Couple (2)
With two players, take turns naming a harmless annoyance and inventing a wonderfully impractical solution. A quiet one-sentence version is complete.
ComedyEstimated 15–20 minutes
The Department of Bad Inventions
Open a pretend department for impractical inventions that solve tiny harmless annoyances in the most overcomplicated way possible.
- Estimated time
- 15–20 minutes
- Optional supplies
- None required. Optional: paper and a pen for a deliberately bad product card.
Finish when: Finish with one fictional invention named, its harmless problem, one ridiculous feature, and a slogan.
The activity
Do this together, at your own pace.
Each step is an action you can try now. There is no timer or required setup.
Find a tiny harmless problem
Name a mild everyday annoyance, such as forgetting where a bookmark is or deciding which mug to use. Skip anything involving health, safety, money stress, or another person's private life.
Overcomplicate the solution
Invent a fictional device or service that solves the tiny problem in an absurdly elaborate way. Give it one ridiculous feature; do not make or test a real object.
Give it a product identity
Name the invention and make up a short slogan. If you like, add a pretend warning label that makes clear it is imaginary and should not be built.
Hold a friendly review
Optional extension: if everyone wants, briefly describe why the imaginary department might approve the invention. Keep it kind and critique the invention, not the inventor. This review is not needed to finish.
Your finish condition: Finish with one fictional invention named, its harmless problem, one ridiculous feature, and a slogan.
Play with your people
Choose your group size.
Friends (3-6)
With 3–6 players, share the inventor, product-name writer, and slogan-maker roles. A friendly review board is optional.
Keep it comfortable
Make it fit the moment.
Low-key alternative
Stay seated and quietly choose a tiny harmless annoyance, invent a pretend solution, give it a name, and add one ridiculous feature or slogan. Finish when those pieces are imagined or written; a full pitch, drawing, and review are not required.
Safety and comfort
Keep the invention fictional. Do not build, test, plug in, heat, cut, lift, or eat anything as part of it; avoid medical, weapon, or emergency-use ideas. A silly description is enough, nobody has to pitch aloud, and anyone may pause, skip, or stop.
When the activity feels finished
Make a little keepsake.
Add the results you made. These notes stay in this page; they are not saved with your stamp.
Your completion stamp stays in this browser. Stop, skip a step, or come back whenever it suits you.
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