Inkwell Games
board game publisher - London
board game publisher - London
Percept is a game of perceptual consistency played with inkblots. One player is the Classifier. They are shown a series of symmetrical inkblots and must describe what they see in each one - but they must stick to a single rule or consistent pattern.
The other players watch and listen. After the Classifier finishes all descriptions, the other players must guess which descriptions actually match what the Classifier saw, and which are fabrications or inconsistencies.
The game reveals how much agreement exists between what you see and what others see in the same image.
One player is designated the Classifier. They are shown cards with inkblots in sequence. For each inkblot, they describe what they see out loud. They must describe at least three elements in each image, and their descriptions must follow some internal logic or rule.
The other players score points by correctly identifying which descriptions are consistent, and which are deliberate deviations. After all inkblots are shown, players vote on whether the Classifier followed their stated rule or cheated.
We are not certain whether anyone actually cheats, or whether inconsistency feels like cheating even when it is accidental.
Percept contains eight symmetrical inkblot cards. Below are four examples from the published set:
Percept contains:
The game works best with four to six players. With fewer players, the psychological pressure decreases. With more than six, scoring becomes difficult to track.
Each inkblot is completely symmetrical. The cards are printed at 6 by 8 inches. The set contains eight distinct images.
Players typically spend between four and eight minutes describing each inkblot, depending on how much they second-guess themselves.
We are not certain that all players see the same forms in the same inkblots. We are not certain whether some inkblots are genuinely ambiguous while others have dominant interpretations. We have not systematically tested whether players who see the same object describe it the same way.
We do not know whether consistency matters more than accuracy.
Percept is sold out. The first print run was forty-seven copies, produced in June 2013. They sold between June 2013 and March 2014. We have not printed additional copies and do not plan to.
Secondhand copies appear occasionally on online markets.