The History of Symposium Games

Hello! I’m Ben Lithgow, creator of Symposium Games.

I'm a people person, so I’ve always loved parties. Any excuse to bring people together will do. Birthdays, graduations, weddings, holidays, you name it. Parties are an opportunity to build the relationships that give us meaning. A great party can be one of the peaks of the human experience, making you wonder when you last had so much fun.

On the flip side, a bad party is a real let down. One thing a lot of hosts lose sight of is that, if you’re planning to entertain, you need to provide some entertainment! Parties can be fraught with stress for hosts and guests alike. Striking up conversations with strangers can be difficult, even for extroverts. It can be easier to just chat with the people you already know, check your phone, or play with the cat in the coatroom. The best parties are ones where the host povides entertainment that gets their guests over their anxiety and helps them get to know each other. In my experience, games are the best party entertainment because they enable your guests to entertain themselves. 

In 2014 I attended a fateful party and played a game that started me down an unusual path. After watching a play starring a few of my friends, they invited me to the cast party. For entertainment, the host brought out a Jenga set, but not just any set. This set had hand-written words on each block, denoting a prompt to be performed by whoever pulled it. It was such amazing fun that by the end of the night I felt like part of the cast! Afterward, I decided to make a set of my own and I started my quest to come up with the absolute best truth-or-dare style prompts to nudge my friends out of their comfort zone by interacting more deeply and directly.

I brought my home-made game to friend's parties and kind guests made comments encouraging me to sell it. After hearing this a few times, I decided to give it a go. However, despite my commitment to make and sell my game, I kept coming up with exciting new ideas for how I could make it better. I conducted nearly 30 playtests, always taking detailed notes and making changes each time. I carefully analyzed many of the best party games on the market and read up on the psychology of play. I tweaked the rules again and again and sent out lengthy surveys to my friends. I rephrased and renamed almost every prompt several times over. I tinkered with different block dimensions and had custom sets made by a local woodworker. Admittedly, I became a little obsessed.

My friends cautioned me against perfectionism and suggested that I release a “minimally viable” version, but I wouldn’t hear it. I had a vision of something special and I didn’t want to play (let alone produce) a minimally viable game. I wanted to make a game that was amazing fun, but also beautiful to behold.

Once I settled on the ancient Greek theme, the rest of the game design slowly settled into place. Ironically, I wasn’t particularly interested in ancient Greece before starting the project, but with every new thing I learned I wanted to learn more. Once I delved deeper into the history and myth of ancient Greece I realized there was more than enough inspiration for the names of the blocks and the graphic design. (For the first couple years of development, the names of the blocks were just a mashup of pop culture references.) Still, it wasn't easy. It took more than a year just to rename the blocks.   

During 2020 and the Covid-19 shutdowns, while I was laid off for nine months looking for work and longing to spend time with friends, I kept myself busy by working on the game. It was then that I had the epiphany of having the game take the form of a herm and for Dionysus to be the bust.

The pandemic may not quite be behind us, but now that it’s becoming more safe to attend parties again, I’m ready to unveil my first game. I took my time, like the tortoise in Aesop’s fable, but I'm finally content that Cult of Dionysus has all the elements of a great party game. It provides just enough structure to fend off boredom and awkwardness while still allowing creativity and spontaneity. It prompts interesting conversations and direct interactions that let player’s personalities shine.

While making this game I realized that what I want out of a party is the same thing as I want out of life in general: an authentic experience and meaningful connections with others. Symposium Games is dedicated to making games that deliver exactly that. Cheers!