Disappointing Affirmations: The Game

What do you look for in a game? Teamwork? Motivation? Positivity? Well, this game has none of those things. But it is hilarious.

From the wildly popular Instagram account, Disappointing Affirmations: The Game will test the convictions of even your most optimistic friends. Forget gratitude, mindfulness, wellness, and all that other relentless toxic positivity you’ve been sold. This party game turns your disillusionment into dark humor, your feelings into fun, and your pessimism into points.

It’s very simple: In each round, one player reads out a positive prompt, and everyone else uses their realistic responses to twist it into a Disappointing Affirmation. If yours is judged to be the most amusingly critical, anti-empathetic, dismissive, or makes people laugh because the only other option is to cry, then congrats, you win! As if it even matters. 

Made for friends who are actually willing to accept that “It’s okay to not be okay,” Disappointing Affirmations: The Game is suitable for ages 18+, 3–6 players, and takes around 30 minutes to play—although that’s really up to you. With 80 Prompts, 160 Responses, and differing levels of darkness in everyone, the game is endlessly replayable. It may even change your outlook on life. Probably won’t, though.

At Ridley’s Games, we like to make Good Clean Fun that’s as kind to the planet as it can be, so this game is printed on FSC paper with soy inks, the box is made using 30% recycled materials, and the whole thing is recyclable. Not that you care.  

How to Play:
It’s very simple: create the funniest or most ironically disappointing combinations to win! Each player draws seven Response cards—a.k.a. doses of realism—and keeps them hidden. The Judge for each round draws a positive Prompt card, reads it aloud, and then watches and waits while their friends figure out just how much of their darkness they want to reveal.

There’s nowhere to hide as the Judge shuffles, reads all the responses, and then chooses their favorite. Maybe they’re looking for the funniest, most disturbing, or most disappointing (although that’d be basic). Whatever their criteria, once they’ve picked their winner, the person who played that card wins the round and the...