I invented this game, at first, for a social activity with teens in a psychiatric hospital, but later I adapted it for 8 8-year-olds (on the last day of a summer camp), and for a group of adults working together (as a bonding activity).
The players: a group of people (preferably 10-20) who know each other to some extent.
Experience goals: interaction, feeling good about the group.
Educational goal: showing the participants that the group pays attention to them and knows them, as well as showing each participant how well she/he knows every group member.
Creative thinking: To encourage players to share similar information about themselves, I wrote a series of sentences with blanks (the sentences can be adapted to fit different groups of people and contexts of use).
Original form - for teenagers/children (Hebrew):
מי אני?
(נא לא לכתוב שם על הדף)
אני _________________________________
אני אוהב _____________________________
אני שונא _____________________________
אני רוצה _____________________________
אני אוהב לאכול ________________________
אני אוהב לשחק ________________________
אני אוהב מוזיקה _______________________
אני טוב ב ____________________________
אני הכי ______________________________
המוטו שלי ___________________________
An English version, for adults:
Who am I?
(Please do not write your name on the page)
I am ___________________________________ I like ___________________________________ I don't like ______________________________ I want __________________________________ I love ___________________________________
I am good at ____________________________
I try ____________________________________
I prefer _________________________________ I believe ________________________________
I am the ________________________________
I _______________________________________ You ____________________________________
As I wrote before, this game allows variation and can be adjusted to the specific uses.
For example, if played on X's birthday party, sentence starters about X can be added:
I know X ________________________________
I wish X ________________________________
Concept - rules and flow:
Part One:
The group is seated in a circle.
Blank forms are given to each participant (including the moderator if the moderator is part of the group).
The moderator instructs the players to fill in true information about themselves, without disclosing their name or gender (in languages that do not allow this, this rule can be dropped - if the group has a roughly equal distribution, or a decision can be made for all to write in feminine/masculine gender).
Each participant privately fills in their form.
The forms are collected into a bag/hat and mixed.
Part Two:
The bag/hat is passed around the circle, reaching a new participant every time, the participant draws a form and reads it out (another option: the moderator reads all forms).
For each new form, the group tries to guess the group member who filled it.
When the group guesses, the author confesses.
The game continues until every blank is read out. If the group is large enough participants may not remember who is left last. anyway, every member deserves the attention.
User-testing:
The game couldn't be pre-tested before my first use of it, and so the first use was also the test.
The game was played smoothly and the players enjoyed it.
One problem arose, which probably could be expected from teenagers: one of the participants filled-up fake information, trying to lead to another team member.
The only way to prevent something like this in the current version of the game is asking the players in advance not to do so.
Another problem was that sometimes reading the handwriting was hard.
Illustration picture - players waiting for the last group member to finish filling out her form
Computerization:
This game can be computerized, allowing one to fill out the forms from personal devices, and then "raffling" and viewing them.
This may eliminate a few problems:
the need to read hard hand-writing;
recognizing a person by handwriting or pen color;
faking identity, to some extent - the app can include an identification step, save it, and present the author-identity on request - when the group settled on a specific person and wants to check correctness. Players will still be able to fool the group, but only until the presentation of the answer.
Illustration picture - reading out an electronic "Who Am I" form
In an office environment, the blanks can even be presented on a screen (instead of being read out), eliminating the possible embarrassment of a player reading their own form.
Illustration picture - the "Who Am I" forms are presented on a screen
The suggested version should be tested, to ensure the computerization does not have unexpected effects on the game logic and experience.