In many ways, our lives are the memories we choose to highlight.
Much of what we know, even about ourselves, is not readily available to us without a bit of help.
That’s why journaling, talking with friends at work, or swapping stories over food and drinks have all become ways in which we get to know ourselves and others.
These rituals help us rediscover dormant memories that shape our identity in our own minds and in those of others. Unfortunately, getting into the habit of performing these rituals can be difficult (or at least awkward if forced).
There are any number of ways in which we can be entertained or distracted (by ourselves or with others) that allow us to evade meaningful recollection or interaction.
Of course there is nothing wrong with a bit of mindless entertainment or light conversation. But most people, eventually, want to go just a bit deeper.
That’s where having a focus for the aforementioned rituals can really come in handy.
Rememory by Storymatic Studios
Rememory is a game by the folks over at Storymatic Studios. It varies from the original storymatic in that instead of providing random writing prompts for fictional stories, Rememory is meant to facilitate the remembrance of events, emotions, states of being, and more from our past. It’s a beautiful concept and like its predecessor is simple to understand and use.
How It Works
Draw a slate card, a coffee card, and a ruby card. Remember. That’s it! What you do from there is up to you.
You can…
- journal
- vlog
- sketch
- share with friends
- play a game of “truth or false”
- and so much more
Your imagination is the only limit to the number of ways you can incorporate your memories into solitary or group activities. The game itself comes with a small leaflet with several suggestions, but it’s easy and fun to break out on your own too.
What I Liked (Loved) About Rememory
From the very start my favorite thing about Rememory has been the concept itself. I love exercises that take advantage of how the human brain works. It’s so mysterious and satisfying to me that a smell, sensation, or word can bring to mind something we thought we’d long forgotten.
Rememory is a great facilitator of this process and it does its job well. The simplicity of its design goes a long way towards making the game instantly enjoyable and easy to share with others.
What I Didn’t Like About Rememory
When used strictly as a writing tool, for journaling say, Rememory is great. You can pull a few cards, remember, and write. But when used as a party game the limitations of its design become clear very quickly.
The endless repetition of the slate and coffee cards become boring after just a few rounds. When my friends and I were playing we eventually used only the ruby cards and told whatever anecdote came to mind.
After an hour or two, we’d completely blown through all of the ruby cards (not everyone had a story for each one) and the necessity of expansion packs became clear if Rememory were to become a repeat party game.
My Conclusion
I’d highly recommend Rememory to anyone who is an avid journaler. It’s a great time at a dinner party too, but this use case brings out the product’s limitations rather quickly.
It’s unlikely (in my opinion) that the same group would want to play it twice and the speed at which you blow through the prompt cards might put you off to using them as a journaling/writing tool in the future–since you already know what’s coming.
In my case, after using the cards with a group of friends for several hours over drinks (which was very enjoyable) I’m ready to crack them open again–but for personal use this time.
0 Comments