Line #147 WMG/Jumanji


1	* ''WMG/JumanjiTheAnimatedSeries''
2	* ''WMG/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle''
3	* ''WMG/JumanjiTheNextLevel''
4
5	[[WMG: Origin of the game.]]
6	The hunter in the game, Van Peldt, was a big game hunter who owned a plantation in Barbados (He was British, after all, not American) - He enslaved an African Shaman, who created the game because he noticed Van Peldt was obsessed with games, as a form of revenge, putting Van Peldt's face on the box to appeal to his vanity. He then played the game with Van Peldt and trapped him in the game permanently.
7
8	[[WMG: Origin of the game.]]
9	The game was made to dissuade white people from going to Africa. Based on the scene of the players from the 19th century, the game existed before the scramble for Africa. The game's conception of Africa is also straight from the nightmare of a Victorian, full of disease, vicious animals, and your own countrymen (Van Pelt) hunting you. If the game was won the player would have vague memories, and if lost the havoc created would always be present. Thus the reason for the game was to send the message to colonizers, "STAY OUT OF AFRICA", it will only get you killed.
10	* Variation: The game is aimed at a British audience, and Van Pelt is a Boer, one of their colonial competitors. As for why he has a British accent... um... maybe so he doesn't come across as a FunnyForeigner.
11
12	[[WMG: The game can only be played by children.]]
13	When Alan first hears the drums the game is located in a busy building site, yet no one can hear the drums but him. Later, both Judy and Peter can hear the drums coming through the ceiling, but their aunt can't. This could go with the WMG below that the game was created to train the youth into brave warriors; since only they could play, it'd stop them from getting adult help and thus make them independent and strong. (Obviously, Alan and Sarah are adults during most of the film, but that's probably a loophole that the game didn't expect - it assumes people will continue to play as fast as possible to make it all go away.)
14	* Jumanji can be played by teens. Alan, Sarah, and Judy were all between 11 and 13 when they started playing.
15	* The drums may sound at a frequency that is audible to children and adolescents but not adults. These exist, and some have tried to use them as "security" in places where teenagers congregate.
16
17	[[WMG: The game is alive and it ''wants'' to be played.]]
18	Over and over again... The game senses potential players and lures them with drum sounds only they can hear. Taking out the pieces 'starts' a game automatically. An accidental drop of the dice 'makes' a move. The game demands on being played fairly too - Van Pelt won't kill the innocent, even those who are players, and the game doesn't appreciate being cheated on.
19	* I just realized another thing. Alan picks up two pieces and then drops them on the board, several hours before Sarah arrives. The game has designated him as a player, but a game needs two players, and that's why it dragged both pieces onto the board. Once Sarah came along, the drums summoned her. The game ''really'' wants to be played.
20	** This opens up another point - you CANNOT play alone, maybe not even "with less than four". This is another thing to remember with people potentially dying.
21	* In the movie's sequel, ''Jumanji: Welcome the Jungle'', the board game is found again by a man who shows it to his teenage son. Said son rejects the game because he prefers playing video games and thinks board games are old-fashioned. Jumanji reacts by ''transforming'' into a videogame, seemingly to take a form that would convince the boy to play it.
22
23	[[WMG: The game is a [[Franchise/HarryPotter Horcrux]]. ]]
24	It's virtually impossible to destroy, has insane defense mechanisms, and outright tries to kill people. There is no way that it cannot be the remnant of the soul of an immensely powerful creature.
25	* ...and the Stalker from the animated series is the wizard who created it, or at least a piece of him.
26
27	[[WMG: The game itself is the player.]]
28	The game plays against the human players under the pretense of a board game for up to four. The game takes a 'turn' in the form of releasing incredibly dangerous jungle things. The game wins if it manages to kill the human players, or if it takes over the environment and turns it into a real jungle. Every time the game is disposed of, it uses its drums to lure in new players.
29
30	[[WMG:Jumanji and Zathura are [[Anime/YuGiOh Shadow Games]] based on non-Egyptian magic.]]
31	Presumably, these types of Shadow Games work on different rules, which is why the players don't have to be in the presence of their challenger.
32	* Note that in the original manga, literally any game or competition can be made into a Shadow Game with the application of magic.
33	[[WMG:Jumanji was created by natives of the jungle to train youth into brave warriors and hunters.]]
34	* Maybe it was a type of TrainingFromHell for most tribes who had to go under a brave ritual to survive the horrors of the game. Whoever had mastered the game's challenges was declared the winner and the game resets, ready for new hunters to prove their might.
35	* The same thing with Zathura. It was created by an advanced alien warrior race. They [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned the Zorgon race for crimes]] against the galaxy and to use as obstacles.
36	* The cover of the game lends support to this. The name "Jumanji" is crossed by an African-looking spear, giving it a protagonistic presence, but no WackyWaysideTribe is ever summoned nor is there evidence that it exists in the game, even though it would be the first and most recurrent enemy in any DarkestAfrica written by Victorian whites. And who are the enemies depicted in the four corners? A monkey, an elephant, a rhino, and, yep, the white man. Who we know is a challenge summoned by the game, and [[{{pun}} one]] of [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame the most dangerous ones]]. And then there is the fact that it uses drums to summon new players. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_drum Drums are communication devices in Africa.]]
37	* This could help explain why, in the animated series, Judy is given such a soft time compared to Peter and Alan: Because the game doesn't consider her part of its target audience.
38
39	[[WMG:The games run off magical [[Franchise/TheMatrix virtual reality;]] they don't change real reality.]]
40	Zathura and Jumanji unleash their horrors, not by unleashing animals from other worlds, but by inducing the players into a magical Matrix VR. All the players involved experience the same hyper-realistic Matrix. The game can predict the future, and so can depict the AlternateFuture of what would happen if the game was played, but left unfinished (such as that guy getting fired and people freaking out over Alan's mysterious disappearance).
41
42	Evidence for this theory: the complete ResetButton when the game ends. It would create a major TemporalParadox if everything in the game was real, but a magical Matrix can handle it fine.
43	** This troper can't think of a single thing about the reset that would cause a TemporalParadox.
44	** I think what they were getting at was that if everything that happened took place in the real world, how could it then all be undone by winning the game without also undoing the rest of history? As in, the lives of every person in Bradford were affected by Alan's disappearance and his father's factory going bankrupt, so wouldn't their actions, in turn, affect the actions and lives of people elsewhere in America...but now all of that would be undone too? The answer, it seems, is InSpiteOfANail: while it's true that the lives of everyone in town, and everyone they interacted with in those 26 years, would be changed by the ResetButton, we can assume the rest of the country/world stays the same, generally unaffected by it. The same events happen internationally, the same Presidents are elected, and so on, because the actions of the townspeople and those they affected aren't widespread enough to have that much influence. Hopefully.
45	** That's still not a temporal paradox. That's a large change. A temporal paradox would be if something is its own cause or both happens and doesn't happen.
46
47	[[WMG:Van Pelt is always modelled on the father of the player who gets sucked into the game or rolls the dice to summon him from the board.]]
48	* "A hunter from the darkest wild makes you feel just like a child." The rhyme and Van Pelt's appearance (played by the same actor as Alan Parish's father) seem to bear out this theory. If any of the other players had rolled the dice to summon him, he would have looked like ''their'' father instead.
49	** Or maybe ''anyone'' that caused stress in the player's life (as this could be verified).
50	** It could also be that Van Pelt is a human embodiment of the worst fears of the player who rolled the dice. Most people can deal with the stuff that causes them stress as long as it's not a phobia. For example, Alan had a phobia of displeasing/turning out exactly like his dad. That level of fear would not just go away because he fought a few jungle animals. If you think about it, most people who have phobias can trace them back to something another human did to them, or something that happened when humans were present. If humans were ''not'' present, as in the case of those who fear being abandoned, then that's still human-driven. Van Pelt then becomes an embodiment and voice for the fears--scarier than any jungle plant or animal because he can talk back and figure out what you're thinking/mess with your head. So another player could roll the dice and get not Van Pelt, but say a witch doctor, a voodoo priestess, anyone that would best fit their fears.
51	* If Van Pelt is indeed modeled after the player's father, it adds a layer of NightmareFuel to his character: Alan was scared of his father, which made Van Pelt scarier in his eyes and motivated Alan to evade him at all costs. But what about players who ''love'' their father? Imagine having a good relationship with your dear daddy and, suddenly, you're chased by a blood-thirsty hunter ''who looks just like him''.
52	* Possibly, if it's a woman whom the player happens to be intimidated by, a female Van Pelt could manifest instead. The rhyme doesn't explicitly state that "the hunter from the darkest wild" is male, after all.
53
54	[[WMG:Van Pelt is a previous player from a session that never ended for him]]
55	Just like how Alan got sucked in. But Van Pelt had different rules for getting out. Alan had only to wait for a five or an eight; Van Pelt is trapped until somebody else rolls the "sucked into Jumanji world" scenario, and then he must kill that person. That's why Alan was so terrified of him; they clearly met in the Jumanji world, and Van Pelt wanted to kill him. That's also why, the very next time Alan rolled, it brought Van Pelt into the real world. As the only two people who've been inside the Jumanji world, their destinies are intertwined. That's also why Van Pelt ''only'' wants to kill Alan, and has no desire to kill anybody else.
56	* A good theory, but where was his playing piece? Sarah and Alan's pieces were stuck in their places when Judy and Peter began playing.
57	** You're assuming there is only one Jumanji Board. We're only shown one--there could be quite a few.
58	** But didn't he mention that he tried to kill whoever rolled the dice?
59	** Or perhaps he also had to wait for a 5 or an 8, like Alan, but his game ended without either number showing. No, wait, never mind. This theory is fatally flawed. (Exactly what the fatal flaw is will be left to the other Wild Mass Guessers, but it probably involves ancient unfinished Jumanji games.)
60	*** Actually, this may work if you combine it with the WMG below: Van Pelt gets sucked in but nobody else from his party rolls the needed dice afterward. To make it worse, the entire group was [[IronicPunishment killed]] throughout the game. With no logical way to finish the whole game, Jumanji resets itself, trapping Hunter Van Pelt into it.
61
62	Expanding on this:
63
64	[[WMG: Van Pelt is a player from a previous game who became trapped and went native.]]
65	Van Pelt was a big game hunter in our world during the late Victorian era (judging by his clothing and rifle) who discovered the game lurking in the African jungle. Though the porters tried to warn him and the rest of his hunting party that it was bad mojo, he sat down for a nice board game one evening with his buddies. During the course of [[HilarityEnsues the usual proceedings]], nearly the entire group was killed by the jungle hazards. [[SoleSurvivor Van Pelt]], now quite insane and frustrated that this was something he couldn't kill, asked the spirit within the game to stop playing around and fight him properly. Its answer was to the effect of, "Okay, fine," and so it sucked him into ''its'' jungle. Unlike Alan, who constantly sought a way out of the game, Van Pelt decided he was thoroughly enjoying this new challenge and gave himself over to the game entirely.
66	* Given his immaculately clean appearance (pre-paint can collapse), his lifestyle inside the game would probably be similar to what he was familiar with beforehand. This would make him even more of a {{Jerkass}} for ''hunting'' poor Alan rather than taking him in.
67
68	[[WMG: Van Pelt and Alan are related.]]
69	We know that the last people who had the game were also from around there, and Parrishes have clearly been a prominent family in those parts for a very long time. While first looking around the house after moving in, Peter finds a bust of some guy with sideburns just like Van Pelt's (maybe it was actually him). He isn't just played by the same actor as Alan's father for the heck of it; it's to show the family resemblance.\
70	As already noted, he apparently got himself stuck as a permanent part of the game long ago.
71	* He may have been the one who thought of the Parrish[=/=]Pelt motto of facing danger as a man. Which is why he smiled when Alan decided to do so.
72
73	[[WMG:Van Pelt is one of the kids from 1869 who was seen burying the game.]]
74	The boy who was playing with him died during the game, and Van Pelt was left to wander the jungle forever since his game couldn't be finished. Eventually, after Alan finished ''his'' game, the ResetButton sent Van Pelt back to his time and brought his friend back to life.
75
76	Van Pelt only survived that long in the jungle because his friend died and the game ended in a draw. The next game that took place (Alan, Sarah, Judy, and Peter) concluded itself with a clear winner, which pressed the ResetButton on that game as well as the previous, unconcluded game.
77
78	And going off on the previous theory, the boy who became Van Pelt could also be Alan's ancestor.
79
80	[[WMG: Van Pelt IS Alan...]]
81	Similar to how in ''Zathura'', [[spoiler:Walter became an astronaut and was involved in the game even though he was already playing it,]] Alan became Van Pelt in another universe where Judy and Peter never discovered the game. He was stuck inside the game because he had no way of getting out. Eventually, he went native, joined some sort of hunting party, and became the Van Pelt we all know and hate.
82
83	[[WMG: ...Or perhaps, his hatred and/or "evil" side.]]
84	During the events in the jungle, this side was removed from him, and molded into a form he could actively fear or hate, to push him to continue challenging it. This side of him was either destroyed or sent back to the universe in which savage feelings belong anyway. Which couple with Fridge Brilliance/Horror when you realize that this might possibly happen to anyone...
85
86	[[WMG: If a game has only one surviving player, then that player is added to the game.]]
87	A variant on the "Van Pelt gone native" theory above.
88
89	This has two purposes: it prevents people from abandoning games because they think their victory is trivial; and it punishes players who won't cooperate with the other players.
90
91	[[WMG: Van Pelt is Linus from ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''.]]
92	At some point, he got sucked into a world of monsters with nothing but his blanket to rely on. [[http://images.wikia.com/peanuts/images/9/9e/Blanket_Whip.jpg He's been known to use his blanket for self-defense]], so he's certainly no pushover, but after a few days of merely beating animals back, he snaps and decides he needs a more permanent solution, hence the gun. His blanket, now stained with the blood of many, many foes, becomes the cape he wears as an adult. Oh, and Linus's canonical last name? ''Van Pelt.''
93
94	[[WMG:Alan Parrish and Sy Parrish from ''Film/OneHourPhoto'' are the same person.]]
95	In 1995, as ''Jumanji'' ends, Alan Parrish is about 38 and appears to have the perfect life. Clearly, something terrible and life-shattering happens in the seven years before the events of ''One Hour Photo'' take place. He changes his name and moves to Los Angeles, alone.
96
97	His disturbed personality traits during OHP make sense. Alan's relationship with his father has severe problems which are resolved only superficially; and nobody could possibly spend twenty-six years, including most of their later childhood, in a terrifying, hostile environment all alone and come out as okay as Alan appeared when ''Jumanji'' ended.
98	* [[BigNo NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!]] [[BrainBleach My childhood!]]
99
100	[[WMG: Van Pelt's reason for trying to kill Alan was...]]
101	* To stop the game from continuing and leaking more destruction into the real world. He was merely stalking Alan in the jungle in an attempt to travel with him and kill the players before they could bring more horrors through and endanger their society.
102
103	* To go back to the real world in Alan's place. After all those thirty-odd years of trying, things got personal, so when he became one of the game's perils, he decided he would rather sew his loose ends than try to explore the real world.
104
105	* He never wanted to kill Alan. The game created him to help Alan face the fear of his father, and if he actually had stood up against Van Pelt, Van Pelt would have disappeared. His shots were intentional misses (except the one he ''knew'' Alan would foil by declaring Jumanji), but Jumanji made him ''too'' good, so everyone that got in his way was in real danger of being killed.
106
107	* Alan rolled the dice that summoned him. It's just what he does.
108
109	[[WMG:The board game is an EldritchAbomination that turns universes into copies of itself when the game is lost.]]
110	If someone lost a game of Jumanji, everything would come loose and spread and spread until the real world was a jungle world like Jumanji. It would then go around looking for more universes to convert.
111	* This is supported by the fact that in the real-life board game based on the movie, the space for dangers that aren't defeated by the players is called the "Doomsday Grid", implying the end of the world if it's filled.
112
113	[[WMG: Jumanji's a curse from vengeful jungle spirits.]]
114	They're angry at 19th-century safari dudes for ruining their unspoiled nature, so this is the punishment. It comes in the form of the kind of amusement westerners enjoy, and hits them with perils based on the Darkest Africa stereotype. Definite ironic punishment. If there's an Egyptian version to punish graverobbers, it definitely has stiff-armed living mummies and other crap they were afraid of. Zathura, by extension, is a pre-emptive one for spoiling outer space.
115
116	[[WMG: Everyone survived in the 1995 timeline.]]
117	Alan and Sarah [[spoiler: remain in the timeline, only a "[[ClonesArePeopleToo copy]]" of their memories getting sent back]], and the poison in [[spoiler: Judy]]'s system gets [[spoiler: sucked back into the game]]. Granted, it's still kind of depressing for Alan, who believes he and his father never had the chance to reconcile in ''any'' way, but it's okay for Sarah, who is validated in both timelines and still an adult in the 1995 timeline, [[spoiler: Judy]], who survives, and pretty much everyone since Alan might be able to reacquire some of his family's commercial assets and help rebuild the house (his old house) that the kids' aunt had just bought.
118	As for emotional trauma, everything in the 1995 timeline is [[spoiler: still present in the 1969 timeline for Alan and Sarah]], and the people in alt-1994 are technically different people (being almost a year younger and never having experienced the effects of the game), so it's not like that's got any measurable advantage for them.
119	* There's no indication of alternate timelines existing as alternate universes in the film, it seems like the timeline is completely changed and the "1995 timeline" simply no longer exists.
120
121	[[WMG: Van Pelt taught Alan the skills he would need to survive the jungle world of Jumanji]]
122	Not as an act of kindness, but with the intent of turning Alan into resilient prey worthy of being hunted. While Alan recognizes Van Pelt as a sociopath from the beginning it isn't until the hunter tries to kill him that he realizes just how sadistic he is.
123
124	[[WMG: Jumanji and Zathura were created by a sadistic [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch]] being.]]
125
126	Someone - something - had to have created the board games in the Jumanji 'verse - something with almost Godlike power, as the games clearly can augment reality - thus this entity would have had to give them either a fragment of its own power, or be in a position to access something of such immense paranormal force. It would be easy enough to label them as creations of a fun-loving Trickster god, much like Film/TheMask, if not for the fact that these games, while seeming like harmless paranormal fun at first, are very much intended to ''kill'' people - particularly, the ''children playing the game''. The fact that the board games don't rack up a bloody death count stems less from their own canonical potential and more from the fact that these movies aren't rated R (or 18+).
127
128	So the logical conclusion remains - just what cosmic horror with a creatively sadistic flair created these games? Perhaps they want man's imagination to be his downfall...
129
130	Take note that the Jumanji game must have been created in the 1800s if Van Pelt is any judge. During the peak of the British Empire, no less. Perhaps it was a horrible punishment for what the British Empire did to a lot of African tribes.
131	Zathura, meanwhile, has aesthetic designs that were very similar to the perception of sci-fi in the 1950s; following this line of thought, it's plausible that the same entity created Zathura as punishment for mankind's unprecedented wars in the first half of that century.
132	* See the below theory about the True Fae from ChangelingTheLost.
133
134	[[WMG: Jumanji and Zathura are the same magical artifact]]
135	It is a magical item or cursed item that appears as a game that is semi-familiar to those it encounters and wishes to ensnare. It is not one particular game, but rather a magical item that takes the form of a game.
136	* In a way, confirmed in the books.
137	* Something worth remembering though while in the movies they are clearly different game sets, in the Zathura book, they find the Zathura board underneath the Jumanji board when they find its theme boring. With this in mind, it's the box itself that is either enchanted or if the box is the maker in disguise. So that being said the box would probably keep spawning game boards that cause the same game just until it finds a theme willing to entice its players. Jumanji being the default may just be a reflection of when it was made, but it probably could give any theme it wanted to for a game.
138
139	[[WMG: Van Pelt is genuinely trying to be a father-figure for Alan]]
140	Hear me out on this. He's so capitally hardened by his big-game hunter life, and, being from the [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain period]] he looks to be from, he's being a dad the only way he knows how. Imagine the upbringing Van Pelt must've had! He keeps trying to tough Alan up, telling him to "Face me like a man" - while holding a gun - and does so because it's how ''he'' was raised. In fact, Van Pelt is probably seriously scarred to the point of [[TheStoic anhedonia]], and he probably wants to carve Alan [[NightmareFuel (not literally)]] into a version of himself. See, if he achieves this, he will finally feel the love of seeing himself in another human (and that's what love is, right?). He laughs when Alan finally does face him "like a man". This is his anhedonia [[DefrostingIceQueen melting off]], slightly. So he's all up on Alan being his [[EmptyShell warped idea of tough]] because he's trying to be a father figure. Come on, he wouldn't be the first person to go about it [[HumansAreBastards all wrong.]] The fact that he was actually going to kill Alan is because his anhedonia (complete lack of pleasure) has made him [[DrivenToSuicide suicidal.]] But a "man" wouldn't commit suicide, so he wants to kill the prodigy who's [[DidYouJustPunchOutMiniMe now willing to face him.]]
141
142	[[WMG:Jumanji feeds off the fears of its players.]]
143	Perhaps the game doesn't try to actually kill its players at all. Under this theory, the game prevents its players from actually dying but puts them in situations that cause extreme fear and distress. Perhaps it makes them confront specific fears such as the duality fear of Van Pelt representing Alan's fear of confronting his father. Furthermore, the game does this because it converts their fear into the energy it needs to perpetuate itself and its powers. Though this makes the game seem 100% sadistic, this theory also allows for the possibility that the game chooses players who can positively affect the future as a result of having played the game. For instance, Alan has a better relationship with his father, saves someone's job, and is a more mature individual after the game. Also, Alan and Sarah can influence Judy and Peter's parents into not taking the trip which ultimately kills them and scars Judy and Peter. Under this idea, the game may itself be a living spirit or some other creature in disguise of a culturally relevant/understandable game. Perhaps it is a primal force of balance and by causing distress to players it can then cause good things to happen to them as well.
144
145	[[WMG:Magic aside, Jumanji is just a game.]]
146	The warning on the box is flavor text and the players aren't ever in any real danger. If a player dies in the game, Jumanji removes them from turn order (like it presumably temporarily does for people waiting for a specific die roll) and the game continues until reset, when they're resurrected. If all players die, the game automatically resets and displays a little game over rhyme. No one in recent memory realizes this because the original owner lost the game or died without telling people of its secrets and all subsequent players won and then (understandably) freaked out and tried to get rid of it without understanding it wouldn't have done permanent damage.
147
148	[[WMG: There are other games, spanning different settings]]
149	We already know of Zathura, a space adventure. There could easily be a fantasy adventure, a pirate adventure, a prehistoric adventure, a horror adventure, etc out there, waiting to be played.
150	* As hinted above, in the movies yes they could have the potential that multiples exist. But in the books, it's more likely the game box can make whatever theme it needs to entice a player.
151	* The series actually features "Brantford: The Game", which is a game set in a bizarre/"jumanjized" version of suburban America. Its playing pieces are modeled after people instead of jungle animals.
152
153	[[WMG: Jumanji's designer was [[Franchise/{{Hellraiser}} Philip Lemarchand]].]]
154	Surprised this one hasn't popped on here sooner. Both the Lament Configuration and the game are beautifully crafted pieces of artwork, really. Each is a gateway for their users to more than they bargained for. The box was made for adults who had become jaded by the pleasures available to them. The game was designed for a younger audience, who had grown bored of the pleasures of youth and adolescence. Solving the Lament Configuration summons the Cenobites, along with their definition of pleasure. Playing Jumanji summons the creatures of that jungle and their definition of fun. Unlike the Lament Configuration, though, Jumanji has a sort of exit clause; if you win the game, then all the damage the game caused is reversed.
155
156	[[WMG: Carl can make very brief glimpses into the future.]]
157	His accuracy at predicting the shoe styles of the 90s is due to his bizarre ability to see fleeting images of the world of tomorrow.
158
159	[[WMG: The game has an EnfantTerrible personality.]]
160
161	As Sarah and Alan said, the game ''thinks.'' Therefore it's not implausible that the game has a personality. In this WMG, the game acts like an innocent trapped being drumming its heart out to escape. Players are lured by the siren beat of the drums. By the time the [[SealedEvilInACan board game has wrecked their entire world]], it's too late, just like when a human EnfantTerrible throws a raging tantrum. Yet, the game always sucks back its destruction as if to say, "I'm sorry; play again?" Insert EvilLaugh here.
162
163	[[WMG: The 1995 timeline was AllJustADream.]]
164
165	Alan Parrish is a somewhat introverted, shy kid who is easy prey for bullies like Billy Jessup, and whose father is unnecessarily strict. Since he grows up in the late '60s, ThereAreNoTherapists or other traditional means of dealing with this. Under this theory, he actually did find the Jumanji game on the construction site, but the magic it contains is AllJustADream. That is, Alan's dream begins when he gets sucked inside the game. The 1995 timeline then serves to show him who he grew up to be, what his town became, and what he could be if he faced his fears. The timeline also allows him to do that, through the jungle dangers of Jumanji. Once he has accomplished his quest, he "wakes up." Sarah may be going through a similar trajectory. in which Jumanji helps her deal with insecurities, whatever attraction she has to Billy Jessup, and other issues.
166	** If you're wondering where the 1869 kids fit in, they could be part of the same theory. Or...
167	** Doesn't explain how Judy and Peter can exist in the future exactly as they were within Alan's "dream."
168
169	[[WMG: Jumanji's magic was much more potent and dangerous in 1869.]]
170
171	This is why we don't see anything except the very end of the 1869 timeline. Perhaps as the game ages, it loses power in increments, or else it takes on a more psychological relationship with its players, rather than trying to physically destroy them.
172	* Perhaps it has a limited power supply? Or rather than losing power over time, it becomes weaker every time it's used?
173
174	[[WMG: Jumanji chooses its players.]]
175
176	One would think that with as long as Jumanji has been around (over 100 years according to the film) more people would have played it or at least would know of its existence and therefore avoid it. Yet this doesn't happen because Jumanji chooses its players based on their needs. For example, it chooses Alan based on his need to become courageous and to mend his relationship with his father. It chooses Judy, Peter, and Sarah to help them grow as characters while simultaneously escaping the BadFuture of the 1995 timeline.
177	* This would also explain why only some people can hear the drums and why said drums get more intense if the chosen player tries to walk away from the game.
178
179	[[WMG:The game is an Website/{{SCP\|Foundation}}.]]
180	Building on that, it was one of Doctor Wondertainment’s first products. The Doctor was still relatively inexperienced then and disposed of it when it ended up being actually dangerous.
181
182	[[WMG:Jumanji is a [[PocketDimension Pocket Universe]] that holds the Exaggerated Africa and everything in it, and when played, the beings escape into our Reality.]]
183	Jumanji is (as mentioned by a theory above) that it's a RealityWarper. But it's more than that, as parts of its reality escape into our own, causing havoc. That is mostly because of the exaggerated stories of Africa (killer mosquitos, Earth-breaking Earthquakes, killer quicksand, etc.) that were passed around throughout the years.
184
185	[[WMG:Jumanji creates temporal timelines created by when players play the game. So, when the game ends and causes a Universal ResetButton, the timeline doesn't exist anymore.]]
186	This means that every time a player plays the game, it locks a time point so that when the reset happens, almost no time has passed.
187
188	('''''Note:'''''You could make the same assumption about its related game from long ago, '''Zathura'''.)
189
190	[[WMG: Jumanji and its sibling games were created by the Gentry]]
191	The Gentry(AKA the Others, the True Fae, and several names besides) from ChangelingTheLost are sadistic, god-like, magical EldritchAbomination that often kidnap humans and torment them in a variety of ways. Creating games like Jumanji and Zathura would be right up their alley, and they totally have the power to do it. Of course, this means that Alan is a Changeling whose Keeper never made him a Fetch, an Ogre to be precise, and Peter is a Beast. Sarah and Judy are ensorcelled, and Van Pelt is either a Loyalist, Hunter or Alan's Keeper.
192
193	----
194	[[WMG: If the game holder can create board games like Zanthura, what dangers could there be in a Disney (or Fantasy) board game?]]
195	Poisonous foods, thorns, giants/orcs, evil witches, and pirates?
196
197	God help us if this ever happens with ''TabletopGame/{{Villainous\|Ravensburger}}''...
198
199	[[WMG: [[Literature/SwordArtOnline Kayaba Akihiko]] was a Jumanji Survivor]]
200
201	2009 Tokyo; a bright yet overly imaginative 14-year-old boy called Kayaba Akihiko hears mysterious drumbeats coming from a dark forgotten corner in the back of a vintage game console store, on the last day of its closing down sale. He nonchalantly picks a moldy paper box from the creaky old shelf, and to his surprise, the grey-haired owner screams “Take it! I thought I got rid of that evil thing! Have it for free! Just get it away from me!”
202
203	Akihiko shrugged, went home, and blew the dust off the box, illustrated in the style of a 1950s American Jungle Adventure Novel like Tarzan, plugged the suspiciously-clean Platform/PlayStation One Console it into his room’s television, and shouted “I’ll be right down!” in response to being called for dinner...
204
205	...not knowing it would be the last time he would see his mother for 20 long years.
206
207	But moments later for Mrs. Kayaba, her son lethargically stumbled to the dinner table, his once-bright and enthusiastic eyes replaced by the tired ones of a man twice his age, weary with the ponderous burden of phytic victories, meaningless sacrifices, broken dreams, and lost love. Akihiko mumbled, “After all I did, I had to leave her behind, what was all that for.” Mrs Kayaba saw the tears welling in her son’s hollow eyes and hugged him, thinking he meant he was dumped by a girl at school, not knowing that the heart of the furiously weeping boy had stayed and died in the jungles of Jumanji.
208
209	Refusing to reconcile with the reality that his two deaths before being forced to sacrifice the NPC he loved and even married to return to the now meaningless “real” world was all for nothing, Ahihiko took inspiration from his ordeal and voraciously dedicated himself to the study of Game Creation, so he may one day re-create a world where death, loss, and sacrifice actually HAS meaning, with the ONE life you have and will ever get, and graduated with Honors from Professor Shigemura’s University Course...
210
211	...on November 6, 2022, The Immersive Online Game ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' was unleashed onto the unsuspecting world.
212
213	“I beat you, old friend. I finally beat you” he bitterly chuckled at the ancient Platform/PlayStation One console, from which the drums still mysterious beat as he shouted “Link Start.”
214
215	[[WMG: Linking to the above WMG, The Engine that ran the original ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' Servers IS Jumanji]]
216	How else can a 26 year old college professor create a living, breathing world real to all-senses save for pain, with nightmarish-monsters our for your blood, not to mention NPC and AI like Yui-Chan so nuanced and complete in personality they practically have souls? With technology that is a mere FOUR years away from now? Just as Film/{{Zathura}} ran on the same magical “engine” of Jumanji to create a living breathing Space Opera, it stands to reason Kayaba was able to hack the now-electronic Jumaji after beating it...
217	... or worse, enslave the game, take it apart and hard-wire it into the Sword Art Online server to help create the living-breathing Heroic-Fantasy World of Aincrad.
218
219	[[WMG:''Jumanji'' and ''Franchise/ToyStory'' take place in the same continuity]]
220	Jumanji is a toy. A toy who, like Woody, decided one day to "break some rules". But rather than for altruistic reasons, Jumanji did it for egotistic ones. He wanted to be played, because being played makes toys feel alive. But over time, he let all this go to his head... uh... instructions manual... and became evil. And with evilness came the power, and his desire to turn tables, and make humans feel like toys in his hands... I mean... playing pieces.
221
222	[[WMG:Jumanji was created by [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Ego]] as a planet-reformer prototype]]
223	When one fails to beat Jumanji, the game swallows the whole planet and "Jumanjizes" it. Just like Ego intended to do to every inhabited planet in the universe. Unfortunately, Jumanji could be beaten by a couple of determined kids, after which it reverted all damage done. Hence, he had to go for plan B.
224
225	[[WMG:Carl became a police officer because Alan disappeared]]
226	He wanted to help, but Sam didn't want him around and maybe suspected him. So he went to the police academy to both clear his name and help uncover what happened to Alan.
227
228	[[WMG: The flowers that shoot poison darts and the ManEatingPlant that lassos legs are part of the same organism, rather than two different species]]
229	The shooting flowers down the prey and the lasso flower(s?) eat it. All of them benefit from it, because they are all part of the same plant. It is the only way the flowers shooting darts make sense.
230	** Not that they really ''have'' to make sense from an evolutionary standpoint, considering they're magical constructs of a supernatural board game.
231	** Building on this, both flowers are summoned at once. The only other time different species are summoned at the same time is when Jumanji summons the stampede.
232
233	[[WMG: Van Pelt is the game's avatar]]
234	Similar to the humanoid form of the aforementioned [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Ego]], he's just a physical extension of the GeniusLoci that is Jumanji. In other words, he's not just another threat within the game, he ''is'' the game.
235
236	[[WMG: Jumanji, Zathura, and any unknown other games in the series, are actually benevolent [[TricksterMentor trickster mentors]] to whomever happens to play them]]
237	The games have a way of knowing when their players need to learn AnAesop and will provide them with a game experience that demonstrates it. For instance, if someone needed to be taught that violence is never the answer, the game would put them in situations that require them to think. Someone needing to realize the value of teamwork would be faced with obstacles that can't be overcome alone. The game covers whatever lesson needs to be learned.
238	* It works, You play the game and learn about the traits the game feels you lack, such as Alan having to learn to stand up for himself, Sarah learning to face her fears, and the kids learning to get along, the sequel is pretty much the same, learning the value of teamwork is the big one, but the teens each have their own, Spencer learns confidence, Fridge learns about humility, as does Bethany, whereas Martha learns to be more comfortable and assertive with herself.
239
240	[[WMG: Jumanji has a very specific Aesop in mind for its players.]]
241	Going somewhat off of the above, Jumanji specifically intends to teach its players about the dangers of escapism taken too far. The game looks for players dissatisfied with their actual lives in some way or another and entices them with "a game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind", but through exposure to a realm of pure nightmares the players learn to appreciate said world all the more.
242
243	[[WMG: Jumanji is somehow linked to [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Gruntilda Winkybunion]]]]
244	Because why not? Magical? Check. RhymesOnADime? Check. Old? Check and double check. Perhaps this was the game Grunty made when she was trapped in L.O.G's game studio. I mean, she lives in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals, so she had plenty of inspiration.
245
246	[[WMG: Billy Jessup ended up becoming the father of Kevin from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ed Edd n Eddy}}'']]
247
248	[[WMG: The exterminator was Billy Jessup.]]
249	A one-time schoolyard bully is ''exactly'' the sort of person who would needlessly tell a couple of kids he doesn't even know that a gruesome child-murder reputedly took place in the house they're moving in to.
250
251	[[WMG: The game lets you win at the last possible moment.]]
252	Since Judy was dying (or may have already died) when Alan rolled the last time, if he didn’t win the game couldn’t have been finished, and so nobody else could play it ever again. The game doesn’t want to be “killed”, but it also wants to give its players a ride through hell, so it pushes the dice to roll the correct number at the last possible moment.
253

Context WMG / Jumanji