Newly-Dead® The Game

The Newly-Dead® Game was conceived as a way to help start funeral planning conversations in a fun, non-threatening way. Game creator Gail Rubin, pioneering death educator and author of A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die and The Family Plot Blog, sought a way to help families get past the fear of discussing funeral planning.

“Couples who have played this game often come away with a fresh appreciation of how much they still need to know about each other when it comes to funeral planning,” said Rubin. “Just as talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, talking about funerals won’t make you dead – and your family really does benefit from the conversation.”

The game is based on elements of The Newlywed Game, but the questions in The Newly-Dead Game revolve around how well the couple knows each other regarding their last wishes.

The Newly-Dead Game is designed to be played by three or four couples with an emcee reading the questions. Four questions are asked, each progressively more challenging. All questions regard elements of the participants’ last wishes. The emcee then interviews the couples to reveal their answers. The couple that gets the most answers correct get the most points. The highest scoring couple wins the top prize!

In 2019, a Singles Edition of The Newly-Dead Game debuted. It allows those who are not in a couple, as well as everyone in the audience, to play! You are scored on how well prepared you are for end-of-life issues. If your attitude is, “I don’t care, I’ll be dead,” you get zero points for that answer.

Every purchase of The Newly-Dead Game includes both the Couples and Individuals Editions. The game includes 36 question cards plus instruction booklet, score pad for the singles game, and templates for additional score cards and your own unique questions.