Guess Who?
Guess Who?
Those born in the eighties or earlier will surely remember a famous board game called Guess Who? The mechanics of the game are simple: both players have an identical board with 24 characters identified by name. Each player also has a separate card with one of those 24 characters that their opponent must try to guess. The goal of the game is to guess your opponent's character before they guess yours, using yes or no questions (for example, does he have a hat? or does he have blue eyes?). In turns, both players eliminate candidates until one of them is left with only one candidate, who should theoretically be the character the other is hiding.
We propose recreating the game with people closely connected to the person you want to surprise: your friends, family, the waiter at that bar where you always go for a drink... Choose 24 truly significant people for both of you and get photos of all of them. Ideally, you could get the original game and simply replace the game cards with your photos. Don't forget that you'll need to adjust the photos to the size of the cards and that you'll also need to have each image printed three times (one for your board, one for your rival's board, and one for the deck of cards from which the two characters you'll have to guess will be drawn).
Since these are people who connect you and whom you both know, you're sure to find sweet and fun questions to ask during the game. However, remember that the aim is to ask the most general questions possible, so you can eliminate as many candidates as possible each turn.
If you can't find the original game or don't want to spend money, you can always create a homemade version of the game. Print the 3 sets of photographs in the same size and create 3 different sets of cards. At the beginning of the game, each player receives a set of cards and randomly chooses one from the third pile of cards. It may not look as fancy as the original game, but it will surely help you have a great time one afternoon playing and talking about one of the most important things in any relationship, the people who connect you :)