My group played We Aren’t Really Strangers – a vulnerability card game by Koreen Odiney.
The game is meant to be played by at least two people, regardless of their intimacy level or how well they know each other. The game’s message is pretty clear just from the title alone – we aren’t really strangers and we will discover that as we play along and reveal more and more about ourselves.
The cards are split by “intimacy level.” The first level is “Perception,” so each player draws a card and everyone has to give their perception on them based on the prompt. This mechanic forces people to reveal their biases towards others and allows the other users to gain perspective on how this person is automatically seen and treated based off their looks alone. At each level, the cards become deeper and more uncomfortable to share. One card asks to share information about their father. The player became uncomfortable and choose to skirt the question. Even lack of answering is an answer in itself.
This game leverages people’s surprising amount of willingness to share about themselves if given the space to do so. The person in front of you becomes humanized to you no matter what. The game works because of the proper intimacy leveling. At first everyone is really awkward but realize the Perception questions are easier to answer then they think, and then as they move on their comfort level with the other players increases as the uncomfortable questions increase.
Compared to other games in the genre, I prefer We Aren’t Really Strangers because the prompts are kind and do a good job of opening the users to discussion and disclosure, even more disclosure than required for the game. I can see how the game itself can take hours though and in interst of time, players found themselves skipping around questions.
