There are no rules! Here are some suggestions:
Arrival
When people enter your house and kick off their shoes, invite them to take a card off the top of the deck sitting on a table or counter next to the door. Tell them not to look at the other cards or trade with anybody at the party. Encourage them to converse about their question with the people they encounter. When they make it to the dinner table, invite people to share insights.
One Conversation
Set the deck in the center of the table. Someone draws first, reads the question, and answers it. Other guests respond and contribute, creating a conversation around that question. When it feels organic to move on, invite another guest to draw a card. Keep repeating the process.
Popcorn
Randomly invite guests to pick and read a card.
Solo or as a Creative Tool
Lay on a couch, perhaps with a cup of tea within reach. Go though the deck. Take your time, following the process “I Think . . . Therefore I Read and Reflect.”
Use the questions as writing prompts for a journal entry, starting a book, a solo show, etc.
Devil’s Advocate
Pick a card answer or have the question answered. Ask why? Keep asking why until you feel you have exhausted the possibilities of discovery. Good luck…
Group Intimacy
A guest rifles through the deck, randomly picks a question, and then chooses a guest to answer. The next participant repeats the process.
Be a Scout
Take a few cards with you to a business meeting. Introduce the cards. Fast track breaking the ice with meaning. Say something like, “Oh, hey, I came across these interesting cards. I like this one…”Then just read it. They’ll respond.
Ice Breaker
Works with cards you have pre-selected. Go around the table, or video screen, letting each guest introduce themselves, read a question, and let them answer. Repeat the process or stick with the same question for everyone.
More Ideas…
Hosting an event?
- Put three cards into three different envelopes. Write the same name of three people on the outside of each of those envelopes. Instruct those individuals to find each other and go over the cards .
- Set the cards in a stack on the registration table. Let each participant shuffle and select a card off the top. No peeking at the others.
- Give the cards to a staff member of the catering company (should there be one) and have them set cards strategically around the lunch area. Give out less cards than there are guests.
- Have participants share some of the best conversations or insights from the deck at the top of the next session.
- Make an impact – place a deck in the swag bags.
MORE?
- Hand out a card in an elevator or in line at the market. Let the person take the card as a random act of kindness.
- Give a single card to someone you’d like to meet at a cafe, along with a cup of coffee.
- Memorize your favorites and feel confident at parties. Just one card is good for numerous gatherings.
- Take them on a long flight to make good use of that time. Just set them on your little tray; conversation will grow organically, starting with, “What are those?”
- Be bold: walk up to somebody and say, “Can I ask you a question?”
- They make good beach reading – you never know who you are going to meet and share an umbrella with.
- Give this deck, perhaps along with a notebook, to your parents and/or grandparents and encourage them to begin their memoir..
- Beautifully-designed items always make good gifts.
- Take them! The theme here is to just have them with you. Be prepared.
- Send a deck to someone you love who lives in a different city, state, or country. Go through a few of them every time you talk, until you work through the entire deck. Keep track of your favorite cards. Revisit the questions later. See if your perspective has changed a year later.
- Don’t be alarmed if you can only get through a few cards at each gathering. When people start thinking, and a real conversation flows, time starts to slow down.
- We also encourage you to develop your own constructs around this game that suit you and your company. We’d love it if you shared your discoveries with us.
Additional Play Strategies
There are seven actionable cards in this deck. You could pull these cards out of the deck and play separately or shuffle the actionable cards into the deck and play them by chance.
Ultimately, U Think, Therefore U Rule
There are no rules on how to play the deck. Once you are familiar with it, you will come up with your own methods of play. I strongly suggest not to allow single-word answers. Address short responses with the wondrous tools, “Why?”, “Why not?”, and “How?”
