This post might only make sense for you if you are a Flow Game practitioner yourself, or if you read this article first :)
I recently feel a longing to root my practices and further evolve the tools I am using so they may support us in fostering a deeper connection to our senses and local enviornments.
That's one of the many reasons I created an additional set of cards for my Flow Game: Smell, taste, texture, sound, movement, and local image cards - or shortly: Jester Cards!
The idea has been shaping over time, and came to life when playing a round of Flow Game with our last online training cohort, feeling into a question around how to invite all of our senses. Collectively, we started weaving possibilities - and this is the thread we spun together:
Recipe for Flow Game Jester Cards
6 white cards from each direction
a water-proof pen (colour of your choice)
a pinch of good energy
1 0 minutes
Take out some of the white cards from all directions in your deck
Write on one card of each direction ‘smell!’, ‘taste!’, ‘listen!’ 'feel!','look!', 'move!'
Mix the cards into your deck, according to your chosen senses (see below)
Enjoy the moments of surprise while playing! :)
How to use the cards?
For onsite games, as a practice of preparation and getting into my hosting mind/body, I enjoy browsing the surroundings where I will host, and collect things with a special feel, smell, taste. I take pictures and record sounds. Back inside, I decide which smells, tastes, sounds etc. will represent which direction, adding my newly named cards to the deck accordingly. (I don't always have all elements for all directions)
After the game, I bring the elements I borrowed back to their place of origin with a bow of gratitude.
For online games, I use the sounds & images from previous games - a collection of my experiences! I invite people to touch, smell, and taste their local environments - co-creating the cards as we move through the game.
My experience using these cards in both my team & personal deck is that they increase the level of playfulness & serendipity. It might well happen that we don't come across any jester card in a game - or all of them. I love to see the initial hesitation in people's faces when asking them to nibble on a piece of mint, or find something in their room that reminds them of 'the East' - and I love the awe when they make meaning through their senses.
My big invite goes out to all of you to try this as well - and share what you're learning!
In playfulness,
Sophie
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