“The Blue Whale”: 10 questions you will ask yourself about this macabre challenge 2026

Surely you have heard about this game that is being carried out through social networks: 50 challenges that lead to suicide.

The Blue Whale game has claimed the lives of at least 130 teenagers around the world and has reached Spain: one girl is admitted to the psychiatric unit of a hospital in Barcelona after completing one of the challenges and another ended up committing suicide in Palma de Mallorca.

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As parents, what is all we need to know about this challenge to prevent our children from falling into it? We present ten questions and ten answers that will resolve all your doubts.

What exactly does it consist of?

It is connected to at least 130 teenage suicides. It is a latent trend in social networks (especially in the Russian Vkontakte, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp) and is carried out through groups. An administrator gets in touch through a social network with people he is trying to recruit to start the challenge. As Silvia comments to the program “La hora de los Fósforos” on “Herrera en COPE”, a friend of her daughter alerted her parents that they had sent her a chain through WhatsApp inviting her to join the game and threatening that, if she did not comply, they would go after her family (they attached private information about the girl).

Whoever accepts the game or decides to join it will have 50 challenges to complete. They will all be under the supervision of a “curator” who will make sure that they are all carried out.

Every day a different challenge is carried out, ranging from drawing “f57” on any part of the body with the help of a knife or razor blade (challenge 1), drawing a blue whale on a piece of paper and sending the image to the curator (challenge 4) or suicide in order to take life like the blue whales (challenge 50).

Of course, every piece of evidence, every photograph sent to the “curator” must be deleted immediately to leave no trace. This is one of the challenges:

What are the 50 challenges?

Juan Eduardo Donoso, emergency doctor at supermadre.net, has translated the 50 challenges of the game:

• Day 1: Cut yourself with a knife by writing “f 57” on your hand and then send the photo to the administrator of the Facebook or WhatsApp group that invited you.
• Day 2: Get up at 4.20 am and watch the horror and psychedelic videos that the administrator sends you.
• Day 3: Cut your arms with a razor blade along the veins, but not too deep. Make only three cuts and send the photo to the administrator.
• Day 4: Draw a whale on a piece of paper and send it to the administrator.
• Day 5: If you are ready to “become a whale” write “YES” with a knife on your leg. If you're not ready, cut yourself several times (punish yourself).
• Day 6: Challenge sent via an encrypted method.
• Day 7: Cut yourself with a knife by writing “f 40” on your hand and then send the photo to the administrator.
• Day 8: Write “#i_am_whale” in your profile status. You have to overcome your fears.
• Day 9: A secret mission related to the victim's greatest fear: you have to overcome your fears.
• Day 10: Get up at 4:20 am and head to a roof (the higher the better).
• Day 11: Cut a whale in your hand with a knife and send the photo to the administrator.
• Day 12: Watch horror and psychedelic videos for an entire day.
• Day 13: listen to the music that “they” (administrators) send you.
• Day 14: cut your lip.
• Day 15: prick your hand with a pin many times.
• Day 16: do something painful to yourself, make yourself sick.
• Day 17: Go to the highest roof you can find, stand on the edge for a while.
• Day 18: Head to a bridge and stand on the edge.
• Day 19: Climb a crane or at least try to do so.
• Day 20: the administrator does some test to see if you are a trustworthy person.
• Day 21: have a conversation with “a whale” (another player or the same administrator) on Skype.
• Day 22: Go to a roof, sit on the edge with your legs dangling.
• Day 23: another test sent encrypted.
• Day 24: secret task.
• Day 25: Meet “a whale” (another player).
• Day 26: the administrator will tell you the date of your death, you must accept it.
• Day 27: Get up at 4:20 and walk to the train tracks (visit any train line you can find).
• Day 28: Don't talk to anyone all day.
• Day 29: Brag that “you're a whale.”
• Day 30 to 49: Every day get up at 4:20 am, watch horror videos, listen to music that “they” send you, get a cut a day and talk to “a whale.”
• Day 50: jump from a tall building. Take your life.

What is its origin?

The origin of the game is not entirely clear, but it is believed that it was born in Russia a couple of years ago. The Russian newspaper Saint-Petersburg.ru has managed to contact the creator of the game: Philip Budeykina, a third-year psychology student who was expelled from the university for his possible connection with the macabre challenge and administrator of the “group of death” on the social network Vkontakte. He himself has stated that the goal of the game is to "cleanse our society of people and biodegradable waste that have no value." Furthermore, he has assured that suicides die happily because they achieved what they do not have in real life: “compression and communication.”

Of the 130 deaths detected due to the challenge, the Russian only admits 17 since the others, according to him, were without his direct influence.

The name of the game derives from the false myth created that the blue whale commits suicide when it gets older. The central objective of it, according to the administrators, is for the player to become a “whale.” This word appears throughout numerous challenges. One of them is to establish a call via Skype with another whale (another player).

Why have we heard about it?

It is a famous challenge on social networks that alerts parents and schools around the world. In recent days it has arrived in Spain and, at the moment, a minor is admitted to the Psychiatry Unit of a hospital in Barcelona after her family alerted that she was carrying out the challenge. In addition, the connection between the suicide of a minor in Palma and this macabre game is being investigated.

Where is it played?

It is played through social networks and worldwide.

What role do social networks play within this challenge?

They have a fundamental role, since it is the means of communication between the “curator” and the player. In addition, through the various groups created on both Facebook and Twitter, people who accept the challenge can access it and contact the person who will be in charge of supervising that all the challenges are being carried out.

Although it is the core of the challenge from beginning to end, they can also help prevent people who accept it at first from continuing to take the tests.

One of the challenges consists of posting the hashtag “I_am_whale” on the player's Twitter account, and when the curator agrees that it is okay, they move on to the next challenge. By tweeting this tag, you can discover cases and try to intervene with help. Many times, we have been able to verify that even teenagers themselves help each other not to fall into the game.

This is how they try to attract people through Twitter from one of the profiles of a "curator":

How can we be alert with our children?

The use of mobile phones in adolescence is very important when talking about this challenge, since social networks are the main way to join La Ballena Azul. It is essential to have generated a good education in the use of mobile devices and social networks, establishing limits, making the adolescent understand that, as parents, we have the power to review what they do and what they share on them in order to prevent them from joining or participating in any way in this or any other type of dangerous or harmful activity.

Furthermore, the moment you begin to observe strange behaviors in the child, such as cuts on the arms or some part of the body, insomnia, momentary scares (which can be triggered after the stress caused by watching horror and psychedelic movies 24 hours in a row) or even strange questions towards us (the mother of a minor who committed suicide through this game stated that the little girl asked her days before if blue whales existed) these may be some of the guidelines to which you have to be alert.

How can you prevent teenagers from falling into the trap?

Perhaps, the adultization that adolescents suffer today has something to do with bullying, something normal in their development, to feeling like adults before their time: they believe that they are one of the others and they demand of themselves like an adult (they think that they can do everything they do, even if they are between 6 and 15 years old). They may suffer from frustration intolerance, leading to cases of violence and even running away from home when they reach puberty. The vulnerability that leaving home creates can lead to them starting to practice challenges like this one.

To avoid this, Coaching Club recommends that parents know how to set limits and contain their children from childhood.

Furthermore, after investigating the social networks through which it is carried out, we can come to the conclusion that teenagers decide to follow this game for several reasons: because they consider it a fad and want to do what others do or because they feel unmotivated with their lives.

In order to prevent our child from falling into this evil trap, the main objective will be to talk to them to let them know that it exists. Furthermore, educating them to develop motivation and self-confidence is always the best option. Tell them very well what the challenge consists of and warn them of all the dangers it may have. Furthermore, communication is essential to know if our child feels lost, sad or unmotivated and to find a solution before The Blue Whale even appears on the scene.

Finally, controlling their mobile phone use will be essential so that they do not fall into the game.

What connection could it have with bullying?

Rocío G. Abós, psychologist at Vértice Piscología, states that these types of challenges are accepted by adolescents with low self-esteem, insecure or with little confidence (triggered by cases of school abuse or due to some physical or psychological disability) and they see in the game an escape route from all problems.

Probably the demotivation that is associated with the child not feeling integrated within a social group or even the marginalization that others can exert on him, is one of the main reasons why they are weaker and fall more easily into the game.

Administrators carry out research tasks and target “easy victims”: kids who publish posts on their social networks talking about how difficult their life is at school or even who call themselves with some negative adjective.

These types of people are more mentally fragile and, therefore, more likely to fall into these types of practices that can cause serious harm (both physical and psychological) and even lead to death.

It is very important to continue raising awareness among the entire population about bullying in order to put an end to it.

What are the solutions to end this macabre challenge?

To prevent this game from going ahead and being eradicated from the roots, it is advisable to make them even more aware of everything that can trigger them to follow these types of practices.

To this end, an initiative has been launched from Brazil: The Pink Whale, the opposite game to the Blue Whale which, like the original, contains 50 challenges that everyone who sets their mind must overcome but, unlike them, they are solidarity challenges, which promote integrity among adolescents, help and solidarity.