The only prerequisite to playing Game of Phones is having a smart phone, which these days, is pretty much everybody. In fact, that’s part of the problem we’re trying to solve. You’ve seen it: People often sit with their heads down, glued to their screen, detached from the world around them. So, we created Game of Phones to get them to look up.
The idea for Game of Phones came to us in 2014 as grad students studying Interaction Design. We saw then, just as we still do now, that cell phones are used to do a multitude of things, from looking up outrageous facts to taking photos of interesting or silly things to checking in on friends far away. And, we wondered why people weren’t sharing the experiences they were having on their phones with others in real life.
Not to mention, casual tabletop games were also rising in popularity and it quickly became clear that a game would be a fun and seamless way to get people using phones together rather than getting distracted by them.
So, we married the two ideas — a phone game and a card game — and came up with Game of Phones. The game itself isn’t actually on your phone, but rather in a deck of cards that prompts you to complete weird and hilarious things using apps or content that you already have on your phone.
The physical part is important to us though, as it gives you a reason to look up from your phone, exchange a card or response with another player, and therefore be present in the social atmosphere and not turn it into another form of social media.
But, don’t worry, there’s nothing dirty or overly difficult about this game. None of the card prompts are hard and can be played with friends, parents, grandparents, coworkers, classmates and more. We made sure that it’s appropriate and fun for all ages, so anyone (with a smart phone) can join you for a game.
“Played this at a game night with some friends a few weeks ago and had so much fun, I immediately bought my own,” wrote one Amazon reviewer. “I was worried at first about the cards that have you go into your photos and stuff, but there wasn’t anything risque about it, just silly (stuff like “find a picture in your camera roll with exactly six people in it”). Since things stayed pretty tame, I brought this with me to my parents' house and we'll likely play it sometime next week.”
“My daughter loved playing this at her 13th birthday party sleepover. The girls all loved it,” wrote a reviewer on Game of Phone’s website.
“We just got this game today and played several rounds tonight. It was a lot of fun and great entertainment for the whole family,” wrote another reviewer on Amazon.
“Great way to interact with the whole family. These days nearly everyone is on their smartphones... young and old. This was a fun way that they could still do that, but interact with each other in a super fun way!” — Nicole on Uncommon Goods.
Game of Phones is simple and therefore no one has to be left out. It’s the greatest excuse to show friends and family the things you’ve been distracted by or to find new and interesting things through the prompts. And of course, share tons of laughs.