The Shame of Life

What is The Shame of Life?

A game that gets players to answer a series of absurd questions, designed to lower inhibitions, make great conversations and ultimately beat the shame of life.

The People Behind the Game

The Shame of Life was created by a soon-to-be-wed couple, Gareth Breeze and Emily D’Andrea. Emily, a graphic designer, and Gareth, an ecommerce professional and writer, pooled their skills to build the game from the ground-up outside of their day jobs, in their little kitchen in Moss Side, Manchester.

The game also wouldn’t be what it is today without the ongoing support of the following absolute beauties…

PHIL THOMSON
outreach & development

MARTYN ELLIS
SOUND engineer

BEKKY LONSDALE
Videographer

AGNES & RUPERT
cats

Why Make The game?

Every minute someone, somewhere is second guessing what they’re about to say. We’re all guilty of it: worrying it’s too weird, too dumb, too dark, or any of a thousand things that will shame us into silence. Gareth, who suffers from OCD, spent a large part of his life doing just that, until he met Emily and together they created a game to celebrate the weird, dumb and dark we all have inside.

How the Brand Developed

The Science of Shame

Using a combination of live play tests and surveys, Gareth and Emily built up a bank of shame-invoking questions. You might not think it, but behind every ridiculous question, there’s a cocktail of spreadsheet formulas, API connections and pivot tables.

Socialising Shame

In January of 2018, they took the concept to the public, ahead of a spring Kickstarter launch. The questions, often photographed on oversized cards and held around Manchester, received a huge response by Facebook users. Over the months hundreds of people came to their page every week, to debate topics like what would be the most inappropriate movie to remake as a porno.

Crowdfunding Shame

By the time of the Kickstarter, they had amassed thousands of Facebook followers and mailing list subscribers. The fans of the game fled to Kickstarter the moment it was launched and met the £3,000 fundraising target within 8 hours, trebling to £10,000 worth of pre-orders by the end of the campaign.

FUN FACT: Not only did the science of shame provide a better understanding of shame, but it also gave them the high honour of being the first people to ever use the phrases ‘VLOOKUP’ and ‘classiest tattoo for a baby’ in the same sentence.

The Products

The Shame of Life

The original game, containing 100 game questions, 10 DIY blank question cards, 4 game modes and instructions, for ages 17+.

RETURN OF THE SHAME

The expansion pack, containing 30 new game questions, created collaboratively with Kickstarter backers, for ages 17+.

PRESS RELEASES

Using data from social media led polls, The Shame of Life has been able to uncover groundbreaking insights into the minds of 21st century civilisation.