OK, we're ALL for education, full facts and proper information, and young girls (and boys for that matter) being uber-informed about their bodies and normal bodily functions, right?

Advertisement

But a GAME based around periods? Ooh la la!

We totes get the thinking behind it - its creators Daniela Gilsanz and Ryan Murphy told The Metro that their aim was to make 'girls feel OK about their period at an early age' and that it also helped ‘men learn a lot too' - but we're not sure we can see it topping many Christmas lists this year.

Here's how it works: first up, you choose your 'piece' to move around the board - you can be a menstrual cup, a tampon, a pad, or an item of underwear (we're already wondering how we're going to explain menstrual cups to Great Uncle Malcolm, but hey ho...)

Then, instead of throwing a dice to start, you spin the ovaries (er, they are part of the game - not your own) to reveal either a clear marble or a red one.

If you get a RED marble you can start (rolls eyes at the symbolism) moving around the board and overcoming challenges to get to the end. And what are these challenges? Well, there's PMS and leaky underwear for starters...

(We'd have thrown in the towel by this point - geddit?)

The game also comes with a little booklet to explain the various situations so that players can check out the meaning of anything they don't understand (like, why am I playing a game about periods? What's up next? Trivial Poo-suits? Operation featuring hysterectomies?)

The Period Board game

The winner is the player who gets to the end without killing the other players, gaining half a stone or eating their own weight in chocolate. Hang on, no, that's real life periods. ?

The winner is the one who successfully goes with the flow and completes the board first. Or something.

Daniela told Metro that the idea was first conceived as a school project for an educational game 2 years ago.

"For us it was important that the game also had real life learning and we decided on menstruation as a great subject to tackle," she said.

"When we first brought it up in class there was a fair amount of discomfort, which surprised us as we were all in our 20s at art school, but also confirmed that there was still a lot of work to be done in how we talk about periods," she explained.

She and Ryan are currently looking for partners in their business so they can mass-produce the game, with the ultimate aim of having it used in schools as part of sex education lessons, although the Metro reports that they think it is also 'just as fun at home for people in their 20s'. (Er, OK...)

Joking aside, as a sex ed tool we do think it's a brill concept - it would absolutely be a fun and informative way of teaching kids about their bodies and periods.

But as a family board game to while away a rainy Sunday afternoon? We'll be sticking to Monopoly for now, thanks all the same.

Pics: periodgame.com

Read more

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement