About a year ago I had the idea for a game I had envisioned designed to spark storytelling amongst players—and my own daughter, Alexandra, was enchanted by the idea and ran with it.

Since then, we’ve learned a lot about game production, finding our tribe of game enthusiasts, and marketing the finished game to the world. In this post, I’ll bring you up-to-date on our discoveries about game creation in general (and Tell Me Another, specifically), and about our recent re-design of the box and cards.

You can find out more about the rules and backstory of Tell Me Another here, but in short, we began the project as a way to connect across the distance from my home in Des Moines and hers in Lima, Peru. This game speaks to our passions—mine for storytelling, hers for game and strategy—and our shared pursuit of ideas to ground our lives in meaning and connection. 

We’ve enjoyed success in sharing Tell Me Another with friends and family, and Alexandra has notched up her work by spreading the word through her network in Lima (we designed the game in English and Spanish). She has discovered a myriad of venues where the game is particularly applicable in her groups, and this encouraged us to forge ahead with a re-design.

TELL ME ANOTHER: FOR WRITERS WORKSHOPS

Alexandra has shared the game with her writer’s workshop in Lima. I find it exciting that she speaks her second language of Spanish fluently, not to mention that she also finds time and ability to write creatively in her second tongue as well. She reports that her fellow writers in the group find the prompts of Tell Me Another to be an excellent source in launching ideas for creative writing projects.

Sometimes, the biggest hurdle for writers is knowing what they want to say, even before they maneuver their way through their thoughts convert them to written words. With practice in sharing stories with the help of Tell Me Another, writers can kick their creative process into gear.

TELL ME ANOTHER: FOR TEACHING AND TEAM BUILDING

Trying to learn conversational English or Spanish? Alexandra has worked with Spanish and English-speaking groups in Lima using Tell Me Another to spark conversation. The questions help participants focus on subjects and on crafting stories to maximize their burgeoning vocabularies.

An added discovery of working with language groups has been seeing how storytelling brings people together. We’re testing use of Tell Me Another in the business and organizational setting, too, as a means of helping others develop richer relationships and spark creativity in the workplace.

BRING OUT THE STORYTELLER: THEATRICS WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Have you heard of the rise in data showing how people today are experiencing higher levels of loneliness and disconnect in our high-tech world? We’ve lost the art of engagement in face-to-face interactions, and people are starting to feel it. Ross Stevenson’s article “Disconnection in A Connected World” over at Thrive Global shares compelling data of the uptick in levels of depression, even in some of the historically happier countries in the world, due to technology—and he also offers insights as to why this is happening.

Every day we’re bombarded with information from social media and tech platforms—with as much as 80% of that information being subjective or downright untrue—and Stevenson explains that our brains weren’t designed to process such vast swaths of data. And in all of the sharing going on, we’re missing the art of gathering a true sense of knowing each other.

Tell Me Another is about genuine interpersonal communication. We’ve been lucky to have our friends and family play along with us and share their experiences. We’d love to capture photos and stories in future posts of others who get their copy of Tell Me Another, too, to spread the movement of the importance of making time for conversation in person!

Whether the stories you tell are truth or bluff, learning to craft and tell a story is important. Understanding the elements of a story to include beginning, middle and end and then throwing in a bit of theatrics is a fun exercise that can bring us all back to the moment. When you tell any story while playing Tell Me Another, think of yourself as the temporary host of the moment, your most theatrical side fully ramped up to deliver a show. Here is an example of storytelling and theatrics at work over at The Moth with storyteller Michaela Murphy:

TELL ME ANOTHER RE-DESIGN IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Are you seeking ways to dial down the tech in your life and bring back the art of conversation and personal connection? We encourage you to make a space for a gathering and pull out Tell Me Another to spark storytelling—for discoveries about yourself and about others.

ABOUT STORIED GIFTS

Sherry is the founder of Storied Gifts a personal publishing service of family and company histories. She and her team help clients curate and craft their stories into books. When not writing or interviewing, Sherry spends loads of time with her grandchildren and lives in Des Moines, Iowa.

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Need a beautiful infusion of inspiration for your storied life? Please check out the Storied Gifts Shop where we offer Wearable Wisdom & Daily Inspirations.

The shop is a mother and daughter venture for Sherry and Alexandra Borzo of Content In Motion. They both work to help their client's stories sing. The shop is there effort to inspire a focus on healthy minds for everyone through positive thought.

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