The Other Question

THE OTHER QUESTION is a divination game about empathizing with non-human beings, and about the different time scales we exist on.

You play as the first living being to have established full inter-organism communication. You were able to ask an Other one burning Question, and you are now waiting for the Answer. It may not arrive in time.

You could be a fruit fly asking a dog about the nature of winter. Or a Nile crocodile asking a weeping willow to explain the concept of regret. You cast pebbles on a spiral to find out who you are, who the Other is, and what the Question is about. Then, you walk until one of you dies (which might not take that long), and if you're still alive, the Answer arrives.

The game fits on a postcard and can be printed and sent to a friend. It's inspired by Ursula Le Guin's incredibly empathetic writings on therolinguistics, some of which can be found here.

This game was developed for Wish You Were Here: A Postcard Jam