Explorers
| Explorers | |
|---|---|
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| Designer: | Pete Law and Katy Beale |
| Year: | unknown |
| Players: | 2+ |
| Stuff required: | one blindfold and ten gold-wrapped sweets or chocolate coins for every pair of players (bring spare sweets as they'll be nicked by your friends, well by everyone really). Optional but very helpful - paper, staper and coloured pens to make crowns. |
| Crew required: | One. |
| Preparation: | Fifteen minutes. |
| Time required: | half an hour or more if you like. |
| Place required: | Anywhere safe for someone in a blindfold with a guide e.g. an office, a park. |
| Activities: | Imagination, creativity, disorientation. |
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Setting the scene
This game is inspired by the stories explorers told their royal patrons about unknown countries the seas, to inspire them to fund their voyages. Imagine Christopher Columbus taking the King of Spain for a walk in his garden and asking him to close his eyes and imagine the exquisite artifacts he will bring him from China, the Americas and the East Indies.
Rules
Players are put into pairs (though see 'Other versions' below) and randomly one is made an Explorer and the other and Queen or King.
Optional - While you're waiting for players to settle or arrive have each Queen or King make a crown. It helps them settle in to their roles and make friends.
Queens and Kings are blindfolded and given ten pieces of gold (chocolate coins or other gold-wrapped sweets).
For ten minutes or more (it's best to agree the time when you explain the rules) the explorers will lead their King of Queen around. Their job is lead their patron to five interesting things in the game space, tell a tall tale about them as if they were incredible objects the Explorer has seen on their travels and promise to bring them back if they’ll fund you for just one more voyage. E.g. describe a firehouse as the glistening red snake of Indo-China etc.
If the King of Queen would like to take their blindfold off to see the object described they must negotiate a price in pieces of gold with the explorer. This is the cost of the voyage.
The aim for Kings and Queens is to purchase wonderful objects for their kingdom but also to spend their money wisely as they might want to have some left to enjoy themselves.
The aim for Explorers is to get as much money as possible.
Advice for players
Once you've explained the instructions separate the explorers from the Kings and Queens and give each group some advice.
Ask Kings and Queens to think about their kingdoms, what their like and what sort of objects they want to obtain to to increase their standing in the Known World. Advise them to question the explorers.
Provide explorers with a list of five or more suggested objects you've identified in the game space already so that they have something to fall back on. Brief them on how they might begin to tell their stories: like fairytales with a regular form e.g. "This X comes from the land of Y. Made out of P and Q it was made R hundred years ago by a W. etc.". If you have time give them a few minutes, preferably in the game space, to absorb this and look for some inspiring objects. The Kings and Queens could finish their crowns while the explorers do this. If you explain that the Kings and Queens will feel unusual, hyper-imaginative and a bit disorientated under their blindfolds that usually helps too.
Other versions
You can play Explorers as a scheduled game or an ambient game for whoever approches you.
Try sending out groups with an additional Explorer or King or Queen. They will have fun playing off each other and may support each other and find it easier to make up stories. You'll need to give them some more money in this case.
Ten minutes of storytelling is a short game and twenty minutes can work, as can players swapping roles after ten or more minutes.
