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Got an ad to play the "Find the monster in the room" game... and it keeps getting harder.
It was a late Friday night and I was mindlessly playing chess on my laptop. I had the difficulty up and was leaning right into the game and squinting into the bright screen in a tense match with the robot. Didn't even notice that is was almost 2AM, didn't care. Back pain told me I'd been playing for hours. Again, didn't mind. After what seemed like an eternity, it beat me. Fuck. I'd wasted almost an hour on this match. I got up from my desk as some fucking ad started playing. The site I used had two back-to-back ads playing after every match, so I got up as the princess begged me to make some puzzle to save her from the bad king and went to pour myself some orange juice. I left her exclaiming in awe at the multitude of gems I could earn. By the time I got back, the room was quiet. The second ad had started to play, but it had no sound. The screen was much less animated. Dark, no sponsored mention, no link to the play store. Just white, pixelated letters flickering over a gradient, and a pixelated, cloaked figure below them. The letters read FIND THE MONSTER IN THE ROOM! I raised my brows somewhat amused as I sat down. It looked interesting compared to the puzzle knock-offs and choice-based games I usually got. It had no skip in 5 button, so I figured I needed to play a little before I could close it. I clicked on the "BEGIN" button and a pixelated picture of a bedroom popped up. It was a fantasy-like setting, with stone walls and a bed with a canopy, a desk with a round, decorated mirror and a fancy armoire. Candles threw animated shadows around the room and tiny, pixelated bats flew by. In the corner of the room, I could very clearly see a comically drawn vampire, similar to the Hotel Transylvania ones, hunched over. I clicked on him, half-smiling, and he disappeared with a poof!. A message popped up: Congratulations! You saved the princess and you found the monster. Continue. Again, no skip button. I went on. The game looked cozy and I liked the style of the animations. FIND THE MONSTER IN THE ROOM! This time, the room was a classroom with colorful desks and toys all over. The walls were covered in kids drawings and the sun shone gently through the blinds. The monster was a tiny gnome with pointy ears, hiding under a desk and grinning. He looked cute, though. Not scary. I clicked on him and he let out a tiny, high-pitched scream before poof-ing. The next level was a werewolf in a rose garden. Then, a mummy in a library. It was unskippable, but I didn't mind. I needed a break after getting my ass beat by the chess robot. After maybe ten levels, I realized it was upping the difficulty. Now the monster would be half hidden (under beds, behind bushes or curtains), or a reflection in a window, or a shadow. Soon enough, by level 20, I actually began to struggle to spot it. It started giving me tips: Pay attention to what doesn’t belong. Monsters prefer corners. I got stuck at level 25. It showed a picture of a living room, and a little girl and her dad watching TV in the dark. I scanned the whole room, but couldn't find anything. I even upped the brightness, thinking it may have been hiding in the shadows. At last, I made out the outline of a leg (I think), under the couch, and clicked on it. WRONG! flickered in red on the screen. A circle appeared on the dad. This was the monster! He killed the mom and hid her under the couch. You couldn't save the daughter! Lives left: 2/3 I leaned back, surprised. Damn, this game was darker than I thought it would be. I had underestimated it. I clicked Continue and it showed a bathroom with a grandma helping a kid get dressed. I looked around and couldn't find anything, so I decided to try my luck and click on the grandma. WRONG! The circle appeared on the vent. I leaned in, squinting, and I saw a pale, bloated face. It looked weirdly realistic, compared to the pixelated look of the bathroom. Ew. You couldn't save the boy and his grandmother! Lives left: 1/3 I continued. I caught the next monster, a tall, slender figure almost blending in with the trees. The next level, level 28, showed a suburban street, gently lit by warm streetlights. No monster in sight. I scanned it as much as I could, but I didn't find anything. I was determined to, though. Must've spent around 10 minutes staring at the screen, before I finally gave up and clicked randomly. WRONG! A circle appeared in the darkness. You couldn't save the young man. Lives left: 0/3 Game over. Better luck next time! Tips: just because you can't see it, it doesn't mean it's not there. There was no option to play again. The pop-up closed. I remained a bit unsettled, but I was still pleasantly surprised by the originality of the game and it's power to crawl under your skin. I returned to my chess game. Saturday night found me in a different position. I went out with my friends and returned to my one-story house in the suburbs drunk and woozy, walking alone in the peaceful and quiet night, right in the middle of the street. My mind was perfectly empty and the cold night air washed over me like a blessing. One foot in front of another, I came closer to my house. In the distance, I began to make out a silhouette standing still. I couldn't figure out if it was facing me or away, but it was slightly hunched over and twitching. Nuh-uh. I remember thinking. I may be drunk, but I'm not stupid. I turned left and took a little de-tour. I arrived to my house safe and sound, even though the feeling of being watched followed me like a stray dog. I left it at my door, and yet it scratched and howled the whole night. Sunday night - chess tournaments, again. Bored out of my mind, 2AM hits and the ad pops up again. I was somehow happy to see it. This time, the words read FIND THE MONSTER IN THE ROOM, BEFORE IT FINDS YOU! It picked up from level 29. I had no idea it was saving my progress. The difficulty was easy again, but I had a timer now. As it got harder, the timer became shorter. A subway. I clicked on the pale, wide eyed man sitting down next to a little girl. Correct! You saved the girl from the predator. Eventually, it got to a point where I had absolutely no idea where to click. I lost once, then I lost again. Level 54 showed the front of a one-story house. I scanned every centimeter and found nothing, until... In one of the windows, I could see a light. Almost like a reflection. A... silhouette. Hah. Found ya. Clicked on it. WRONG! That's the player. THIS is the monster. A circle appeared on another window. I couldn't see anything in there. As I was squinting into the monitor, I heard a clatter in the kitchen. I jumped in my seat, my breath stuck in my throat. It was ages before I could breathe again. My whole body felt hollowed out. What the fuck? Game over. Better luck next time! Tips: The more you find, the better it hides. "Fuck this shit." I said out loud and went into the kitchen, to check the source of the clatter. I know what you'll say: why do people go and check? Dumb horror movie protagonist behavior. Well, I can't just sit tight in my room. Find it before it finds you, right? Nothing was in the kitchen. Nothing in any of the rooms. I know, I know. It's stupid to look. I know. I slept with the bedroom door closed. I'd checked the whole house and found nothing. Tips: just because you can't see it, it doesn't mean it's not there. submitted by /u/EmmaWatsonButDumber to r/nosleep [link] [comments]
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r/nosleep |
EmmaWatsonButDumber |
Mar 10, 2026 |
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AITJ for secretly moving my neighbor’s garden gnomes one inch every night for two months?
So I (29M) live in a small duplex. My neighbor “Carl” (50s?) has a front yard completely filled with garden gnomes. Like, dozens of them. Different sizes, hats, even one holding a fishing pole. They’re kinda legendary in the neighborhood. He polishes them, names them, even decorates them for holidays. I thought it was cute… until he started getting passive-aggressive about me “not respecting the art of lawn display” because my own yard was “too plain.” So, out of boredom and maybe mild pettiness, I started a slow experiment. Each night when I got home from work, I’d move one gnome slightly. Like, *one inch.* Sometimes I’d tilt it. Sometimes I’d swap two that looked similar. After about three weeks, Carl began to lose it. He’d come outside squinting at the gnomes, muttering things like “I know you’re not looking the same, Greg.” He even installed a motion light, but I was patient. Two months in, he called an exterminator because he was convinced raccoons were “rearranging his army.” Finally, last week, he knocked on my door and asked if I “felt strange energies at night.” I couldn’t keep a straight face and admitted everything. He stared at me for like ten seconds, sighed, and said, “Well… at least you have good spacing sense.” Now the rest of our neighbors think I bullied him, but honestly, it started as harmless fun. AITJ for driving a man half-crazy with slow gnome migration? submitted by /u/sleepy_comet_ to r/AmITheJerk [link] [comments]
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r/AmITheJerk |
sleepy_comet_ |
Dec 10, 2025 |
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EM wants me to change my ducks names because they'll upset her little darling. Chosen by my little darling!
TL:DR EM wants me to change 2 of my ducks names from Crispy and Pancake for fear of traumatising her 12yo who wanted to watch deadpool. They were named by my 7yo! For context, my neighbour moved out a few months ago. Both are council properties. Players me, my 7yo, EM, little darling- LD (about 12), housing officer -HO and my ducks. I'm currently mowing the lawn which my ducks love because I turn up all sorts of bugs so they follow me like shadows. 7yo is putting some decorations on her fairy/ gnome/ dinosaur garden in a pretty dress and Wellington boots (her favourite look!). It's a raised bed to keep the ducks out but as she was adding some seashells she picked up at the beach, one of the ducks ran off with a big piece of mussel shell. She shouted "oi, quackbags stop!" I turned off the mower and from the corner of my eye saw someone next door. I called them over with a promise of peas (equivalent of duck chocolate!) and said "come on Quackerjack, Crispy and Pancake, time for peas". Crispy dropped the shell and came running. Enter LD. "What did you call them?" Me- "the brown one is Captain Quack Harkness and is a boy and the 2 whites are girls called Crispy and Pancake" LD- " That's cool!" 5 minutes later and a woman is clicking her fingers at me over the fence while the mower is running again. I turn the mower off. EM- "finally, I've been trying to get your attention for 20 minutes! What the hell are your pets names?" Me- "Captain Quack Harkness, Crispy and Pancake." EM- " well if I move in next door that'll have to change! My LD will be traumatised enough because you've told him they're named after food! He only eats crispy pancakes you know!" Now in the uk you can buy breadcrumbed pancakes with fillings like ham and cheese, mincemeat and god knows what else and they're called crispy pancakes. Our girls are peking ducks which are usually served with pancakes, cucumber, spring onion and hoi sin sauce at our local Chinese takeaway. Also called crispy duck pancakes. Back to the conversation. Me- "yeah, that's not going to happen. They're not my ducks, they're my daughter's. I just pay for the food!" EM- calls over to the HO who I know from the place I volunteer at. "I want to complain about those animals" HO- "Hi OP, are these the babies 7yo was telling me about!" 7yo- "yeah! I hatched them all on my own! Well, mum helped a bit!" Picks up each one in turn to introduce them to HO. "This is Pancake, this is Quackerjack and this is Crispy" HO to EM- " So what's the complaint? They're friendly, they look like they've just been cleaned out and they're not exactly noisy." EM- "those names! My poor LD will be so traumatised! Who names their pets after food! It's cruel!" 7yo- "but I named them" LD- "mum, can I watch deadpool on your phone?" HO- "so traumatised! See you Monday OP" submitted by /u/MamaBear8414 to r/entitledparents [link] [comments]
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r/entitledparents |
MamaBear8414 |
Jul 29, 2021 |