How to play.
Group your cards in piles according to the their category with the category face up (your cards will already be grouped when opening your box for the first time). It might be tempting, but don’t flip the cards and read the questions on the other side, it takes away from the mystique.
Next, order your piles in three rows of two with the category cards face up.
Card Setup
Every explorer (and by explorer I mean whoever is participating, you’re an explorer now) takes a turn choosing a category in order to unlock their question. To do this, they must either sing or theatrically announce their category of choice.
Once you have unlocked your question, you can then flip over your card and read aloud your fated question. Once you are ready, you can begin to honestly and openly share your response for a maximum of two minutes. (This two minute cap applies to every response throughout the game).
*Take a moment to process your question, your timer does not begin until you begin to speak.
*You don’t have to use up the entire two minutes, but it is yours for the taking.
When you have finished sharing your response you close it up by saying “ultimate answer” so that the other explorers know that is all you want to share for that question (explorers will do this every time they are done sharing).
While an explorer is taking their turn speaking, the other explorers are actively-listening, meaning they are discarding any thoughts unrelated to what is right in front of them and simply focussing on what is being said and what they might want to know more about.
Once the explorer whose turn it is says “ultimate answer”, all of the other explorers must ask a minimum and maximum of one follow up question. (However, if you are only playing with 2-3 explorers in total, I recommend giving 2-3 questions per turn.)
*For extra curious explorers that have multiple questions, they are encouraged to write down their additional questions and ask them after the game, otherwise it creates exploration imbalance and brain fye.
Once every has taken a turn asking their question or sharing their kind/supportive/validating statement, the game continues until every explorer has taken a turn choosing a category and cooperatively self-exploring.
Game Instructions
Game Signals
When you have completed your response to a question you say “ultimate answer” ….every time.
When you have a question ready, you hold up a peace sign with your fingers (because we are always coming in peace with our curious questions) and the person can call on you to ask your questions.
When you have a kind, supportive, or validating statement to share with a person taking their turn (after they have ultimate answered) you put your finger on your nose and they can call on you to share your statement.
Game Guidelines
Every explorer is safe to express themself freely an authentically.
There are no wrong answers.
If you ever receive a question you don’t wont to answer, you never have to answer it.
Roles
Roles can be assigned at the beginning of the game but can also be rotated after each person’s turn. It’s strongly encouraged to rotate the role of the Gratitude Giver, but the choice is yours.
The Time Keeper - The time keeper is responsible for setting a timer every time it is a person’s turn to speak. If using a phone, be sure to silence everything else so that you are staying present and attuned to the game.
The Balance Enforcer - The balance enforcer is responsible for cultivating conversational balance by making sure no one is speaking when it is not their turn to speak or if they have not been called on to speak. The balance enforcer may intervene at anytime by either making an outlandish sound or obnoxious gesture to intervene between people speaking out of turn.
The Gratitude Giver- The gratitude giver thanks a person once they have completed their full turn, because after all it is a privilege for others to share themselves with us. Examples of this thanks include “thank you for sharing all of that with us”, or giving specific examples of things you are grateful that they shared.
Game Objective
The objective of the game is to learn more about yourself and your fellow explorers through cooperative self-exploration. It is a way of connecting you closer to each other through non-judgmental curiosity, active-listening, and honest self-expression.
Question Asking Tips
When deciding a question: you can ask something directly related to the person’s original question, you can ask a question related to the person’s initial response, you could ask a question about something that you personally want to know about that person, and can also wait for other people to ask questions and relate your questions to one of those responses. There are no bad or wrong questions (well unless you’re purposely trying to accuse, blame, shame, or offend someone -those are bad questions) so I encourage you to go wherever your mind wants to meander to in this practice of nonjudgmental curiosity.
Other Optimal Playing Tips
It can be really helpful to have something to write with so that as someone is taking their turn speaking, you can focus on what they’re saying and write down a word or line that stood out to you that you may want to base your question on. The goal is to not distract yourself from the person talking.
Try not to put pressure on yourself to ask a question and instead simply listen and see what comes up for you after a person as “ultimate answered”.