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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A Colorado Springs family is mourning the loss of their 12-year-old son who died playing a dangerous game.

On Aug. 13, Gian Luc Jordan, or Luca as family and friends called him, was found passed out in his room with a belt around his neck. Gian Luc was in a coma for nearly five days before he passed away.

Police said the death of the seventh grade Mountain Ridge Middle School honor student was not suicide, but a result of playing what is called the "choking game."

"They do things to themselves to basically get choked," Teddi Dormann, a friend of the Jordan family, said. "Once they faint, then ideally they have a buddy or someone there to wake them up."

The "choking game" is said to be popular among young teens and is used to achieve a high by asphyxiation. According to the DB Foundation, "this high is resulting in a lack of oxygen to the brain while unconscious and once woken up, the oxygen and blood rush to the brain, creating a tingling high."

"The word among middle schoolers is this is something you can do where you can't get caught, it's not illegal and it isn't harmful to your body," Dormann said.

A memorial was held at New Life Church Thursday night to honor the memory of Gian Luc, where hundreds of family and friends described him as a talented, well-liked person.

"He just had a bright personality, always had a smile on his face," Gideon Davis, a friend and soccer teammate of Gian Luc, said. "I can't remember him ever saying a mean thing. He was just a great person."

Davis and some of Gian Luc's other friends said they had never heard of the choking game before.

"I heard it is just to get an euphoric, kind of high feeling that's safe in a way that is not using drugs," 12-year-old Davis said. "But it is just terrible."

Like Davis, the Jordan family did not know about the choking game before their son died. Now they are trying to spread awareness of the dangerous game to other families.

"We need to stop kids from playing the choking game, and join the fight against it," Petra Jordan, Gian Luc's mother, said in a press release. "If the parents, community and kids are not informed about the dangers of this game, more will play and more deaths will occur. Please join the fight against the choking game and save a life."

According to the Center for Disease Control, since May, 411 people in the U.S. have died from playing the choking game. The CDC estimates that 800-1000 kids between ages 10-19 die every year.

All the more reason the Jordan family and their friends want others to learn that the choking game is really no game at all.

"If you end up like Luca, you have no idea how much stress and discomfort it brings to everybody," Nick McLain, another friend of Gian Luc, said.