July 17, 2020. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Max Seidman
Phone: (603) 727-6633
Email: max@resonym.com

Resonym Creates Card Game About Diverse Surrealist Artists

• Resonym announces Surrealist Dinner Party, a card game featuring Surrealist artists, writers, and musicians
• The game emphasizes diversity by featuring a majority of women Surrealists, several transgender Surrealists, and many Surrealists of color
• The Kickstarter campaign raised over $5,000 in its first day

Hanover, New Hampshire — Today independent board game publisher Resonym reached the initial funding goal for Surrealist Dinner Party, their unique card game about the Surrealist art movement, on Kickstarter. The game contains cards depicting 30 real-life Surrealist artists and writers, who players can invite to their fictional dinner party and serve food in order to win. The game was created as a way to educate families about the movement, and to bring to light a colorful cast of real-life Surrealists who have often been underappreciated by history. It not only includes household names like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, as well as Surrealists like Ted Joans, Joyce Mansour, Toyen, and Afrofuturist Sun Ra.

“It was vital to me to capture the rich diversity and impact of the Surrealist movement,” said Mary Flanagan, CEO of Resonym and co-designer of the game. “The artists and writers in Surrealist Dinner Party includes a majority of women artists, several transgender artists, and artists from all over the world. In addition, the game is designed to be fun for both art enthusiasts with no game experience, and game enthusiasts with no knowledge of the art world.”

The 2-4 player, 30 minute card game contains 30 extra large artist cards illustrated by modern surrealist Virginia Mori, a stainless steel platter to serve as the centerpiece for gameplay, one hundred tokens representing wine, food, dessert, compliments, and drama to give the artists, and an information booklet of overviews and facts about each Surrealist included in the game. Resonym hopes that this information can be a jumping off point for players to learn more about the fascinating lives of historic Surrealists.

“From start to finish playing games was a way for the [Surrealist] movement to remain collective, to unite the group as it formed and re-formed over the years.  This game is a terrific update to this surrealist practice and a wonderful introduction to some of the movement’s key players,” Katharine Conley, author of Surrealist Ghostliness and Automatic Woman: The Representation of Woman in Surrealism, and Professor of French & Francophone Studies at William & Mary, wrote of Surrealist Dinner Party.

Surrealist Dinner Party’s unique theme captured the imaginations of board gamers and art enthusiasts, raising over $5,000 in its first day on Kickstarter. “Surrealist art attracts a wide audience,” said Flanagan. “Kickstarter allows novel ideas like Surrealist Dinner Party to merge art and games and galvanize an audience. Mainstream publishers might have considered the subject matter too highbrow or too niche. Small publishers like Resonym can be nimble and innovative thanks to new funding models like Kickstarter.” The Kickstarter campaign has achieved its goal of $16,000 and will continue to accept new backers until August 4th. After that, the game will enter production and is expected to arrive at backers’ doorsteps in November.

Links

Kickstarter Page
Press Info
Game Info

About Resonym

Resonym is a woman-led company committed to socially conscious game design. Resonym games include the inventive party games Awkward Moment, and Buffalo: The Name Dropping Game, and the original strategy games MONARCH, Visitor in Blackwood Grove, and Mechanica.