Card Game Actually Curious To Release "Human Rights" Edition
The brand’s founder, Michael Tennant, shares with us the concept behind the upcoming release.
Actually Curious is set to launch a brand new edition of its thought-provoking card game. Dubbed “Human Rights,” the upcoming iteration arrives in a sleek black colorway with 52 questions.
For those coming across the brand for the first time, Michael Tennant‘s Curiosity Lab created Actually Curious in 2018 with the aim to bring people closer together and teach people to have conversations with empathy. Adding to its existing lineup – “Curiosity,” “Happy Hour” and “Culture” – “Human Rights” touches upon the topics of race, LGBTQIA+ rights, women’s rights, mental health, environmental justice and beyond.
Ahead of its official release, we chat with Tennant about the making of his new project and what he hopes to achieve with this launch. Priced at $25 USD, Actually Curious’ “Human Rights” edition is now available for pre-order and will officially release on May 31.
Actually Curious
What inspired you to create the “Human Rights” edition?
We created the Actually Curious “Human Rights” edition to raise the questions that when discussed, allow no places for hate to hide. Or in other words, as an imperative tool in the movement to spread empathy. We created the original Actually Curious in 2018 to help bring our divided country together. We took it to the New York Now trade show and buyers from across America thought the questions were too hard-hitting. So we made two lighter editions to broaden the appeal, the “Happy Hour” and “Culture” editions.
Today, with the rise in violence against Black and Asian people in America and around the world, our core fans are not only involved in these conversations, but they also lead them. Our community uses Actually Curious for fun and for purpose, as they casually and formally facilitate difficult but necessary conversations in their homes, jobs and schools.
“Our hope is that the Actually Curious ‘Human Rights’ edition takes the momentum of bravery, vulnerable exploration, conflict, healing and growth to the next level.”
Can you walk us through your creative process when you were creating the questions for the game?
Here’s a phrase to keep in mind: “Wisdom of the community.” Our creative process always begins with sourcing input from the brilliant, creative, spiritual and compassionate humans that surround us. From close friends to prominent strangers, at Curiosity Lab, our process always begins with listening to our intuition and gathering input from the people we have access to. For the “Human Rights” edition, our brief was, “We all have them, let’s write questions that help expose each other’s biases.”
I searched my personal contacts for subject matter experts across important human rights issues. We created a form that would allow experts to nominate other experts, creating a viral effect. We shared a call for nominations through our social media and email newsletter, and hosted several Zoom work sessions to discuss and playtest the questions. We are proud of the 52 questions we’ve curated and hope we succeeded in leaving no biases uninvestigated. Actually Curious is a living and breathing game. We print in small batches so we can make changes to adapt to the rapidly changing culture and social justice landscape.
Actually Curious
What do you hope to achieve with this launch?
We’re sitting front seat to something special. People are using their combined voices to create the change that’s necessary. Individuals, non-profits, brands and businesses are using the cards and inviting Actually Curious trained facilitators to help them and their organizations to learn tools to have more empathetic and inclusive conversations with themselves and with others. Greater individual and social awareness is a topic that most people are afraid of when truly put to the test, especially in the presence of people who aren’t ethnically or demographically similar to them. Our hope is that the Actually Curious “Human Rights” edition takes the momentum of bravery, vulnerable exploration, conflict, healing and growth to the next level.
