Nanofictionary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Cover of 1st edition (2002) with art by Alison Frane | |
| Designers | Andy Looney |
|---|---|
| Illustrators | Alison Frane |
| Publishers | Looney Labs |
| Publication |
|
| Genres | Storytelling card game |
Nanofictionary, subtitled "The card game of telling tiny stories", is a storytelling card game published by Looney Labs in 2002 in which the players create very short stories using idea cards.
The deck of cards
There are 110 cards in the deck that are divided into five types: Characters, Settings, Problems, Resolutions, and Actions. Each card has a black & white line drawing and a word or short phrase.[1]
Gameplay
Each game is divided into three phases: Writing, Storytelling, and Awards.[1]
Writing
The object of this phase is to create a very short story that contains four required elements: Character, Setting, Problem, and Resolution. Each player is dealt five cards.
All the players simultaneously draw a card and then have two options, also completed simultaneously:
- Play a card face up in front of them.
- If it is a Character, Setting, Problem, or Resolution card: Each player can have multiple Characters displayed at the same time but only one Setting, Problem, or Resolution card face up — if a new card is played, it replaces the older card if one of that type has already been played.
- If it is an Action card, the player follows the described Action immediately. This might be to steal cards from other players, dig into the discard pile, etc.
- Each player also has the option of discarding all cards in their hand and drawing five new cards, which completes their turn.
When every player has done one of the actions listed above, the turn is over, and another turn immediately starts.
Once a player has cards with all four required elements and has constructed a simple a story, the player declares that their story is finished, and will get bonus points for finishing early. Turns continue until all the other players are finished.[1]
Storytelling
Each player in turn recites their story. Cedric Chin used the following example: "In the Ice Cream Parlor on the Moon, there was a terrible problem: the serving robot had malfunctioned! He was flinging ice cream everywhere! So they called for a repairman, and in came the Dude Who Always Says 'Dude!' The Dude took one look and said, 'Dude It's easy! All you need is Duct Tape!'"
Even though the player must have all four elements of the story face up in front of them, they do not have to use every card in the story.[2] They are also free to add small details not mentioned in the cards, but the major characters and plot should conform to the cards they have played.
Awards
Each player is given a Grand Prize card and a Runner-Up card. Each player then awards each card to their two favorite stories, not counting their own.[1] If there are people present who listened but did not play, they can also participate as a juror and award one point to their favorite story.[2]
Victory conditions
The winning player is the one with the most points that were gained from award cards, juror points and points for ending the Writing phase quickly.
Publication history
In 2002, Andy Looney created Nanofictionary, which was released by his company Looney Labs in 2002. The company released a second edition PDF in 2013, and a third edition with a 100-card deck in 2017.[3] In 2018, the company released Nanofictionary Blanks, a deck of blank cards for creating custom story seeds.[4]