This game is fantastic. My girlfriend and I bought it for Valentines Day to play together and have not stopped playing since! Since then we have reccomended this game to all of our friends, who also love it.
Since we don't have a tower (and play online a lot), we have adapted to using a standard deck of Playing Cards to simulate the Jenga tower. We shuffle in 2 Jokers. The major suite cards (King, Queen, Jack) will make you pull more cards/"bricks" than normal, increasing tension.
In Depth
The book itself has tons of good roleplaying advice that is applicable even to other tabletop games. I love the use of the X-card, and the encouragement to be open-minded and clear with your intentions. It is definitely some advice I will be sharing with my other gaming groups to make gaming not only more accessible but to make roleplaying more rich.
The pacing in this game makes for some of the most excellent and concise storytelling I've ever experienced.
Each scene contains a Prompt that you and your partner decide to interpret together. It really makes each play through entirely unique.
The Moves you get (2 that are Once per Scene and 2 that are Once per Game) prevents meandering too long on prompts/scenes. Once you run out of moves for a scene, you are highly encouraged by the gameplay to jump to a new scene. This keeps the game moving quickly and without stagnation.
The mechanics reward cooperative play even for competitive people. You are playing "Against the Stars" or "Against Fate" to try and get a good, satisfying ending. The combined effort of trying to make things work out feels like a team building exercise that encourages good communication between both parties working together.
It is an amazingly satisfying experience to get to the end, whatever end that is, and wrap things up with the Epilogue that you both tell together.
I love how creative it inspires you to be, and how it encourages working together to actively listen your friends ideas and build something unique as a whole.
Special Notes
This game is GM-less!! I was surprised and delighted.
Since some might be interested; you really can only play this game with two people unless you are into polyamory.
Then maybe you could play with up to 4. But you should definitely play in even numbers.
Even though this game has elements of Dread, there is no place for "friend" type characters. The mechanics revolve around an evolving relationship (although not necessarily romantic, if you choose to interpret it that way).
You can use it for other things but its not great for a Multiplayer Party Game unless you pair off as friends. Better to run two games at once.
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