusion or not, though? That’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself.
Sever The Cord
If you’d like not just to meet your double — or, as it’s described in this case, your Copy — but completely free yourself from them, the Sever The Cord ritual will accomplish this goal.
Why would you want to do this, you ask? Well, according to the lore behind the ritual (which, I should note, was originally posted to the Creepypasta Wiki in 2010, and which should be taken with a grain of salt accordingly), your Copy, in its alternate plane of existence, is constantly watched by some sort of being — which, in turn, means that you are constantly watched by some sort of being. If you would like not to be watched at all times by this being, then the only way to make that happen is by severing yourself from your Copy.
Performing this action isn’t difficult; all it requires is a mirror, a light, and a great deal of fortitude. But although performing it correctly will free you from constant observation, there’s also a price to be paid for such freedom. If you’re lucky, your Copy, rather than yourself, will be the one to pay it… but then again, remember: Right now, we’re looking at games where the monster is you.
And what do monsters do but make others suffer purely so they themselves don’t have to?
The Smile In The Mirror Ritual
Another Creepypasta Wiki original, the Smile In The Mirror Ritual could have been filed further up, under the entry for Double Mirror Rituals; it does, after all, utilize the two-mirrors-reflecting-endlessly-into-themselves setup that characterizes double mirror rituals as a subgenre.
The thing is, what you’re seeing in the two mirrors here? It’s… maybe not actually yourself. It looks like you, sure — hence why I’d considering a ritual designed to introduce you to your own doppelganger — but it’s… not.
Here, the monster isn’t you, precisely; the monster looks like you.
If you’ve ever looked into a mirror and seen your own reflection smiling when you yourself have not been… you know what I mean.
An Alternate Soul
Another strange face illusion game, An Alternate Soul sets itself apart from the bunch by incorporating some of the red stuff — and no, I do not mean a nice, full-bodied malbec. For that reason alone, it’s not recommended that you play it, despite it being relatively simple in the grand scheme of things.
Like many of the other summon-something-that-looks-like-you-in-a-mirror games we’ve looked at here, An Alternate Soul has you going into a completely darkened room, placing yourself in front of a mirror in that room, lighting a single candle, and staring at your own face for a while. Unlike most of the other games here, though, you’ll then need to blindfold your mirror-self with a smear of blood drawn across the glass. And lastly, you’ll need to make sure you extinguish the candle and conclude the game at precisely 12:17am — or else you’ll risk letting out… whatever you just summoned that would like to pretend it’s you, even though it’s not.
The original source for this one has been lost, but it dates back to at least 2008; that’s the oldest reproduction of it that I’ve located. It’s highly representative of the ritual pasta style of the time, so if you’re in the mood for some good old-fashioned ritual pasta shenanigans, that’s exactly what you’ll find here.
Still, though: Make sure you put that candle out on time.
You wouldn’t want to let your… definitely-not-you mirror self out into the world, would you?
Would you?
***
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!
[Photo via StockSnap, Tama66, viarami, , ArminEP, jwvein, bambi_photos, lovkis1973/Pixabay; Toa Heftiba, remixed by Lucia Peters/Unsplash]
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