Corner Game

The Corner Game (Korean: 구석놀이), also known as Square (Japanese: スクエア, Hepburn: Sukuea) or Four Corners Game (simplified Chinese: 四角游戏; traditional Chinese: 四角遊戲), is an urban legend game circulated in East Asia. The game requires four players and can allegedly summon a supernatural entity.[1]

This article is about an urban legend game. For the children's game, see Four corners (game).

Origin

The origin of the game is unclear. Lucia Peters, author of The Ghost In My Machine, says the game may be "Korean in origin".[1] According to Japanese author Hirouji Matsuyama, however, the game is based on a Japanese story in which one of the five climbers was killed on a snowy mountain before a snowstorm broke out. The remaining four people carried his body to a hut without heating, and then the four people played the game in the house to summon the soul of the dead to shelter them until the rescue team arrived.[2] Some medias in China and Taiwan also claim that the game originated in Japan.[3][4]

Ritual

The ritual requires five people and an empty room.[1] One possible version includes:

  1. Clear the room and make sure there are no other people and animals in it.
  2. Turn off as many light sources as possible, except for the lights in the empty house.
  3. Everyone enters the room and shouts their name three times after entering the room.
  4. Designate one person to be the speaker, and no one else but the speaker should speak without permission after this step.
  5. Close the door and turn off the lights.
  6. Each person chooses a corner to stand facing the corner, a corner should not have more than one person.
  7. After everyone stands in the corner, the speaker counts to three, then ordering one person to start to move. Each person should go clockwise to the next person's position.

Supernatural situations such as one extra person and one less person are said to occur during the ritual.[4] According to Lucia Peters:[1]

  • If one person is missing, the speaker should instruct everyone to speak their own name backwards three times (don't speak anything other than that), then put their back against the wall, and the person closest to the light should go ahead and turn it on. After that, the person who disappeared will reappear.
  • If there is an extra person, the speaker should instruct everyone to gather at the light switch, then each person should speak their own name backwards three times, then open the light. After that, open the door and leave the room. Do not speak to the extra person.

References
  1. Peters, Lucia (9 May 2016). "The Most Dangerous Games: The Corner Game". The Ghost In My Machine. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  2. Matsuyama, Hiroshi (2003). 3本足のリカちゃん人形―真夜中の都市伝説 [Rika doll with three legs - Urban legend at midnight] (in Japanese). Tokyo: East Press. p. 102-104. ISBN 978-4872574104.
  3. Shen, Chan. "流传已久的都市传说，在这些书籍、电影中走向更多人" [The urban legends that have been passed down for a long time are coming to more people in these books and movies]. Beijing News (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 20 June 2022. 这则都市传说的雏形很可能是江户时代一则名为"角落里的老婆婆"的日本怪谈。进入现代社会后，它又衍生出"五人登山队"等版本，流传于东亚地区。 [The prototype of this urban legend is probably a strange Japanese story called "the old woman in the corner" in the Edo period. In modern times, it has been spread throughout East Asia in versions such as "The Five-Man Mountaineering Team".]
  4. "三大日本經典恐怖遊戲 第三個你一定聽過！" [Three classic Japanese horror games The third one you must have heard of!]. SET News (in Traditional Chinese). 12 August 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
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