Board game cubes stories rules. Homemade cubes for storytelling (print). What are story cubes

Here I will talk about how you can play these amazing dice!

First way. Drop and Play

Now say “Once upon a time...” (or one of the words/sentences you see on the plate below), choose the first die to start and continue the story with, linking the rest of the pictures into one story!

By the way, you can easily add this page yourself, there are many great phrases to start your story with...

What else matters? There are usually three parts to a story:

The second way. Trilogy

If you have 27 dice and you are playing with 3 players, then each player is given 9 dice.
The genre and theme of the story must be agreed upon jointly!
The genre can be science fiction or detective, romance or a story about cowboys and Indians. The theme of the story should contain the main meaning that the story conveys. For example, "Friends are known in trouble" or "The secret becomes clear."

Use the pictures on the Story Cubes to choose the genre and theme of the story.
Next, agree on who will start, who will continue, and who will end the story.

If you have 2 sets x 9 dice, then each of the 3 players gets 6 dice.

The third way. superhero story

The fourth way.Creating a story

Even before you choose the first picture to start your story with, decide who the story is about and what genre it is.

Divide the story into 3 parts - Beginning, Middle and Ending, use 3 dice for each.

Don't get hung up on finding accurate descriptions for pictures, let your imagination run wild. It is much more important that the story is interesting!

Huge Advantage of this game is that there can be as many rules as you want and you will surely come up with some kind of your own way of playing. This is the essence of the Story Cubes, that they act as a tool, an occasion, taking a secondary place, and the people playing them will be in the first place. For comparison, I'm sure that you played Monopoly - there the game and the rules almost completely suppress the initiative and abilities of the players. It all depends on the value of the rolled die. Everything is the opposite here - any picture can be interpreted 100 different ways, and combinations of pictures will always be connected in completely different stories from different people. Because that's how our brain works!

How does our brain work?

P.S.
There are a few incomprehensible characters. A little more about them:
Symbol "L"
We are often asked what the L symbol is in the Original Story Dice set. There are versions that this is a sofa or room plan. Interestingly, such a question does not arise in the homeland of the game in Ireland and in the UK. The thing is that L = Learner. Such a sign is hung on cars driven by a student, as in Russia "U" in a triangle. And although, with the spread of Story Cubes far beyond their native lands, it became obvious that this symbol does not have its original meaning in other countries, the author of the game Rory O "Connor decided to keep this picture as a reminder that Story Cubes were invented in Ireland, such patriotism, one might say.

Bee Symbol
The bee is one of the easiest characters to make up a story, and besides, this insect has quite human characteristics. The bee was one of the first images of living creatures on the Original Story Cubes. Gradually, with the realization that animals fit very well into almost any story, the author of the game began to add images of living creatures to new sets.

"Creativity can be trained like a muscle. Story Cubes is a simulator for training creativity, memory and thinking! - Rory O'Connor, inventor of the game.

Rory's Story Cubes is a unique board game of the genre storytelling developing imagination and speech. A game " A million stories in the palm of your hand”, (see the history of creation). 9 dice, 54 pictures and endless stories!
Tell stories Why might this be necessary? If you think about it, you will realize that all we do all the time is listen or tell stories. Like the food we eat, storytelling storytelling) is an integral part of our lives. We take this for granted, but often underestimate the power that this art has over us and over others. Indeed, a well-told story can be funny, instructive, motivating; it can help you reach your goal, make a friend, make a deal, meet and even find your love!

Sold since invention over 3 million copies, the game managed to receive dozens of awards, reviews of Story Cubes were published by popular magazines, bloggers, specialized sites and industry associations around the world. Here are just a few of the awards from Rory's Story Cubes:

This is a rare type of game where between players no competition- there are no losers or winners in the Story Cubes, because all participants take turns inventing and telling fictional adventures of some hero, the player himself can choose the genre of his story - detective, fantasy, fairy tale, the world through the eyes of a cat .. yes, anything! Playing in big company it’s no less fun to come up with one story for everyone, when each participant adds his own part to the story already formed before him based on the interpretation of the image that fell out on the die thrown by him. In addition, it will help people who are unfamiliar with each other (and there are always such people in large companies!) To start communication. Therefore, Story Cubes is more than a game, it is a tool that gives opportunities. We recommend downloading and printing a leaflet-guide " Making History".

Thanks to the huge number of combinations of images, the stories told will never be repeated. The small size of the box - only 6x6x2cm allows you to easily take the Story Cubes on the road to pass the time during long trips and play with your children on a plane or train.

The game was invented by an Irishman in the early 2000s as a tool for developing creativity and problem-solving skills. Interestingly, at the very beginning, the inventor put 54 images on the Rubik's cube and turning the cube randomly created one or another set of images on one of the sides. The player should have been told " One day.."and continue the story, based on the image 1, 2, 3, etc. until the ninth cube, on which the story should end. Then one of the colleagues suggested that Rory make 9 different cubes - and the same 54 images were now on dice, which made it easier to create tasks and at the same time made the game more visual and interesting.Thus, the first version appeared in a branded orange box in 2005. Then the Travel versions, the version with pictures-verbs Actions and numerous additional expansion sets were released on specific topics: Space, Sports, Evidence, Dinosaurs, etc.

Olga Shevchenko, mother of three children, copywriter and storyteller

In the FB feed, I came across photos of the new board game Story Cubes (Story Cubes). The motto of this game is roll the dice, tell stories. I became interested in cubes because I write stories myself. And creating stories with children is doubly cool.

"Accidentally" on New Year I was given Story Cubes. And immediately, without leaving the New Year's table, we all (family and guests) experienced the magic of these cubes for ourselves. But more on that later.

What are story cubes

The Irish company "The Creativity Hub LTD", a developer and manufacturer of story bricks, has sold more than 7 million sets worldwide. More than 20 international awards says a lot.

Basic set - 9 cubes. Each side of the cube has an original image. In total, there are 54 pictures in the set, of which 10 million combinations can be made.

Base sets come in different themes: travel, action, fantasy and others.

In addition to basic set you can buy sets of 3 cubes of narrower topics: sports, emotions, superpowers, animals, dinosaurs, space, ghosts, medicine, discoveries, etc.

How to play Story Cubes

The rules say that you need to pour all the cubes on the table. Each player in turn chooses the cube they like and tell their story from the picture. The selected dice no longer participate in the game, but remain on the table as a chain of dice.

The company and I have complicated the conditions and this, in my opinion, is much more interesting.

New rules of the game

We threw all the cubes into the hat and each player took out the cube without looking.

Then he threw it on the table and, with the picture that fell out, told the story.

After that, the cube returned to the hat and again participated in the game.

With this order, the number of options really becomes infinite.

The game attracted everyone, even those who did not participate, but simply watched. Everyone laughed: both seven-year-olds and seventy-year-olds. It's safe to say that this game is for all ages.

There are no winners or losers in this game. The result of the game is a story that you want to retell, supplement, draw.

What to look out for

Each participant continues the story based on the stories of the previous players. This will result in one logically (or non-logically) built story.

Pictures on the dice are associated with different objects or actions, and opinions on this matter may not coincide. All participants really want to prompt, but it knocks down, especially if a child throws a cube. For myself, I decided that all ideas need to be written down - then they will certainly come in handy.

Children at the beginning of the game are shy and say that they will not succeed. Do not persuade them, but show them personal example that everything is easy and fun. As our game showed, those who at the beginning shouted that they couldn’t and couldn’t, couldn’t stop at the end. And they wanted the game to continue.

Try to add adjectives, descriptions of the properties of objects and places during the story. It immerses all participants in the story, develops children's imagination well.

Advice

Record the game on a voice recorder. Later, you can listen to the audio recording, analyze, write to text. Young children can listen to such audio fairy tales several times in a row.

We recorded the game: read and listen to the text and audio recording below. My daughter drew comics for our story, and this is another advantage of the cubes. Immerse yourself in a world of stories, fairy tales and fantasy with story cubes.

An example of a story with cubes from the Travel set

Our action story is called "Watch Salesman Above Suspicion". To make it clear how the game developed, I will indicate the players, their age and what pictures they got.

Ilya, 19 years old, dice blaster (pistol)

A watch salesman named Brian was adjusting his watch. And then an unknown creature, similar to an alien, comes into his store and says:

Bro, give me your watch.

- Can you tell me what time it is? Brian asks him.

No, buddy, you don't understand. Get the clock here.

Brian is surprised and replies that he won't give him the watch.

The creature gets annoyed and pulls out blaster, and threatening them, shouts: “Give me the clock!”.

Move transition.

Timur, 14 years old, speedometer cube

As soon as the weirdo pulled out his blaster, time slowed down.

It turned out that the watch seller had super powers -

slow down time with speedometer.

He took the gun away from him in slow motion, hid it, and turned time back on.

And he put a stick in the freak's hand. When time is back...

Move transition.

Vasilisa, 15 years old, cube backpack

The alien realized that all his abilities that he possessed were

in backpack Dashi travelers.

And inside this backpack there was a monkey and a map (heroes of the cartoon “Dasha the Traveler”).

The card kept shouting: “I am a card, I am a card!”.

But the weirdo realized that after time returned,

he lost his idols, Dasha, the monkey and the map, forever.

Move transition.

Mom, mushroom cube

But then he remembered that in the back pocket of his jeans is a small mushroom-fly agaric.

The weirdo knew that if he ate this mushroom, everything would be revealed to him.

He pulled out the mushroom, thought about it, and ate it.

And what did he discover?

Move transition.

Dad, cube pendant

He realized that his backpack was empty.

And the watch he came for is gone.

Then he saw on the neck of the watchmaker a beautiful ruby pendant.

He took out a second blaster and said:

“Your time is up, grandfather. Take off your pendant."

Move transition.

Roman, 23 years old, dice shield

Seller Brian, being an elderly man, has seen a lot: and he met not such freaks in his life. And I also saw such freaks who come to him literally every week with toy blasters.

Brian thought, since the alien has a toy blaster, I'll get a toy shield, let's play.

He pulled out a toy shield and stood up in defense. The alien looked at all this, thought and began to laugh. So it all ended.

The alien still bought a watch from the seller and everyone was satisfied.

What Story Bricks Can Teach

Comment

Computer addicted teenagers put their gadgets aside to play with us. Real game plus communication with friends and parents defeated computer games.

Where can I buy Story Cubes

We bought story cubes from a domestic online store and received them in the mail in 2 days. Can be ordered on Amazon. When ordering multiple sets and with free shipping, the savings will be obvious, but you will have to wait a few weeks.

You can take story cubes on the road, to meet friends and to school or university, but I didn’t tell you that 🙂 . A box with cubes measuring 8x8 cm fits in the pocket of a jacket or backpack. You don't need a lot of space to play - a little space on the table.

Play, fantasize, write down your stories. And who knows, maybe this is the beginning of a new novel or a future movie.

Audio recording of the game Cubes of stories

The audio recording was made using the Super Dictaphone program for smartphones.

It is important not only to tell children different stories, but also to give children the opportunity to create and tell stories themselves. Invent them yourself, and not just retell someone else's. Writing, storytelling, or from English - storytelling, helps children learn mental perception and processing of information, develops beautiful literate speech, creative thinking, confidence in speaking in public, develops imagination, promotes the disclosure of talents and self-expression. The most comfortable platform for the first storytelling experience is the family circle. And help in it table games specially designed to hone your writing skills.

The undisputed leader among the games of this plan is STORY CUBES. The essence of the game is that you throw 9 dice on the table and start the story with some words like “Once upon a time ...” or “Once upon a time ...”, etc., stringing all the symbols that fell on the upper faces of the dice onto the thread of the story, starting with the one that first caught your attention.

But if it is not possible to buy them, then we suggest using our collection of sweeps, just print the ones you like and glue them together.

We remind you of the rules: the first participant in the circle of stories (out of all those who participate in composing a fairy tale) rolls the first die in order to determine the scene against which the events will take place based on the drawing that has fallen. Then the other participant rolls the second die and continues the story, adding the details to the previous plot. And so on, until the story is over. Someone from the adults should be instructed to write down the course of the plot, suddenly it really comes out interesting. “Once upon a time, a trouble happened in a magic castle - a robber stole a magic wand...”

You can use as many dice as you want, or follow the rule - a fairy tale in 5 moves.

"Creativity can be trained like a muscle. Story Cubes is a simulator for training creativity, memory and thinking!- Rory O'Connor, inventor of the game.

In the distant country of Ireland, Rory O "Connor came up with Story Cubes, like tutorial to develop creativity and problem-solving skills. At the very beginning of his idea, Rory put 54 images on a Rubik's cube and, turning the sides of the puzzle in random order, created one or another set of images on one of the sides. The player, in this case, had to start his story with the words "Once upon a time ..." and continue the story based on the symbols depicted at numbers 1, 2, 3 and so on up to die 9, on which the story should end. Then someone suggested that the author make 9 different six-sided dice - and the same 54 images were now on the dice, which simplified the creation of tasks, on the one hand, and at the same time made the game more visual and interesting. So in 2005, the first version appeared and the story of the development and commercial success of the game began.

And here's how it was:

Long before the invention of bricks, Rory O'Connor was engaged in the development of creativity and the ability to solve various creative problems. Working as a trainer and coach in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, he helped creative people overcome their crisis points.

MetacubeRory (Rubik's Cube) - late February 2004.

"When Rory came up with the idea for the MetaCube, he took Dr. Wenger's technique to develop creativity for inventors as Advanced Civilization. He described this idea to me in great detail. Our first child was only a few weeks old and I was having a little trouble concentrating. I asked him (as politely as a young mother with chronic sleep deprivation could be) to make a prototype so that I could understand how it works. And he did" recalls Anita Murphy, Rory's wife and partner at The Creativity Hub.

Rory placed fifty-four images on the squares of the Rubik's cube, where the player had to take the cube, spin it, shuffle the pictures, choose one of the sides of the cube, and tell a story using nine images on it.

However, the company 7 Towns, which owns the rights to the Rubik's Cube, did not fully understand and accepted Rory's idea, and asked not to pursue it. further development based on the Rubik's cube. And in May 2004, Rory comes up with an alternative version of his intellectual games- 9 different cubes all with the same 54 images.

This version of the game was spotted in 2005 by Kate Jones, an acquaintance of Rory's at Kadon Enterprises, who suggested the first batch of Story Bricks called Rory's Story Cubes. The images on the dice were applied using stickers.

A couple of years later, in 2007, the author decides to start his own production and releases his first version of Story Cubes, which also uses stickers. He designed a handy dice box that would later become the main story dice box.

Rory continues his experiments and releases bricks without stickers, as he received feedback from customers about the fragility of bricks with stickers. So it appears a new version Story Cubes where the images are already printed on the plastic surface of the cubes. And as it turned out, this version was not good enough - the printed images were scratched and erased. And Rory decides on a rather expensive cube production project. He decides to place the outlines of the images that are already in the molds. That is, the images have already appeared along with the cube. For 9 cubes, it was necessary to develop 9 different molds. And now nothing threatened the paint, because all the images on the cubes were recessed by 0.5mm! It is by this technology that the Story Cubes are still being produced.

From the day official appearance final version History Cubes in 2007, people of various professions and hobbies find more and more new uses for the game with cubes. According to the inventor, the best thing is that all these people first of all get their own, special pleasure from the game! Story Cubes help people come together and create an interesting shared story that may never have existed before.

The Creativity Hub, owned by Rory and Anita, receives almost daily thanks and messages about how Story Cubes have inspired a person to start writing a book, drawing, learning to speak (for example, in a foreign language), and even just thanks. for having fun with your friends while playing storytelling with Rory's Story Cubes.

Symbolism in cubes

On each side of the Cube of stories, in each of its pictures, there is a special meaning that the author of this game put into it. Some characters are read quickly and not forced, we can interpret them very easily, for example:

Bee Symbol

The bee is perhaps one of the easiest characters to make up any of your stories. In addition, this insect has completely human qualities and characteristics, so we have no difficulty in interpreting and inserting into history the face of the cube with the bee. The bee became one of the first images of living beings on. Gradually, with the realization that animals fit very well into almost any story, the author of the game also began to add images of living creatures to new sets.

But there are some symbols in the Story Cubes that encourage us to think, looking for similar associations in memory, since in ordinary life, we may not know their meaning, for example:

Symbol "L"

In the same set of "Original Story Dice" there is a strange symbol in the "L" square. There are versions that this is a sofa, a room plan, the Russian letter "G". The most interesting thing is that such a question does not arise in the homeland of the game in Ireland and in the UK. The thing is that “L” is an abbreviation for the word “Learner”, it is this sign that is hung on cars driven by a student, just like in Russia the “U” sign in a triangle. And although, with the spread of Story Cubes far beyond the author's native lands, it became obvious that this symbol does not have its original meaning in other countries, but the author of the game decided to keep this picture as a reminder that Story Cubes were invented in Ireland !

Types of Story Cubes

The very first symbols to ever appear on Rory's story dice. A necessary and sufficient minimum of pictures to make your story long, interesting and intriguing.

But due to numerous requests from users of the original cubes, who did not have enough time to quickly come up with or find associations for ordinary symbols, Rory went to meet them to add more pictures. He came up with several more full-scale sets, consisting of 9 dice, and then added mini sets, which include only 3 cubes, but have a narrow theme. And also, over the past 2 years, cubes based on famous stories from famous world authors have appeared, and several more new series of cubes based on famous cartoons and works are in line - expect!

In this set of stories, the faces of the cubes symbolize any action, all 54 pictures depict the most common verbs. The pictures are colored blue, so by mixing them with other sets, you can always distinguish which cubes they are. Great if you want to add some dynamism to your storytelling story or use this tool purposefully to learn a foreign language.

For those who like to try something new, go on long hikes and travels, another full-fledged new set, consisting of 9 Rory cubes, will help. Travel story cubes are painted in light green paint, so feel free to add them to your action-packed story of travel and travel.

Who didn't love fairy tales as a kid? Yes, perhaps, we all remember them, and treat them with tenderness, even having matured. The symbols of fairy tales in Rory's Story Cubes are collected from all over the world, they will be understandable to both children and adults. Throw a triple of dice about fairy tales and enhance your story with unusual characters and their adventures.

For fans of flights far beyond the earth, Rory came up with the idea of ​​making a small addition of 3 cubes about space. aliens, spaceships, planets and intergalactic travel - one of the favorite, not only children's topics, which is full of mysteries and secrets! Write a fantasy story or talk about scientific research? It's up to you to decide!

The theme of this set is animals and their interaction with humans. It can be used as a standalone mini-set if you want to create a story with a narrow theme, or even better combined with other Story Cubes to make the story wider and more diverse.

Start your story with a branded intro" A long time ago...". After all, we will talk about prehistoric times and ancient people, about asteroids and hunting, about archaeological excavations. Create your ancient history that started a long time ago.

"Faster, higher, stronger!" - famous motto Olympic Games, which will definitely sound during the game with the Story Cubes of the "Sports" series. 18 images on the theme of achievements, competitions, victories and winning first places. And despite the name of the additional set, such as related to sports, the scope of this set can be completely different, for example in coaching, where winning and achieving goals are just as important.

On the pictures of this additional version of the cubes you will find myths and legends, as well as the famous heroes of Ancient Greece. Create your own colorful story filled with wisdom and deep meaning of ancient Greek myths.

For health conversations and doctor stories, 18 new pictures will add variety to your game. Add them to the travel cubes and make up an incredible story of saving the whole world.

Do your stories lack a touch of fear? Do you want to add goosebumps, chilling incidents, mystical details or intriguing tension to the narrative? With the Horror mini-set you can try yourself as a detective or thriller writer!

And if you dreamed of solving a crime by being the main role of a detective, then this is just about the cubes from the Clues set. Among the pictures you will find fingerprints, DNA traces, mysterious signs and various items associated with incidents. Compose your mystical story and reveal it.

One of the full-fledged sets related to a specific genre and theme. The author of the story cubes, Rory, dedicated it to all fans of superheroes. Say "In the dark streets of Gotham..." at the very beginning of your story, and the story begins to unfold right before your eyes. Only the authors of this Gotham story will decide if the Riddler is planning another crime, or maybe the story will depend on whether the Joker gets out of Arkham Asylum? You decide everything!

In the books of the Finnish author Tove Janssen, a family of Moomin trolls lives in Moomin Valley, which, by their own example, shows readers how to love and take care of each other. Sniff, Sunsmumrik, Freken Snork, Fillyjonk, they are all Moomin trolls, sincere, naive and friendly, their problems are relevant for everyone, and the books that describe their adventures are read very easily and quickly. Therefore, they are loved all over the world by both adults and children. Who has not read or seen cartoons about the Moomin family. Just for such lovers of mummies, Rory created a full-fledged set of "Moomin trolls story cubes". Start your story with " Once upon a time in Moominvalley... and make up a story about kind and sympathetic creatures!

In 2016, new themed sets of Story Cubes appeared. For example, an additional mini-set of Fantasia, consisting of 3 dice, was followed by Adventure Time, and then there were full-fledged sets of Doctor Who, Scooby Doo and Looney Tunes dice.

What set of Story Cubes would you like to see?

to be continued...