What do people usually do after a breakup?
Some binge-watch sappy movies in their PJs while clutching onto a tub of ice cream.
Some hit up the club and party their nights away with friends (and strangers).
Some download dating apps to find a new partner to fill up the gap.
And there’s 24-year-old Singapore PR Joey Teh, who turned her heartbreak into a card game.
“I Decided To Embark On Something Meaningful”
Being a simple girl, I held onto this fairy tale fantasy of being in love.
Joey shared with me that while the breakup with her Singaporean ex-boyfriend “wasn’t an epic, tragic story” and was due to “an ever-widening gap” between them, what hurt her most was the nature of the breakup.
“He left without a word, and it was a hard time for me as I couldn’t get any closure,” she recalled.
Like many after their first breakup, she was so devastated that she couldn’t even bring herself to talk about it with her friends or family.
It was only until “one fateful day” that Joey came out of her shell and shared her story with 2 friends at work – both of whom eventually became her co-founders.
Working as a community manager at a co-working space, the topic of relationships came up during lunch, and it was then that she told them about the breakup.
“They were shocked as I hid the fact so well that there were no traces of any heartbreak,” she quipped.
It was after this that Joey decided that instead of keeping in the hurt she was feeling, she would “embark on something meaningful” instead.
And to her, that was creating something that could “spread love to the world”.
“We Hope That People Can Be Brave To Face Their ‘Broken Hearts'”
I was a timid and insecure girl before the breakup. During the lowest point, I learned how to face my ‘Broken Hearts’, and be comfortable with all the uncomfortable.
Settling on a card game because it’s “portable” and thus “easier to bring people together”, the aim of the game is to get players to stop hiding their emotions and be more open to expressing their true feelings to those around them.
The name ‘Broken Hearts’ serves as a nod to all the times when people have had their hearts broken (by partners, friends, and even family), and the hope that the game will help players “be brave to face their ‘Broken Hearts’ and fall in love with life again”.
Most people will feel awkward expressing their love to others. Therefore, we hope that through this game – consisting of five unique heart characters to bring people closer together – we will encourage players to show more positivity and affection.
On the flipside, Joey also wishes that players can learn how to “accept all the rejections” when the ‘I hate you’ card is played.
“[…] In life we will always face rejections, failures, and heartbreaks but all these are part and parcel of life.”
Alongside work friends-turned-partners Keely (Creator and Illustrator, 25) and Seik Yee (Creative Designer, 30), the trio chose Kickstarter as the platform to launch the card game after learning about it from the BOW team, who completed a successful campaign last year.
Invested Around $15,000 Into The Game
While the ideation process was in place since 2017, they only started creating the first iterations of the game early this year.
“It took about 6 months to have our first prototype.”
To date, they have invested around $15,000 into the project.
As for challenges faced by the team, she revealed that they still “tend to worry about [whether the game will be readily accepted] as it involves relationship which most people love to avoid”.
Singaporeans aren’t the most expressive sort, and they also faced situations where play-testers found it awkward to blow kisses at each other, an action that one of their cards dictate.
Joey explained: “There’s ‘The Heart Sign’, ‘The Pinky Promise’, ‘The Blow Kiss’, ‘The Flirty Wink’, and ‘The ET Touch’. All these physical interactions mean something – the expressions of love. They break down the walls and create laughter.”
The positivity spreads from every physical expression among the players. This is also what we hope to see – laughter and joy in a short 15-minute game session.
Raised 1/3 Of Funding Goal In Just One Day
The Kickstarter campaign was launched in the wee hours of 25 Oct, and in just over a day, has raised over one-third of its $15,000 funding goal with 28 more days to go.
The $15,000 funding goal is the minimum sum for the trio to break even.
To end off, I asked Joey if she would continue creating more projects for Kickstarter, and she replied with a resounding “Yes”.
“It’s possible if there is a great idea that will impact lives the way we set Broken Hearts [out to be].”
Check out Broken Hearts on their Kickstarter page here.
