In video after video, young giggling teens can be seen filming themselves and each other playing the “passout” or “choking” game.
“That is how you make … people pass out,” says a teen boy in one clip after demonstrating the move on his girlfriend. “It’s really funny.”
A quick internet search uncovers one YouTube channel devoted just to these choking game videos, with 154 listed; each one has thousands of views.
But the “choking game” — which is also known as flatliner, space monkey, blackout, the knockout challenge and the fainting game — can have deadly consequences.
Just six weeks ago, an Auke Bay boy was found not breathing in his room after possibly playing the game by himself. Eleven-year-old Kolbjorn Arndt never regained consciousness and died April 27.
Kol’s parents, Travis and Karragh Arndt, said that before his death, they had never heard of the choking game.
“You worry about a million things, but that was not on the list,” said Karragh. “It was unimaginable.”
The Arndts agreed to speak publicly about Kol’s death in the hopes of preventing a similar tragedy from striking another family.
“The important thing is that no other kid does this, that parents realize these videos are out there,” Karragh said. “The consequences shouldn’t be so huge. … It’s really not fair. For an 11-year-old — he couldn’t understand the consequences. It didn’t occur to him.”
Kol Arndt is seen with his younger brother Kallum and his father, Travis. (Photo courtesy of the Arndt family)
Kol Arndt. (Photo courtesy of the Arndt family)
Kol Arndt. (Photo courtesy of the Arndt family)
