A game-playing boy who gets trapped in his phone, a piece of coral from Waikiki waters where a boy drowned, and a sad little ghost in a hospital elevator were some of the top contenders among the 99 entries in this year’s Star-Advertiser Halloween Fiction Contest.

The story of the first-place winner, “Tokens,” was purportedly told to the narrator by his grandfather, following the time-honored, one-step-removed format of many horror classics. The author is Wynn Takato Oshiro, 62, an English teacher at Waipahu Intermediate School.

“I’ve been dabbling in fiction most of my life,” Oshiro wrote in an email, adding that much of his story derives from his own experience “but with embellishments.”

The judges’ comments: “‘Tokens’ is a simply told story that effectively builds a sense of dread for what awaits the graveyard trespassers,” said Features Editor Christie Wilson, while columnist Lee Cataluna found crackseed filcher Rodney to be “a totally recognizable character (I knew a guy in high school who bragged about drinking graveyard beer).”

Second place went to “Mililani Mauka,” by Keith Okazaki, 51, a retired local bank manager who said he started writing fiction in order to enter the Star-Advertiser Halloween contest in 2015, in which he placed third.

“Many elements of the story are loosely based on spooky stuff that actually occurred,” Okazaki said, “like my 2-year-old seeing a little man in his bedroom.”

“The writer allows the possibility that the whole thing could have been imagined, which leaves the reader guessing,” Cataluna wrote.

Patricia Godfrey, whose subtle, chilling “Too Many Slippers” is set in an old Big Island ranch house, won third place for the second year in a row.

Fourth place went to “Waikiki,” by W. Kurata.

“The writer captured the feel of an older person calling to mind a sadness from their childhood,” judge Cataluna wrote. “Not everything was explained, and that vagueness and dreamlike quality was what made the story haunting.”

Besides that haunting feeling, the winners shared humor, local settings and characters — and kept within the limit of 650 words.