by Ami Baio

Hi, BGG! I'm Ami Baio from Pink Tiger Games. In February 2024, I wrote the inside story of my game Cloud Nine, and now I'm back with the story behind my latest game, Hurt Party: A Game of Bad Apologies.

I'm obsessed with making games about connection and conversation, but you never know where the spark of inspiration is going to come from. I've made six games so far, and the idea for each one has come from an unexpected place.

I've always been fascinated with how we apologize to each other, how it feels, and how we repair our relationships. It hurts to know we've hurt someone, and of course, it hurts to be hurt!

Because we're human and we all make mistakes, most of us need to give a sincere apology from time to time, as well as quick apologies every day for little things, for the sake of maintaining our relationships. Ultimately, we say we're sorry because we care.

But did I ever think I'd end up wanting to make a game about apologies? Well, you never know...

The Idea Moment

Back in 2020, I was interviewed for a podcast about apologies in which the host asked me about a specific time I said I was sorry. The apology I talked about was one that meant a lot to me to give, and the way it was received changed a close relationship in my life for the better.

I found myself wondering: Could I make a game about apologies? Right away, I had my doubts.

If you know my games, you'll probably guess that I wanted to make a sweet, kind game about saying you're sorry — all warm and fuzzy!

But after prototyping multiple versions, it just wasn't fun. Every time I tried to make a sincere, thoughtful game about apologies, it came out feeling boring.


The reality is that there's only one sincere way to say you're sorry: direct and to the point, while owning the mistake. That doesn't make for creative gameplay!

I set the idea aside, but it was always in the back of my mind.

Inspiration

Three years later, in the summer of 2023, I hosted a game night in Los Angeles along with several game designer friends, the people behind Brilliant or BS, Sabobatage, and Party Freud.

We were hanging out for a while, talking and playing games, when a friend-of-a-friend walked in with the warmest smile, stopping to hug everyone, then her smile grew even wider as she announced, "I'm ready to be mean to my friends!"


With that, I had my lightbulb moment. This woman embodied kindness and playfulness, yet the idea of pretending to be a terrible person was undeniably funny.

There's only one good way to apologize to someone, but there are so many awful ways to apologize! It's nearly endless, and everyone can relate to receiving a bad apology...or giving one themselves.

Writing and Design

After that wonderful occasion of inspiration, I couldn't stop. I wrote so many bad apologies, I thought my brain might break.

I typed every single awful apology I could think of into my phone wherever I was — on planes, at my desk, watching television, in bed — nowhere was safe.

I also wrote out a huge number of annoying, rude, mean things that someone could do to hurt your feelings. I found myself digging into every slight and painful moment in my own life, with plenty inspired by my friends and family and things they've also experienced — and, um, maybe done themselves, but please don't tell them I told you.

I hand-wrote them all out on cards and carried them around to play with pals. By August 2023, I knew I was onto something.


In the months leading up to the epiphany of making bad apologies, I had been playtesting the game with a player judge mechanism for the first time. With my designs being conversational party games, most people think my games are like Apples to Apples, but I'd never had a player judge before.

In Hurt Party, I found the game worked best when you read your apology out loud instead of keeping it secret. Winning a round would mean leaning into the delivery of your apology.


A game full of sincere apologies had been playable, yet boring — but once I wrote the terrible ones, I experienced something as a game designer that was brand new to me: People laughed out loud at what I wrote. Leaning into making a funny game had changed everything!

Playtesting

In early September 2023, I brought my updated print-and-play prototype to PAX West in Seattle so that I could playtest in the UnPub room.

I initially included quite a few sweet apology cards in the deck for balance, but playtesters quickly told me they weren't necessary.

Overall, Hurt Party was received really well there, and I was grateful to see people engaged and loving it. My design changes were further validated by the feedback from players: They wanted even more horrendous apologies from which to choose, so I took their feedback to heart and wrote even more!


I went ahead and ordered another prototype, updating the colors and changing the apology cards to reflect what players wanted most: 99% terrible apologies, with a handful of kind ones as little surprises.

People often ask whether I wrote every card in Hurt Party, and the answer is almost all of them! As with my past games, I included a "Make A Card With Me" reward tier for the game's Kickstarter project and worked with backers to include their ideas, which ended up being some of my personal favorites.


Making A Cake

Unlike my other games, the visual design of Hurt Party came together months before the gameplay was finalized. This was risky, but I can be really stubborn and determined when I have an idea, and I hired an illustrator to make the cake box before the game was ready.


I love cake, and the imagery of heart-shaped vintage decorative cakes being broken and bandaged spoke to me and seemed like a fun way to present the concept of hurt cards and apology cards, while also being true to my aesthetic. Something sweet-looking for a salty subject!

When I knew I wanted cake art, I knew exactly who I wanted to make my cake dreams come true: Agnes Barton-Sabo, a.k.a. Betty Turbo. Barton-Sabo is an incredible multifaceted artist who works in a variety of mediums with a distinct style. She was easy and fun to work with as we explored colors and cakes to make Hurt Party.

We did have an "uh oh" moment early in the process when we realized the lettering for the logo could be misread as "Hunt Panty" instead of "Hurt Party". Whoops!


Making It Real

Making stuff is the best. We had a blast filming the Kickstarter video in January 2024. I even ordered a real-life heart-shaped cake and decorated the space like a little party.


In February 2024, we launched the Kickstarter for Hurt Party, and when it successfully funded we had another party — this time, I ordered special heart-shaped sugar cookies with bad apologies on them!

Hurt Party games were sent out to backers in September 2024, and I'm hoping the game makes a big splash for Valentine's Day 2025 in your friendly local game stores, and now at Paper Source stores around the United States.

With Gratitude and a Full Heart

I'm so grateful to make games, and I'm so happy that somehow an idea can pop into my head and end up in your hands bringing you joy, with a lot of hard work from a team of people, including every single Kickstarter backer and retailer, my manufacturer, my distribution partners, my incredibly cool family and friends, and you.

Hurt Party is now a part of the Pink Tiger Games collection, along with You Think You Know Me, Flatter Me, Rabbit Rabbit, Lost for Words, and Cloud Nine.

Where will inspiration strike next?

xoxo
Ami