The Blue Whale Game, also known as the “Blue Whale Challenge“, is a social network phenomenon that started in Russian, in 2016.

The game consists of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators over a 50-day period, with the final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide.

“Blue Whale” came to prominence in May 2016 through an article in a Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, that linked many unrelated child suicides to membership of the group “F57” on the Russian-based VKontakte social network.

The horrific tasks include self-harming, watching horror movies and waking up at unusual hours, but these gradually get more extreme. Below is a list of what to look for before or after the teen has committed suicide.

Here is a list of what to look for:

• Draw or paint pictures of whales or whale bones.
• Carve specific phrases, picture or messages on the person’s own body.
• Wake up very early and watch scary videos or an entire day watching them.
• Make cuts anywhere on the person’s own body, mainly arms or legs.
• Write or talk to someone in secret codes.
• Write a status online that relates to whales, being a whale or blue whale.
• Stand on the edge of a rooftop or bridge early in the morning.
• Poke the person’s own arm/hand with a needle.
• Do not talk to anyone for a full day, a day of silence.
• Sudden activity with cranes or railroads.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among Americans age 10 to 14 and the second among people 15 to 34.