By Lautaro Grinspan, news staff
If you are easily offended, of posh tendencies and/or prefer to keep game nights as clean and PG-rated as possible, do what you must, but don’t pick up a copy of F**ktionary. The mantra of this new game (think a bold, and slightly morally corrupt crossover between the likes of Card Against Humanity, Balderdash and Pictionary) is, after all, to “discover your twisted side.”
The quest for “twisted” self-exploration works like this: a card is drawn from a deck of 300, each containing an obscene and crude word or phrase (with the definition printed on the back). Players jot down what they think is the most accurate definition of the word (while keeping in mind that the more unwholesome the better). All the definitions are then read out loud and players vote for the entry they think is correct; points are gained by guessing the correct definition or by having other players vote for your answer.
While F**ktionary might strike one as tawdry in theory, the goal is for players to use their creativity, and ensuing hilarity is almost a guarantee. After all, nothing too drab can come out of getting people in a room together and having them come up with spontaneous definitions for in-your-face lewd expressions like “chemise cagoule,” “reverse streaking” or “Turkish delight.” A certain maturity level is, of course, expected of all participants.
“The game as a whole has a feel similar to Cards Against Humanity where it is witty and strategic in understanding the people you are playing with, while also being inappropriate and a little uncomfortable,” Austin Hunt, third year architecture major, said. “It’s great for groups of young adults looking for ridiculous laughs credited to words and ideas that are far from typical conversation.”
Whether it is a morally advisable way for a group of (hopefully) of age participants to spend their free time is not something Vasanth Sarathy, the game’s creator, concerns himself with.
“I think it’s a chance to really let loose,” Sarathy said. “We all are addicted to phones, computers and iPads, and this is a chance to bring back tabletop games and encourage group interaction.”
Sarathy, previously a lawyer (he opted for the drastic career change to get more in touch with his creative side) actually conceived the idea behind his dirty brainchild while spending the holidays with his family.
“My family loves to play the ‘clean’ version of the game. Basically, you pick a word out of the dictionary that nobody knows, and people have to make up answers,” he said. “My family started to come up with dirty definitions for these clean words! It was so funny I thought it would be hilarious to flip it—choose dirty words instead. It took me a few months to make prototypes. Then, I tested the game on family and friends [and] got a lot of great feedback.”
Part of the game-creating process was to come up, through arduous (and entertaining) research, with three hundred obscure, lascivious expressions.
“The words came from all different places—slang dictionaries, Old English, medical dictionaries,” Sarathy said. “It was really fun to curate the list, I definitely learned a lot.”
So far, all of the hard work seems to have been worth it, as audiences have positively reacted to the game. Raving online reviews aside, F**ktionary actually sold out its on-site stock when it presented at the Boston Festival of Indie Games in September.
Up next for Sarathy is the potential creation of an expansion pack for F**ktionary, as well as the upkeep of his other ventureMetaMoo (a web application to simplify note-taking and information recall).
F**ktionary is now available on Amazon.
Photo by Mary Whitfill
