Ungame Boardgame a Conversation Starter
We played Ungame this afternoon. I first came across this boardgame back in 1980 when we used it as a conversation starter at a Scripture Union high school camp I was helping to run.
Ungame has a start but no particular finish point. It’s not a race. It’s an opportunity to talk and listen. When you land on the ‘Ungame’ square you pick up a card, and answer in your own way without anyone being able to provide cues or make comment. When you land on a ‘comment’ square you then have the opportunity to ask a question or make a comment. At first it seems artificial. But after a while people get used to the idea that listening is as much fun as talking.
Our version of the game has three levels of ‘Ungame’ cards. Easy conversation, Deep and Meaningful, and Christian. We started off talking about childhood memories, went through to concerns and dreams for the future, and finished talking about spiritual experiences.
The game was devised by a woman called Rhea Zakich in Southern California. As a social activist she damaged her voice - developing nodules in her throat. Fearing she might lose the capacity of speech she started thinking about the power of self-expression. And so the game was born. It was published by Talicor. Rhea has written a review of the game at Amazon.com
We play Ungame a few times a year. It certainly helps to bring out the voices of the quieter members of the family or group. And people who talk a lot, find they’re talking about new things they may not have thought about for a long time.
