For this week’s game play I decided to play Truth or Dare. As a middle school classic, it brings back memories of late night sleepovers where truths outed you to a whole school and dares promised to send you to a realm of social or physical destruction. As a fellowship game, the game is usually meant to build comradery and can be themed after whatever the players want it to be. For some, the game is sexually charged. For others, it is emotionally shedding. Last night, this game was tea spilling. To progress in the game, each round one member of the game asks another, “Truth or Dare?” If the other member chooses truth, the group gets to decide questions for the player that they must answer. If they say,”dare”, they have to do a challenge. This game differentiates itself by being one of the first of its kind. It requires zero materials (including graphic design) and can be played by 2 or 100 people. It is easy to understand and has many variations. While it is widely accepted that this game is only fun to the extent that members agree to do all or most of their requests, generally the group does not want to make anyone feel overly uncomfortable and thus the flexibility to switch over to the opposite choice of truth or dare. In some events members must advocate for themselves and ask not to do either or bargain for mercy. Having a defined out or alternative would serve this game well. In addition, given the elementary nature of the game, adding alcohol or something similar allows it to feel more like an “adult” game. During the game play, there were struggles to give dares or truths so it might be beneficial to have a suggestive stack for when creativity is down. Playing this game, people seem to be fairly open about their answers, but only to an extent. Some questions under pressure cause social anxiety so having the not overly invasive questions seem to be key. Perhaps, even different types of questions for different types of groups.
