Pantsu Getta is Japan's latest online craze, according to Spa! (7/4), which notes the booty in the Internet-based treasure hunting game is women's underpants that have been hidden in public places for guys to seek out whatever way they can.

Pantsu Getta bulletin boards contain posts from women providing real-time clues to where they may have hidden a pair of their unwanted panties.

Pantsu Getta, a Japanese term derived from the English words "panties" and "get," is the name given to the guys taking part in the online bounty hunt, as well as to the game itself.

A game starts when a woman posts a message announcing that she has hidden some undies in a certain area. Anybody interested in searching for the undergarments can post questions, which the woman can answer, and theoretically provide more specific clues about the location of the lingerie. When somebody finds a pair of panties, they're supposed to report all the details on the same bulletin board so that anybody still searching will know they can stop. On occasion, several pantsu getta will assemble at the same time and search for skids en masse.

Hard to believe, the men's weekly acknowledges, but then it produces Yasuo Matsumoto, a man who insists he is a legitimate pantsu getta, though he uses a false name.

"Until you've actually gone out and found a pair of panties, it's hard to explain the sheer thrill the game gives. Loads of the posts are BS and you've gotta accept that if you play the game, you're gonna get suckered. But, you really can find panties sometimes," Matsumoto tells Spa! "At a time when there are no dreams and no hope, this game offers guys a chance to live out at least one fantasy. And for free!"

Matsumoto says he took a disbelieving attitude into Pantsu Getta when he first got involved, thinking that there were no women who'd willingly take part in such a game. But, after he'd found four pairs of panties, he's now an addict.

"I get involved in about 20 games a month, but about half of these are just tricks where nothing is hidden at all. Last month, I found four pairs of panties, which I reckon is probably a miraculous recovery rate," he tells the men's weekly. "There are plenty of veteran Pantsu Getta out there who've been playing the game for a long time yet never managed to get some panties of their own."

Even when they are legitimately given, simply following a woman's instructions doesn't always mean the unearthing of undies, with plenty of obstacles and tricks often in the path of the eager Pantsu Getta fans.

"The game is not without its pain. One night, I was once searching around a tree outside a bank, using a flashlight to try and find some panties that were supposed to be there, when a cop rolled up. It looked really suspicious and the cop started asking me about what I was doing. When I told him that I was taking part in an Internet treasure hunt, he believed me and left me alone," Matsumoto says with a laugh. "The scariest time I've been involved in was when one guy looking for panties started flashing a knife around. There are other guys who post messages threatening to post photos exposing guys searching around for women's panties planted in public places. These troubles, though, only make the thrill of actually finding panties seem even greater."

As well as the thrill of discovery, Pantsu Getta can also apparently look forward to added extras at times.

"When you find some panties and write your report on the bulletin board, you're also posting your mail address. Sometimes, the woman who hid the panties will contact you, sending over pictures of her wearing the underwear or, even better, taking it off," the self-professed Pantsu Getta says. "There are pleasant surprises involved. But there are also rules that have to be obeyed and manners apply. The worst guys are the ones who just troll, never taking part in the online discussions, but watching everything that goes on. If you don't obey the rules, we'll lose our biggest treasures of all -- the women who hide the panties in the first place. The rules must be obeyed!"

Adding to the complicated etiquette of online panty treasure hunts is the fact that many guys are getting involved for something other than the secreted skids.

"The more you do it, the less the whole thing becomes about the panties. You start enjoying the thrill of the treasure hunt, just like you did when you were a kid," Matsumoto, the admitted panty hunter, tells Spa! "If you want to meet a woman, there are plenty of places you can go. If it's just a sexual thing, there are plenty of places you can go for that, too. But, for the sheer pride and self-satisfaction you get at having found a pair of hidden panties can only be experienced through actually finding a pair of panties. Think about it. Is there anything on earth, apart from money, likely to inspire such frantic searches as these as women's panties?"

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