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Nanofictionary, subtitled "The card game of telling tiny stories", is a storytelling card game published by Looney Labs in 2002 in which the players create very short stories using idea cards.
All the players simultaneously draw a card and then have two options, also completed simultaneously:
Once a player has cards with all four required elements and has constructed a simple a story, the player declares that their story is finished, and will get bonus points for finishing early. Turns continue until all the other players are finished.
Even though the player must have all four elements of the story face up in front of them, they do not have to use every card in the story. They are also free to add small details not mentioned in the cards, but the major characters and plot should conform to the cards they have played.
Cedric Cin, writing for Ogre Cave, compared this game to Once Upon a Time (Atlas Games, 1993) and found that Atlas' game "with its story elements focusing solely on fantasy tales, was easier to create stories with. Such a focus, however, obviously limits the players to a limited genre. Nanofictionary has enough absurdity to be less familiar." Cin felt the only issue with the game was the scoring system, which was "more complicated than it should be." Cin compared it to other, more cutthroat storytelling games and concluded, "If you have players who want a 'gentle' storytelling game, Nanofictionary is it."
Eric Mortensen reviewed Nanofictionary 3.0 (2018) and warned that competitive players will be disappointed, writing, "If you are only focused on trying to win the game, Nanofictionary is not going to be a very satisfying experience for you. The best way to approach Nanofictionary is to look at it as something you play to have fun with your friends and family. You will get the most enjoyment out of the game if you and the players are just looking for a good time telling funny/enjoyable stories." Mortensen's issue with the game was that, only having 100 cards to use as story seeds, it tended to lose creative steam after 30 minutes. Despite this, Mortensen concluded, "While Nanofictionary can get a little repetitive at times, it is a fun creative storytelling game that will be quite enjoyable with the right groups."
In the 2010 book Libraries Got Game: Aligned Learning Through Modern Board Games, Brian Mayer commented, " Nanofictionary provides a fluid environment within which students can put into practice many of the fundamental ELA English skills they are developing in the classroom. The game's mechanics are reflective of the flexible information environments that are becoming more prevalent in today's world." Mayer concluded, "By using games such as Nanofictionary educators have access to tools that can marry their curriculum with meaningful examples of these contemporary environments."
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