Totem: The Feel Good Game
Totem: The Feel Good Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How Does Totem Work?
Each player, in turn, experiences the construction of a Totem in their own image. The Totem is built using an ANIMAL card, associated with a strength, and a QUALITY card, both of which are chosen and described by the other players. For example, your Totem could be Optimistic Eagle!
Objective
Receiving a Totem allows each player to hear and discover the best of themself through the eyes of the other players.
Instructions
The first player to receive their Totem is the next person to celebrate their birthday. This player becomes the Dealer. Note that you could also build a Totem for only one person for a special occasion.
Animal Portion
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The game starts with the ANIMAL portion of the Totem. The Dealer shuffles the deck of ANIMAL cards, then hands out seven (7) cards to each player (excluding himself / herself).
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Each player looks at their cards without showing them to the other players and then chooses amongst their seven (7) cards the strength that they see as most representative of the Dealer. Each player places the card they have chosen face down on the table. Once all the players have chosen their card, one of the players shuffles them so that the Dealer doesn't know who chose what card. Each player then places their remaining six (6) cards at the bottom of the deck of ANIMAL cards so they can be reused.
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The Dealer then looks at the cards chosen for her/him, without showing them to the other players. The Dealer then ranks the cards in order of preference, face down on the table, placing the card representing the strength that they recognise the least in themself on the left, and the card representing the strength judged most representative on the right.
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The Dealer then turns over, one at a time, the ANIMAL cards while announcing out loud the strength that they consider to possess the least. This means the strength that the Dealer has placed furthest to the left.
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The player who selected this ANIMAL card for the Dealer must identify themself and explain in a few words why they chose this strength. They must explain to the Dealer how and in what circumstances they have witnessed this strength, what positive impact it has had on the Dealer's social circle, etc.
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The Dealer then continues to turn over each card, from left to right. All players must explain their choices, in order, until all the cards have been turned over.
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Before playing the QUALITY cards, the players must chose, among the ANIMAL cards already on the table, the one that they all agree to be THE Dealer's "dominant" strength. In front of the Dealer, the other players must debate and agree on a single strength. The card chosen together by the other players will be the animal portion of the Dealer's Totem. The other cards are placed back into the deck of ANIMAL card to be reused.
Quality Portion
Next, the game turns to attributing the QUALITY portion of the Dealer's Totem.
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The Dealer shuffles the deck of QUALITY cards and hands out seven (7) to each of the other players (excluding herself / himself). The Dealer and the other players then repeat steps 2 – 7 with the QUALITY cards.
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When the Dealer has received both portions of their Totem (ANIMAL and QUALITY), they keep these two cards for themself and it is then the player to the Dealer's left who becomes the new Dealer and who witness the creation of their own Totem. The new Dealer shuffles the cards and the process starts again from the beginning (Step 1).
The game continues in this way until every player has received at least one Totem. The game can continue for as long as you wish to continue playing, and each player can receive a second or third Totem. It allows players to become aware of more strengths and qualities making each player a winner in the game.
Each new Totem brings out new and different dimensions of the rich personality of the player it represents.