Emotional Intelligence Board Game (EIBG) at Play NYC | New Icebreaking Improve Tabletop Game

We recently hit Play NYC, a New York based convention that highlights local video game and tabletop game developers. We spoke with Lucy Qui and J Mill of BCAD about their game, the Emotional Intelligence Board Game (EIBG). Emotional Intelligence Board Game is a connection game for 2-6 players that emphasizes storytelling, improvisation, and authenticity. EIBG uses a resource acquisition component based on the six social archetypes: Intuitor, Connector, Conjurer, Enhancer, Manipulator, and Specialist. Each of these social archetypes is associated with a color and has a different game style to play as. The archetype the player chooses comes with a power card that players can use on other players in each round. A manipulator, for example, can use the Exaggerate card on other players for each round.

PopGeeks: Tell us about Emotional Intelligence Board Game (EIBG)?

Lucy Qui: So this is the Emotional Intelligence Board Game or EIBG. And basically, it’s like a connecting, relating, icebreaker, improv game. You play it with a group and learn about each other. It’s also got character archetypes and strategies to keep people interested.

PopGeeks: Who are the gamers you are trying to reach?

Lucy Qui: There are a lot of Fraternity Groups in college. And I realized that they are very good. They kind of like get along with each other. But they don’t really know each other. That’s what I want. There was this show I watched. I thought I would come up with this game. I want to have guys express their emotions through a board game. They don’t have to be super serious. But they can connect in a very fun way. But also get to know each other. That’s what inspired me. That kind of college life.

PopGeeks: What was the inspiration for EIBG?

J Mill: So, like she was saying. This was born out of a desire where a lot of games like this are just a bank of questions and there is no arc of the game. You just answer questions till you get bored and stop. This adds some progression. It starts off with ice breaker games, then it moves to more emotional games, and then to more relating games and it keeps a group interested. And it is all built in so that was the design inspiration.

Thanks to Lucy Qui and J Mill for taking the time to speak with us. If you’d like to learn more about, visit bcad.one.