The last year has been many people’s worst-case scenario. So, how do you find the humor in that? Board game inventor Eric Poses does it by pitting our COVID-19 experience against other scenarios that are so much worse it’s laughable.
The Worst Case Scenario Card Game is based on the New York Times bestseller The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht, published by Chronicle Books.
“Eric Poses and I first met and discussed the possibility of doing a game together right before the Covid shutdown at Toy Fair last year,” said Borgenicht. “Little did we know we’d be working together on a game about worst-case scenarios during a pandemic.”
While the original handbook gave readers advice on how to cope with nasty surprises, the all-new card game asks players to rank worst-case scenarios, helping to bring both laughs and perspective to game night.
This new addition to Poses’ game company, All Things Equal, challenges players on how they would compare 225 random worst-case scenarios, including being chased by a gorilla, locked in the trunk of a moving car, losing your memory, being lost at sea, or, yes, living through a global pandemic. Players take turns as “The Victim” and score points when fellow players match how they rank five worst-case scenarios from 1-Bad to 5-The Worst.
Poses says the game is like a digital detox, letting people take a break from doom-scrolling through their pandemic-laden newsfeeds with a bit of levity. “My grandmother always said it’s better to laugh than cry,“ said Poses. “This game will have players crying with laughter at all the horribleness life has to offer.”
Poses has developed several other games with his company All Things Equal. It was founded in 1997 when Poses drove around the country for 16 weeks selling his first game invention, Loaded Questions, out of the trunk of his car. Today, All Things Equal’s games have generated more than $30 million in retail sales at Target, Kohl’s, Amazon, Meijer and hundreds of specialty stores. The company’s portfolio of family/party games includes five versions of the bestselling Loaded Questions brand, Loaded Answers, Awkward Family Photos Greatest Hits, Happy Endings, The My Weird School Game, Major Woody’s Wild Foursomes, and the new Worst-Case Scenario Card Game.
The Worst Case Scenario Card Game will be available exclusively at Target stores or online from Target.com beginning on July 1.
The book it’s based on has been in print since 1999, and is the world’s best selling survival manual with 10 million copies sold worldwide.