Mr. Bones' Wild Ride — Giant skeleton beside RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 track with 'The Ride Never Ends' sign

Mr. Bones' Wild Ride

2012copypastaclassic

Published September 7, 2026

Mr. Bones' Wild Ride started as a 4chan /v/ thread in March 2012 showing a monstrous Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 track that trapped 38 riders for four in-game years. The greentext, capped by a top-hatted skeleton and the sign 'The ride never ends,' became one of the defining gaming-forum copypastas of the 2010s.

copypasta memes gaming 4chan memes skeleton memes 2012 memes

Overview

Mr. Bones' Wild Ride is a gaming copypasta built around a custom Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 track that stretched 30,696 feet and locked 38 virtual passengers into a four-year in-game trip1. The payoff is the exit path, which loops guests straight back to the entrance under a top-hatted skeleton and a sign reading 'The ride never ends'2.

The joke works as a screenshot set with greentext narration, where riders scream 'I want to get off Mr. Bones Wild Ride' while the OP calmly reports on their doomed circuit1. It got tangled up with the 2spooky wave of skeleton humor and the song 'Spooky, Scary Skeletons' by Andrew Gold, which is why the top-hatted bone man became the visual shorthand for the whole bit2.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan /v/ (origin), Reddit (viral spread)
Creator
Anonymous 4chan /v/ user
Date
2012

On March 26th, 2012, an anonymous poster on 4chan's /v/ board uploaded a series of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 screenshots documenting a custom coaster that took four in-game years to complete, with greentext captions of the trapped riders' complaints1. The thread pulled more than 325 replies before it was archived2.

A separate creepypasta about a visitor to Busch Gardens who stumbles onto a mysterious ride and finds a giant skeleton tipping its hat next to the sign 'Mr. Bone's Wild Ride' surfaced in the same window and got welded onto the RCT2 screenshots in retellings3.

How It Spread

Two days after the original post, on March 28th, 2012, Redditor lessonplan reposted the screenshots to r/gaming under the title 'One does not simply get off of Mr. Bones' Wild Ride,' where they picked up over 4,250 upvotes and 225 comments before archival4. On April 3rd, 2012, FunnyJunk user SweatyAnReady mirrored the same image set and pulled more than 19,500 views and 323 upvotes over the next six months5.

On May 10th, 2012, a dedicated 'Mr. Bones' Wild Ride' Facebook page went up and gathered around 150 likes in its first five months, and on May 22nd a follow-up /v/ thread cleared 875 replies before it was archived2. On April 2nd, 2015, YouTuber Pictoghost uploaded a LEGO stop-motion adaptation of the creepypasta version, keeping the bit alive well past its 4chan run2.

The format kept jumping games and platforms: on November 28th, 2016, Redditor drumbtr posted a Planet Coaster recreation of the ride to r/PlanetCoaster that hit roughly 1,200 points and 200 comments6, and on August 8th, 2017, YouTuber DanielFromSL folded 'Mr. Bones Wild Ride' references into a Garry's Mod griefing video2. Red Bubble carried 'I survived Mr. Bone's Wild Ride' shirts featuring the top-hatted skeleton as merch tie-ins7.

How to Use This Meme

The template is usually a screenshot or short clip of an inescapable loop, layered with the caption 'The ride never ends' or 'I want to get off Mr. Bones Wild Ride.' People typically drop it on any situation that feels like a doom spiral, from long game grinds to bad news cycles, and often pair it with the top-hatted skeleton image.

Frequently Asked Questions