Navigating discussions about funeral plans and end-of-life decisions can be an emotionally challenging task for families.
In this article, we’ll explore how you can use games to transform this daunting process into an approachable and even cathartic experience for everyone.
When we play games… we encourage communication, foster understanding, and allow family members to engage in sensitive conversations with a sense of shared purpose, and often even humour.
Here are a few examples of games you might want to explore with your family as a way of gently normalising a conversation about end-of-life plans.
Hello Game (Home Edition)
Hello is a game built around conversations. It’s a non-threatening way to start a conversation with your family and friends about what matters to you most.
This is a card game that leaves each player with a written guide they and their family can use when the time is right.
It’s also full of gratitude by making thankfulness a key focus of how the game is played.
Includes questions like…
‘What activities make you lose track of time?’
‘If you had 3 months to live, what would you give yourself permission to do?’
‘Who haven’t you talked to in more than six months that you would want to talk to before you died?’
Find out more: https://commonpractice.com/products/hello-game
The Go Wish Game
This game can be played on your own or with friends and family.
At its core, Go Wish is a sorting game allowing you to make choices about the importance of individual phrases relating to how you want to prepare for your funeral and end of life plans.
There are no right or wrong answers, but each card should stir up interesting questions.
The questions cover topics, from financial, to medical, to who you’d like to speak for you and where you’d like to die.
It allows you to rank the importance of each statement and then explore what that means to you.
Find out more: https://codaalliance.org/go-wish/
The Death Deck
Have Fun with Some Taboo Talk.
The Death Deck is a party game that lets you explore a topic we’re all obsessed with but often afraid to discuss.
This game doesn’t shy away from some of the more difficult topics, but in such a way that it doesn’t feel threatening.
With multiple choice and open-ended questions in this 112-card deck, you get to explore topics in a well-guided game.
The Death Deck has everything you need for a fun and memorable night of lively conversations with friends or family.
Find out more: https://thedeathdeck.com/
The E•O•L Deck
With a casual tone, multiple-choice and open-ended questions, the E•O•L Deck makes starting conversations about what matters most… a little easier.
This game helps focus on bigger questions about life and death, but it also delves into the nitty gritty. Like… ‘In your final days, what would you like to smell?’
For many, it’s the small questions we forget to ponder that could make all the difference to how comfortable we are when our time has come.
Using compassion and just the right amount of humour, the E•O•L Deck jump-starts the conversations we all need to have with finesse, compassion, and honesty.
Find out more: https://thedeathdeck.com/ pages/eol-deck
Finding ways to start tricky conversations with the people we love.
These games, and many others you can find online, are jumping off points to have tricky conversations with people we love. Much like funeral planning, having honest conversations in a way that everyone feels safe isn’t always easy. That’s why at Avalon we spend time speaking to the families we support and avoid rushing through a conversation.
Avalon Funeral Plans is committed to supporting families during the tender and sometimes tumultuous grief journey. We have resources available throughout our site to help you and your family have meaningful conversations about funeral planning and how to meet death and dying with compassion and understanding.
* Avalon are not affiliated in any way with the products and services described in this article. Avalon make no direct recommendation to the quality of the products listed. This article should be treated simply as a reference material and any purchasing decision is your own.
