Trompe-l'oeil: A Game of Surreal Stories

Inspired by the surrealistic artwork of René Magritte, Trompe-l'oeil asks players to share stories inspired by incongruous pairings. Some might be true. Others will be fabulations.

Trompe-l'oeil is a card game to play with friends. Using surrealistic pairings of words and images - much like Magritte created in his 1927 paintings "The Interpretation of Dreams" / "La Clef des Songes" and "Le Musée d'une Nuit" / "Museum of a Night", you'll remember or imagine stories from your life. Can you trick your friends into believing that the mundane is fabulous or the fabulous is mundane?

Each player's job is simple: decipher if your fellow players are living in a fantasy world or not.

The Game's Future:

This game is a work-in-progress. I am currently working on making this game available for purchase via The Game Crafter; if you'd like to see that happen, drop a comment below. If you have feedback or playtest stories, feel free to offer them below as well.

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Rules of the Game:

Setup:

Distribute a "Vrai" & "Trompe" verdict card, along with "Vote" card to each player. Shuffle the "Objet" and "Nom" decks and place them in the center.

Gameplay:

Players draw one card each from the "Objet" and "Nom" decks - keep these secret for now.

Use the cards to create a story. It might be a moment from real life. It might be something you make up on the spot. It should feature the object, the word, or both; you might not mention them, but the inspiration should be clear.

Take up to 5 minutes to think about your story.

Once everyone has agreed they've had enough time to brainstorm their stories, each player places either a "Vrai" or "Trompe" card face-down on the table in front of them to lock-in whether the story they will tell is true or false.

Players take turns telling each other their stories. They may take as much or as little time as they like to tell their tale.

After each storyteller has finished, the remaining players will decide whether the story is true or not by playing their "Vote" card in front of them.

The storyteller then reveals their hidden verdict - was the story "Vrai" or "Trompe"?

Scoring:

For each player they fool, the storyteller is awarded one point.

For each time they correctly guess whether the story is true or not, players receive one point.

For 2-3 players, play to 15 points.
For 4-5 players, play to 20 points.
For 5+ players, play to 30 points.