How Toys Become Real
A downloadable game
"It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby."
---The Skin Horse, The Velveteen Rabbit
In this solo journaling game, you will use Tarot card prompts to explore the narrative story of a Child and their beloved Rabbit, while you wait and hope that Nursery Magic will make you Real, instead of resigning you to a terrible and tragic fate of being broken, forgotten, or worse someday.
To play, you will need a standard tarot deck, a coin, a handful of tokens, and a method of journaling.
How Toys Become Real is based on Anamnesis by Sam Leigh, and draws additional mechanical inspiration from To Honour and Obey by Laurie O’Connel. It is an adaptation of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, which is available in the Public Domain. The artwork is the original Velveteen Rabbit illustrations by William Nicholson.
This game was created for Solovember Jam 2024 and National Game Design Month 2024.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Community Copies
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Educator Copies
If you are a teacher, librarian, or a paraprofessional in either field, these copies are for you. Thank you for the important and often undervalued work you do for your community!
Community Copies
If you are experiencing financial hardship, are part of a marginalized community, or the game would otherwise not be available to you, please take a community copy. For each purchase of the game, I will add another community copy.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.