Share Squares

A creative drawing and story-telling game for all ages

by Anna Lena Grau and Andrew Lawrence Fassett

Game Contents:

These Instructions

Some Scrap Paper

How To Play

The Instructions

Introduction

Share Squares is a simple game in which you draw or write on small squares, placing them next to each other in order to construct a story. The goal of Share Squares is not to win, but to develop the story together with the other players, either continuing the same narrative or inventing new interpretations with each additional square.

The game ends only when the number of squares agreed upon at the beginning are used up. That number is determined by the size and shape of the desired field, also agreed upon at the beginning. Typically the field is 5×5 squares, which takes about an hour, but you could also do 3×3 or 10×10! Or you could make entirely different shapes, like hearts or stars or unicorns and so on. It’s your story, so you decide!

The only “catch” is that each new square must somehow relate to each of the squares it touches, and the whole group gets to decide if your story is “good enough” or not. But that’s also the fun of the game! As you play, adding a story by placing a new square will get harder and harder, and soon enough the whole group will be helping each player along.

Intrigued? Confused?! Great! Don’t worry, we’ll take you through it step by step!

The following will describe the game preparation, how it’s played, and post-game fun!

Game Preparation

… Pre-Game!

Game preparation is simpler than simple: All you need are some squares to draw or write on, something to draw or write with, and, of course some other players! As we haven’t (yet) produced either of these for you, we suggest using the materials you have on hand. For instance, you can cut your own squares from scrap printer paper!

We find about 7x7cm is a good size for a square, which has the advantage that you can make 12 of them out an A4 piece of paper. Important is only that the squares are neither too small to small to comfortably draw on nor too big for the surface you’ll be using (e.g. a table). Also, try your best to cut the squares as square as possible, since it makes constructing the field easier!

Naturally, you should take care while handling any sharp objects, and young children should ask an adult to cut the squares for them.

As for things to draw with—pens, pencils, crayons, markers, etc. are all good for this game, though we advise against permanent ink or markers that bleed through the paper!

Now you and the other players can decide the shape of the playing field. As mentioned, this can be 3×3, 5×5, or 10×10! Or it can be any number of other shapes, like the examples below. For the purposes of these instructions we’ll talk about a 5×5 playing field.

… Playing the Game!

The following are some of the steps for an example game, by which means we shall explain the rules. Those rules (for a 5×5 game) are:

  • other than the first, each square must be placed next to at least one other square, either on a corner or to the side
  • each player must wait their turn to place a square
  • there is no order
  • the player whose turn it is gets to decide what they draw or write, but they have to give an interpretation (e.g. tell a story, say a relation, etc.) and the other players get to decide if the interpretation is allowed or not through consensus
  • if there is no consensus, either the player has make a new interpretation or draw/write a new square
  • as the field grows with each placement of a square, its length will be determined when 5 squares are placed in a column (i.e. vertically in a line), its width will be determined when 5 squares are placed in a row (i.e. horizontally in a line)
  • both may be determined at once if there’s a five-square diagonal
  • the game only ends when all squares are placed
  • the last square doesn’t have to be placed by the person whose turn it is; it can also be done as a group or the group chooses one of the players (e.g. the first) to place it
  • you can have as many players as you like, though we suggest at least two and no more than eight so that each player gets at least a few turns
  • there are no teams
  • these rules are only guidelines, you can break them or change them or whatever (though we suggest at least trying them out first 🙂

Step 1 – Place the first square

Someone—perhaps chosen at random—draws or writes on a square and places it between everyone. This first square may later become the center, or a corner, or the fourth down and third to the left! For now, it starts your game….

For example, here’s a happy sun!

Step 2 – Place the second square

Now it’s the next player’s turn! (Tradition is clockwise but who cares!) That player now has eight (8) possible places to place their square. This step is still pretty easy, as all you have to do is draw something related to the sun….

For example, here’s a tree!

Here’s where we get into possible interpretations of the player and decisions by the group:

Interpretation 1: “Well trees photosynthesize to eat and so they need the sun!”

Decision 1: “Hey that’s so true!”

Interpretation 2: “Well this tree feels bad for not having enough leaves so it’s glad that the sun is being extra warm and friendly even though its face is turned in the other direction!”

Decision 2: “Hey that’s strange but also really funny!”

In both cases, the tree is allowed.

Step 3 – The third square!

Now it’s time for player three to play (or player one to play again, depending on how many players are playing!)! They can chose from 10 (ten) different places on the field, either next to the sun or next to the tree or indeed both!

For example, here’s a happy bluebird!

Interpretation 1: “Bluebirds are warm-blooded and the sun’s rays are warm, plus birds often roost in trees.”

Decision 1: “Hahaha yeah!”

Interpretation 2: “The bluebird heard about the tree’s leaf problem so it has decided to help out by sitting on the tree and keeping it warm at night when the sun has gone!”

Decision 2: “Hahaha you’re even stranger but that’s awesome!”

Step 4 – The fourth square!

Moving onto the next player (whoever that is), it’s time for the fourth square! Without further ado….

An example of a heart!

Interpretation 1: “Bluebirds have hearts and hearts have blood which is warm like the suns rays but also veins and arteries look like branches.”

Decision 1: “Yep, all that is true!”

Interpretation 2: “BECAUSE THE BLUEBIRD WHICH IS NEARLY THE SIZE OF THE TREE BTW WAS BEING SUCH A GOOD GUY IT’S HEART GREW AND GREW AND GREW AND EVENTUALLY GOT SO BIG IT HAD TO JUMP OUT OF THE BLUEBIRD AND NOW IT’S KEEPING THE SUN WARM AT NIGHT!”

Decision 2: ROLF [they accept]

Step 5 – The fifth square!

Step five involves—you guessed it!—another player placing a fifth square. Since you’ve got a general idea of how the squares may relate to each other, now we’ll talk about….

An example of writing!

Interpretations and decisions aside (it’s pretty clear how fires relate to hot suns and burnable trees, no?), maybe the player doesn’t feel up to drawing a fire at the moment.

And that’s perfectly okay! Not everyone wants to draw!

Step 6 – The sixth and nth squares!

This step will just skip ahead and show the first boundary….

With an example of some fireworks and some ice cream!

The fireworks determine the lower limit of the field, while the ice cream determines the upper limit. We’ll let you puzzle out how they may be interpreted 🙂



Step 7 – All other squares!

We don’t want to give too much away, so here’s some non-examples of squares with question marks in them.

These squares with question marks in them could represent basically anything you and the other players can write or draw, which is really quite a lot! Important to keep in mind is only that placing new squares will eventually determine the limits of the field, and that each square will in the end relate to 3-8 other squares—play accordingly!

… Post-Game Fun

If you make your own share squares out of scrap paper or cardboard, you may want to take a picture of the completed field with your phone before recycling them! That way everyone will have a picture of a memorable night!

Or so you can frame your creation!

Or maybe you want to give each of the players some of the squares!

After all, squaring is sharing!

We the creators of this game—Anna Lena Grau and Andrew Lawrence Fassett—would truly love for as many people to play as possible and to hear about your stories! If you like, please share your stories with us at lawrence [dot] p [dot] anders [at] gmail [dot] com.

We have plans for producing our own, physical version of the game sometime in the future! If you’re a developer and interested in helping us along or making your own version of the game, then please contact us!

Thanks For Playing!

– Lena and Lawrence

Contact: lawrence [dot] p [dot] anders [at] gmail [dot] com
Official Web Page: https://active-english.co/share-squares