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It's only a game, isn't it?

It's nothing more than a slumber-party toy designed to scare little girls and boys, right?

It's harmless. After all, who hasn't joked around with a Ouija board at some time during his childhood? It is curious, however, so many Ouija boards have ended up in the backs of closets, their owners adamantly opposed to taking them out or touching them ever again.

Actually, a Ouija board might be more than just a game. According to Harper's Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experience, a Ouija is a "board and pointer used for divination and by some as a means to contact spirits or entities."

The board includes the alphabet, numbers zero through nine, the words 'yes' and 'no' and a triangular message indicator with three felt-tipped legs. Players place their fingertips on the pointer and ask questions that are answered as the message indicator moves around the board.

Encyclopedia Americana says "parapsychologists hold open the possibility that extrasensory perception (ESP) is at work" when the Ouija board is used. But the encyclopedia parenthetically notes the movement of the message indicator may be attributed to the players' voluntary finger movement.

"Similar instruments were used to communicate with the dead" as early as 551 B.C., according to Harper's. The Ouija board remained a popular pastime through the late 19th century. Now available at most toy stores, Ouija boards are still popular.

In our age of capitalism, Parker Brothers has brought supernatural messages to the masses by manufacturing the board as a game called "Ouija, the Mystifying Oracle."

Ken Johnson, stock and sales associate at Toys 'R' Us in Charlottesville said, "We sell at least two [Ouija boards] a week."

Reading directly from the packaging box, Johnson explained how to use the Ouija board. You can "ask it a question, and the mystifying oracle will reveal to you the answer," he said.

Claiming never to have used a Ouija board, he admitted to watching friends use it.

"It's fun to watch," he added.