Storyteller's Windows are a new game for anyone who enjoys looking at photographs and telling or listening to stories. Gameplay can be solo, collaborative, or competitive. Competitive play is best suited to large groups (4+ players) because it requires one person to be the judge.
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Storyteller's Windows are 225 photo cards, each 3.25" square, with images representing Places, Characters, and Discoveries. Game play involves collecting cards, then telling a story that includes your cards as story elements. The cards come with suggestions for competitive and non-competitive play. Non-competitive play can involve any number or age of players. Competitive play requires at least 3 players.
The stories we most enjoy hearing and sharing are not usually long or complicated. They only need one or more characters who have an experience that amuses the audience or helps them understand or confront their world.
People with an aptitude for storytelling notice scenes around them that have story potential and use them as building blocks. Storyteller's Windows give you story building blocks to work with, even if you have trouble making up stories on the fly.
Storyteller's Windows images have no captions -- they are intended to be thought provoking, not to limit how you use them. With 75 Places, 75 Discoveries cards, and 75 Character cards, there are more than 11 million potential 3-card combinations of story elements to work with. You are encouraged to add places, tools, discoveries, and characters not shown in your cards -- a good tale deserves a bit of embroidery! And as Storyteller, you can be an observer or perhaps the main character, acting with good or evil intent.
Scroll down to see 45 (20%) of the Storyteller's Windows images. The captions shown below the photos are personal reactions. They are not printed on the cards. You may have entirely different thoughts about these images -- in fact, we hope you have many different thoughts about them.
Whether you are a parent entertaining your child, a group of adults enjoying Game Night, or an aspiring author or dramatist honing your skills, Storyteller's Windows are designed to jump start your creativity.
People of all ages can enjoy looking at the photos and playing with the cards. We have attempted to select images that are both interesting and appropriate for a broad audience. However, if there are particular scenes not suited to your purpose, a few can easily be set aside (e.g. a photo of a big spider might be scary for a young child) without limiting game play. There are plenty to spare.
Teachers from elementary to college-level can use Storyteller's Windows to help students develop their creativity. Counselors working with dementia patients or others with cognitive impairments may also find them of interest.
The cards come with suggested play options for different numbers of participants. We hope you will send us your own ideas to share with other users. An example of two person, non-competitive play is provided below.
I play to win. How do I win this game? Tell a good story. Competitive play requires enough participants to have one person as the designated judge for each round of play. To win, tell a story that engages your audience (especially the judge).
Goal
You will build a hand of 3 cards and then tell a story that includes the images on the cards. You are encouraged to fantasize, exaggerate, make up additional characters, scenes. etc as long as the three cards in your hand figure into the story somehow. This game is most fun if people spend some thought on their stories. Players can agree on time limits for card selection or storytelling so no one monopolizes the evening, but don't be too impatient. It is more fun to listen to a thoughtfully constructed story than one that is hastily contrived.
Set up
Place the cards in three face down piles by category.
Characters Discoveries Places
For each category, turn up 3 cards to create a 3 by 3 grid of turned up cards in columns by category, with the draw pile at the far side of the grid. There is no discard pile.
Play
Decide for yourselves who starts first. Select 1 card per turn until you have a hand of 3 cards. As you build your hand, it does not have to contain one card from each category; any combination is fine.
During your turn, you may pick up any face-up card. When a face-up card is removed, replace it with the top card of the draw pile for the same category before the next player's turn, so each player has a choice among 9 face-up cards, 3 from each category.
If someone else picks up a card you wanted, you may decide to change direction - or you can still include the important qualities of that image in your story. Remember, just because it's not on your card, you can still make it up.
Option: When both players have 3 cards, each player has one final opportunity to swap a card from their hand for one of the face-up cards on the table.
Telling your Story
The first person to draw is the first to tell their story.
Begin telling your story holding all of your cards. When you reach the point in the story where one of the images works as an illustration, (e.g., "Once upon a time, there was a dog who lived to dig holes - and here he is....") place it face up on the table. You can lay the cards out in a straight row, move them around, pick them up and re-use them, or whatever helps the story work.