Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween Weekend: Ghost Story Game

In Japan in the 1700s, there was a huge surge in the popularity of ghost stories. One of the traditions that came out of this was Hyaku Monogatari Kaidankai "100 Ghost Stories" 百物語怪談会, a fun one easily adapted to Halloween.

The party itself, ideally a small one, takes place at night. After eating and drinking, partygoers gather in a room lit only with a ring of candles. Everyone goes around telling a ghost story or something creepy that's happened to them or someone they know. After each story is finished, a candle is put out. The idea is that the longer you tell the stories, the darker the room gets, until finally you put the last candle out and you're left in darkness (until someone spooks someone else or everyone starts laughing, one of the two. ;) )

The original 1700s game featured 100 candles and was supposed to be an all-night thing. Depending on how many people are there,  I'm guessing 10-20 would probably do it for your average modern audience.

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