a game about creative thinking through drawing

How might we develop creativity in a way that's fun and engaging? Play a round of Bad Ideas, of course! While there are no bad ideas in brainstorming, and this game rewards you for coming up with the most wild ideas you can think of! The added benefit is that it strengthens your problem solving skills and brings people closer together at the same time. Perfect as an icebreaker at work or in the classroom, creativity really can be fun!

How can a card game develop creativity?

Creativity is an incredibly powerful skill in any profession. However, this skill is rarely developed on its own. More often when learning a new trade, creativity is pushed aside in favor of craft and the use of specific tools.

The primary goal of Bad Ideas is to foster creativity by making it easy to integrate into other projects. Each round of Bad Ideas only takes a few minutes, so it can be plugged into the beginning of a project focused on sketching, making or storytelling. Then you have something to react to and modify rather than starting from a completely blank page.

The secondary goal of the game is to spread the idea that creativity is a more approachable concept than many would like to think. After refining the gameplay of Bad Ideas, I realized this could be something more universal than a tool specifically for design students. The game is designed to be played by just about anyone!

So how is it played?

There are 3 types of cards: User, Goal, and Constraint. When these cards are combined they form a randomized creative brief, prompting you to start thinking of how to solve the problem presented to you.

The players think of how these elements can be combined together into a single product that could solve the problem, and draw it as best as they can in just a few minutes.

Once players have sketched out their solutions they share how their invention works, and the group votes on a winner!

People LOVE Bad Ideas