The Postcard Game
| The Postcard Game | |
|---|---|
| Designer: | Larkin' About |
| Year: | unknown |
| Players: | Unlimited |
| Stuff required: | Postcards, maps and pencils. (Stamps optional but recommended). |
| Crew required: | 1 |
| Preparation: | 1 hour or so |
| Time required: | Varies, can be durational with players doing other activities in between. |
| Place required: | Anywhere. Works well at big events where a lot is going on |
| Activities: | Finding, Drawing, Writing. |
| This is a playable game - it's finished, tested and ready to play. | |
 | |
The Postcard Game
A simple game helping people explore an event by filling in blanks on a postcard, drawing a picture and posting it to a friend. Players are given a pre-writen postcard that contains some blanks. The aim is to explore an event/city/festival/building looking for places/points of interest and filling in the blanks on the postcard. When all the blanks are filled in the player draws a picture on the front of the postcard and sends it to a friend.
Preparation
First decide on what you would like the players to search for. We've run this game at an event where the targets were art installations and at another where it functioned as an alternative tour of Manchester. Pick your targets to suit the event at which the game is happening; targets could include things people would only see by playing other games.
Write the text as you would a normal postcard. eg:
'Dear______, I've been at Larkin About having a great time. I saw a giant ______ running through the streets with ______ tied to its head.' etc.
The text should include a clue as to what/where to find the target word. We've also given out maps when we thought they would help; a combination of the clues on the card and the locations on the map helped people find the targets.
Once you've written your text print it on to blank postcards. These are available from big stationers on perforated sheets of A4 that breakdown to 4 postcards a sheet. We've always put a 2nd class stamp on the card to encourage people to send them, we recommend this where budgets allow. If you need any maps you could create these yourselves or use existing ones, marking on locations. We haven't needed to produce handouts for players beyond maps and postcards as the rules can be explained.
On The day
We think this game works best with individuals or small teams playing in their own time. Postcards are distributed at an event information point and the rules simply explained by a steward manning the info point.
Instructions To Players
Take your postcard and have fun filling in the blanks. When you've found everything draw a picture of something you've seen on the front and send the postcard to a friend.
