Charlie Charlie Challenge

Vorlage:Pp-vandalism The "Charlie Charlie" Challenge (also referred to as the "Charlie Charlie" Game) is a game which was popularized through the Internet in 2015, partly through the hashtag #CharlieCharlieChallenge. It may have originated from a playground game in Spanish-speaking countries known as Juego de la Lapicera ("Game of the Pens"), although it has also been linked to a 2008 YouTube video entitled Jugando Charly Charlie. On 29 April 2015, an alarmist tabloid television newscast about the game being played in Hato Mayor Province of the Dominican Republic was uploaded to YouTube, and the unintentional humor in the report led to the game trending on Twitter, crossing the language barrier to be played around the world.

Game

Six pencils

Datei:Charlie sixpencil 2012.jpg

A six pencil version of the game played in 2014, using the ideomotor phenomenon to produce motion

In an early version of the game, two players each hold three pencils in the shape of a square, pressing the ends of their pencils against the other player's. Like an Ouija board, it uses the ideomotor phenomenon, with players moving the pencils without voluntary control.

Two pencils

The two pencil game involves crossing two pens or pencils to create a grid (with sectors labelled "yes" and "no") and then asking questions of a "supernatural entity" named "Charlie". The upper pencil is then expected to rotate to indicate the answer to such questions. The main question everyone asks is "can we play."

The phenomenon of the pencil's movement has been explained as an effect of the relative positions of the pencils; the cross arrangement providing an effective pivot on which the upper pencil can easily move due to very slight environmental changes.

Reactions

According to Caitlyn Dewey of The Washington Post, this game is valuable as an example of cross-cultural viral trends: "Charlie makes a killer case study in virality and how things move in and out of languages and cultures online. You’ll notice, for instance, a lot of players and reporters talking about the game as if it were new, when it’s actually — and more interestingly, I think — an old game that has just recently crossed the language divide."

Stuart Vyse, a psychology professor at Connecticut College argues that teenagers often go to see paranormal movies in groups, and "There's a real social bonding aspect to this whole phenomenon," and "It's almost a developmental passage for some kids, to deal with things that are scary." Donald Saucier, a psychology professor at Kansas State University argues that teenagers go though "a period where social influence is very strong" and they are more prone to superstition.

Various media outlets described participants in the games as gullible.

Various tabloid media outlets have tried to create a moral panic among credulous audiences. Pat Robertson, who has promoted a moral panic over the game Dungeons and Dragons, denounced the Charlie Charlie challenge as demonic. Various exorcists have promoted the idea that the game causes demonic possession, along with Muslims in Jamacia and the UAE.

In order to ridicule the credulity of some teenagers, a group of Internet trolls encouraged people to asphyxiate themselves to death, using a hashtag #plasticbagchallenge.

In popular culture

The producers of the horror film The Gallows promoted their film on the bandwagon of the game, releasing a video clip featuring the game. In addition to the film The Gallows, Charlie Charlie and the media reaction were featured in June 2015 entries of the webcomic Something Positive.

See also

• Bloody Mary (folklore)
• Ideomotor phenomenon
• Magic 8-ball
• Ouija