Pretty simple phenomenon.
The Ouija Board and all similar games work based on the concept of the movements of two or more autonomous and subtle users who are oblivious to the movements of the other. Both users hold onto the item with the mindset that it may move on its own. When one person inevitably moves the item just slightly (fatigue, nervousness, etc.) the other person will interpret that as a movement happening outside of his or her control. This causes that individual to react and also shift the object slightly and subtly, which causes the same feeling of autonomous movement for the original user. The physical reactions of both users cause the other to believe that "someone else" is moving the item. And basically, it's true. "Someone else" is moving it--the other person. But all the movements are reactive, slight, and non-purposive and masked by the reactive movements of the other. So if one user feels the movements of the partner (movement A) and reacts slightly causing the other user to feel movement B and asks, "Did you feel that?" (meaning movement A), the other user will be able to say, "Yeah," (referring to movement B) and so on and so forth.
This is why the game requires two or more people--to give autonomous movement free of "all" users. The game doesn't work with one person using both hands because subtle movements from both hands would still feel within the control of the only player.
This is the same with all sorts of variations of the game, such as Japan's "Angel-San" which became very popular among school kids. The concept was that you take a sheet of paper and draw out letters, numbers, and characters and two "players" hold onto a pen or a coin and "wait" for it to point to something. Because of the fine motor skills necessary to grip or press a pen, coin, or cheap piece of tear-shaped plastic, the subtle movements of the arm and hand from one user causes another in the second user and so together they "move" seemingly randomly or by "another force." Even the concept of an object "jutting violently away" can be explained by the worked up mindset after prolonged play and growing muscle fatigue resulting in a less organized and jarring movement that appears to be out of the control of the tired player and completely out of the control of the other player.
Of course, this is all further facilitated by the fact that people playing have the predisposed mindset that "something" could or will happen and when it "does," it only confirms their beliefs that something metaphysical has happened. In any normal context where two people are doing something that requires fine motor skills together, they would otherwise assume that any misdirection (such as painting calligraphy together) was just caused by differing actions between two independent minds trying to act as one.
This also explains why many players report that even if there was movement, the "message" was a bunch of gibberish, with no cohesive words being constructed. The "Yes and No" question is contaminated by the fact that the letters only have to be hit once to constitute an "answer" and that the subconscious answer from both users will be more likely to cause them to move to one of the two options. The breakdown really occurs when complex answers need to be given and that makes it less feasible for a system working on random slight movement reactions and fine motor skills to create something meaningful.
Try it--grab a pencil or paintbrush and with a friend, try to write out a sentence together, with you and a friend holding the pencil together with your writing hands (one over the other or however). It will feel like "something else" is moving it. In the case where you both know what you're trying to write together, it will be more obvious, but if you decide to just hold it and see what you end up marking on the page, it will feel more uncontrolled and random.
I imagine that if you and a partner had to do this same set up but using focus through placing both your feet on a gigantic item on a proportionally large board with both of you sitting in rolling chairs until it moved around, you'd get nothing. Similarly, if you didn't have a partner, you might get movement from fatigue in your two hands, but you wouldn't "feel" the other.
The Ouija Board and all similar games work based on the concept of the movements of two or more autonomous and subtle users who are oblivious to the movements of the other. Both users hold onto the item with the mindset that it may move on its own. When one person inevitably moves the item just slightly (fatigue, nervousness, etc.) the other person will interpret that as a movement happening outside of his or her control. This causes that individual to react and also shift the object slightly and subtly, which causes the same feeling of autonomous movement for the original user. The physical reactions of both users cause the other to believe that "someone else" is moving the item. And basically, it's true. "Someone else" is moving it--the other person. But all the movements are reactive, slight, and non-purposive and masked by the reactive movements of the other. So if one user feels the movements of the partner (movement A) and reacts slightly causing the other user to feel movement B and asks, "Did you feel that?" (meaning movement A), the other user will be able to say, "Yeah," (referring to movement B) and so on and so forth.
This is why the game requires two or more people--to give autonomous movement free of "all" users. The game doesn't work with one person using both hands because subtle movements from both hands would still feel within the control of the only player.
This is the same with all sorts of variations of the game, such as Japan's "Angel-San" which became very popular among school kids. The concept was that you take a sheet of paper and draw out letters, numbers, and characters and two "players" hold onto a pen or a coin and "wait" for it to point to something. Because of the fine motor skills necessary to grip or press a pen, coin, or cheap piece of tear-shaped plastic, the subtle movements of the arm and hand from one user causes another in the second user and so together they "move" seemingly randomly or by "another force." Even the concept of an object "jutting violently away" can be explained by the worked up mindset after prolonged play and growing muscle fatigue resulting in a less organized and jarring movement that appears to be out of the control of the tired player and completely out of the control of the other player.
Of course, this is all further facilitated by the fact that people playing have the predisposed mindset that "something" could or will happen and when it "does," it only confirms their beliefs that something metaphysical has happened. In any normal context where two people are doing something that requires fine motor skills together, they would otherwise assume that any misdirection (such as painting calligraphy together) was just caused by differing actions between two independent minds trying to act as one.
This also explains why many players report that even if there was movement, the "message" was a bunch of gibberish, with no cohesive words being constructed. The "Yes and No" question is contaminated by the fact that the letters only have to be hit once to constitute an "answer" and that the subconscious answer from both users will be more likely to cause them to move to one of the two options. The breakdown really occurs when complex answers need to be given and that makes it less feasible for a system working on random slight movement reactions and fine motor skills to create something meaningful.
Try it--grab a pencil or paintbrush and with a friend, try to write out a sentence together, with you and a friend holding the pencil together with your writing hands (one over the other or however). It will feel like "something else" is moving it. In the case where you both know what you're trying to write together, it will be more obvious, but if you decide to just hold it and see what you end up marking on the page, it will feel more uncontrolled and random.
I imagine that if you and a partner had to do this same set up but using focus through placing both your feet on a gigantic item on a proportionally large board with both of you sitting in rolling chairs until it moved around, you'd get nothing. Similarly, if you didn't have a partner, you might get movement from fatigue in your two hands, but you wouldn't "feel" the other.
I'm gonna be sitting here all day 
](/images/smilies/bang.gif "Brick wall ](*,)")
