Do you wish there was an easy way to get people to talk about death and estate planning? Playing a game can make planning ahead for end-of-life issues an enjoyable experience.
As a pioneering death educator, my first foray into death education gamification was Newly-Dead® The Game. It’s like the old TV game show, The Newlywed Game, but the questions focus on how well a couple knows their partners’ last wishes. It debuted at the 2011 Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival in Nederland, Colorado, a wild and wacky celebration of all things dead and frozen. And yes, there is a real dead guy kept frozen by dry ice who resides there.
There’s also a Singles edition of Newly-Dead® The Game that allows everyone in the audience to play along, testing how well prepared they are with a will, disposition plans, advance medical directives, and a final resting place. The better prepared you are, the more points you get. Each question includes four answers, with the last one being “I don’t care, I’ll be dead.” That answer gets you zero points.
Both versions of Newly-Dead® The Game provide an opportunity to explain why it’s important to have a will and advance medical directives and teach about funeral planning issues. Initially, the game was offered as a digital download, but a physical product is coming in 2023. Learn more here.
Now I’ve created a word Bingo game focused on death education issues: Newly-Dead® Bingo! Just like a traditional Bingo game, players receive a game card with randomized words instead of numbers. As each death- and funeral-related word is called, there’s a brief teachable moment focused on each word. Words in the game include Pre-Need Planning, Wills & Trusts, POAs, Pet Loss, Advance Medical Directives, Obituaries, and Insurance.
Newly-Dead Bingo can be played in-person with physical cards or online within a Zoom meeting.
By the way, if you’d like to get a set of Newly-Dead Bingo cards and Newly-Dead The Game, check out the Before I Die Festival in a Box®. It provides a host of upbeat ideas and tools to get end-of-life planning conversations started.
Remember, talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, and talking about end-of-life issues won’t make you dead.
Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death®, is an award-winning speaker, author, podcaster, and coordinator of the Before I Die New Mexico Festival (www.BeforeIDieFestivals.com). She is also a Certified Funeral Celebrant. Her three books on planning ahead for end-of-life issues – A Good Goodbye, Kicking the Bucket List and Hail and Farewell – are available through Amazon and her website, www.AGoodGoodbye.com.
Gail Rubin
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
9444 Balboa Avenue, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
Phone: (858) 453-2128
www.aaepa.com
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