Takotsubo: A Board Game about Grief

You can't outrun grief. But you can outscore it.

Summary

Takotsubo is a team-based satirical board game that explores the non-linear journey of grief through humor and strategy. Designed for multiplayer engagement, it blends emotional themes with playful mechanics to provoke thought while entertaining. Four players split into two teams—Team Trauma and Team Therapy—and spend the game completing tasks, sabotaging each other, and progressing (or regressing) through the five stages of grief.

Inspiration

This idea started with a simple question: Why do we treat grief like it’s supposed to be linear? I kept hearing people talk about the five stages—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance—as if you check them off one by one and then you’re “done grieving.” That never felt accurate. I wanted to challenge that with something playful but meaningful.

Takotsubo grew out of personal reflection, conversations with friends, and a desire to make a game that touches on something difficult without getting too heavy.

Objectives

My main goal was to design a game that could hold emotional depth but still function as a party game—something you could play with strangers or friends without needing to get too personal.

I wanted players to:

• Think strategically while navigating metaphors for grief

• Laugh at absurd scenarios that still hold emotional truth

• Experience the frustration and joy of moving forward… or backward

Gameplay Mechanics

The game is rich with metaphorical elements, each supporting the narrative of healing or regression. Custom components and card deck categories shape the player experience.

Teams: Team Trauma (their goal is to break the heart) vs. Team Therapy (they're trying to heal it)

• Heartbreak Hub: A jigsaw puzzle heart that comes together piece by piece

• Grief Gauge: A needle gauge with the five grief stages

• Dial of Doom: A chaotic chance wheel that keeps things unpredictable

• Three Types of Cards:

  • Stage Struggle: hints that point to a particular grief stage and need be guessed

  • Grief Glyph: wordplay puzzles that need to be deciphered

  • Mutual Misfortune: trying to guess how similarly teammates think

Challenges

A major challenge was balancing humor with respect for the topic. The game uses absurd fictional scenarios to evoke emotional truths without requiring real-life disclosure.

• Avoided direct personal sharing to maintain emotional safety

• Used exaggerated metaphors (e.g., "your parrot's ex-wife left him") to keep tone light

• Ensured humor never trivialized real grief, but instead reflected it creatively

Design and Development Journey

Phase 1 & 2: Low-Fidelity Playtesting

Initial versions were made with sticky notes and simple digital components. The focus was on mechanics over aesthetics.

• Created digital grief gauge in Figma

• Color-coded sticky notes represented different task cards

• 12 players across 3 groups participated

Observations:

• Games lasted 15–25 minutes

• Team dynamics were positively received

• Some players connected deeply with the grief metaphor

Feedback Highlights:

• Need for stronger theme-mechanic link

• Players enjoyed strategy and humor

• Suggested including more variety and depth

• Increase stakes (potential ways to sabotage other team)

Phase 3: Evolving the Heart Mechanic

Inspired by Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, the concept evolved to include a heart puzzle scoreboard that represents healing effort, not just progress.

• 25-piece 'heartbreak hub' puzzle symbolizes emotional repair

• Points can now be spent to:

  • Advance toward a grief stage

  • Heal/Hurt the heart

  • Sabotage the opposing team

This shift emphasized the message: "It’s not just about reaching the end—it’s how you got there."

For the Heartbreak Hub, I knew I had to get it right. I’d never done 3D modeling before, but I wanted the physical game to feel symbolic and tactile—something players could literally hold and break. I started with a base 2D image generated with AI to help me visualize the design. With that as a reference, I began modeling the Heartbreak Hub. I had some help along the way, and the images below show the process.

Phase 4: Final Aethetics

With this new piece, and the name ‘Takotsubo’, I made a pivot to the aesthetics of all components, sticking to a color palette of predominantly red, blue, black, and white. Also, the game now was very heavily inspired by Japanese style pop-art, which is very boxy and rectangular. I redesigned the cards and the ‘grief gauge’ to reflect these changes. You can see them in the images below.

Final Showcase and Results

I showcased Taktosubo in class and ran a final round of playtests. Here's what players had to say:

• The heartbreak hub puzzle was a big success, and having an analog piece really made for an emotionally satisfying interactive piece

• The absurdity of the scenarios created an environment of fun and laughter

• Sabotaging opponents forced players to strategize, which was well received tension the game thrived on

• Teammates—even those who didn’t know each other—enjoyed the collaborative element, which added energy and humor.

Below are some images from the playtest.

Conclusion

Looking back, one of the most affirming moments came during my second group critique with John Sharp, a renowned game design professor at my university. His feedback was generous and encouraging. He saw strength in the core concept and mechanics, which meant a great deal coming from someone with his background. His suggestion to create a foldable board with all three interactive elements in cardboard struck me as both practical and creatively aligned with the game's tone. He even encouraged me to consider pitching the game to publishers—something I hadn’t let myself seriously entertain until that moment. Of course, I know there are broader political and thematic sensitivities to navigate, but hearing that he thought it was ready felt huge.

As I move forward, I’m channeling all this feedback into the next iteration. I’m aiming to bring Takotsubo to an upcoming board game events —generating more chances for people to break or rebuild hearts. Through it all, I’ve realized how foundational my peers were to this process. Their early playtests shaped the path forward. And if there's one thing this project has confirmed for me, it’s that no matter how layered or meaningful a concept might be, a game still has to be fun. That belief was tested and proven—from the very first chaotic session to today’s final play.