We’re Not Really Strangers (WNRS) is a game comparable to our group’s Love Island Board Game concept. Both are get-to-know-you social games, in which the end goal of playing the game is to have made a more meaningful connection with the people you are playing with. We’re Not Really Strangers is a card game that exploded in popularity in the past few years, partially due to the unique branding and message of the game. It involves three levels of questions– Level 1: Perception, Level 2: Connection, and Level 3: Reflection– in which one player draws a question from the pile, and another player must answer honestly. After a designated number of questions from one Level, players can advance to the next and unlock questions that are more prying and intimate.
The set-up of our Love Island board game is a bit more elaborate, but has a similar mechanism for advancing through levels. Players will be randomly assigned into “couples,” and the goal of the game is to prove that your couple connection is the strongest through various games and question-answering exercises. Level 1 of our game is Storytelling: couples will have one minute to brainstorm answers to questions about their relationship, such as “How did you meet?” and “What’s the worst fight you’ve ever had?” This level echoes the question-answering mechanic of WNRS. However, these questions involve more imagination and make-believe, and through the couple assignment mechanism, players will be able to get to know one other player more as they work as a team and brainstorm.
Level 2 of our game is Intimacy. Players will go through many challenges to prove their connection to their partner, including choosing their partner’s hand out of a crowd blindfolded, earning points in word association games, etc… Similar to WNRS, Level 2 unlocks another dimension for players to connect. While we were prototyping Love Island board game, we realized that the choice to use games instead of just questions is effective in fostering connection through playfulness, laughter, touch, etc. with your partner– this contrasts from our experience playing WNRS, where questions remain serious and somber and our experience included much less laughter. Another difference is that there are no winners in WNRS, whereas one couple emerges as the strongest from the Love Island board game. Introducing an element of competition forces players to come together as a team and bond from experiencing victory/loss together.
The aesthetics of both WNRS and our Love Island board game align with fellowship and discovery, as players feel a sense of comradery as they move through rounds together and uncover new questions/games through which they can connect. My friends said “What makes We’re Not Really Strangers fun is that unlocking new rounds is a physical way of seeing what connections we are making with each other.” These two games could even deliver an element of sense pleasure– when my friends and I reflected after playing WNRS, we agreed that we felt emotional connection, vulnerability, and even discomfort when faced with a revealing question. While these two games appear very dissimilar in the set up and premise, the same aesthetics that drive people to play WNRS will drive them to play the Love Island board game.
On top of the original We’re Not Really Strangers card game kit, the company also sells variations including the Self-reflection kit, couples kit, break-up kit, self-love kit, etc…. This offers interesting possibilities of expanding from our current Love Island board game in the future, where the questions, games, and levels could be specifically tailored for a certain emotion, situation, or relationship. 
