Period Party: A Chaotic Trick-Taking Game

🩸 What is Period Party?

Period Party is a chaotic trick-taking game for 2–6 players where hosts compete to throw their very own party to celebrate their period. Shifting goals, emotional reversals, and surprise events keep everyone on their toes until the final card. The game is played in Menstru-Nation, a chaotic, colorful world, where mythical creatures all get periods just like we do.

🎈 How to Play

👀 Community Reaction

🃏 What's Inside?

🧸 Add Ons

All games gifted through our “Donation Bundle” pledge or “Donate a Game” add-on will be donated to organizations and communities where they can reach people who might not otherwise have access to Period Party.

Gifting a game is another way to bring Period Party, and the conversations it can start, to tables and communities we might not otherwise be able to reach. Your gifted copies can take our mission a little further.

Please note: We are unable to provide tax-deductible donation receipts or other documentation for tax purposes.

💝 Pledge Tiers

🧐 Why Back Now

1. Get the best of Period Party
Back Period Party on Kickstarter to get special Kickstarter discounts and exclusive items.

2. Tell the world you want a game like this
Period Party is not something people are expecting to exist. There have been many moments where people doubt it can work. Let’s prove to them wrong. I separately hope success for a project like this can inspire more creators to believe in their own projects. 

3. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind game
Period Party is a game that’s designed with a lot of love and commitment by a really small team. We hope to bring it to as many people and places as possible after Kickstarter, but there are still many things we simply can't promise yet. So if you've discovered Period Party and want a copy, Kickstarter is the surest way to join the party.

4. Supporting indie designers who dare to imagine 
The most frequent question we receive is "Why do you do this?" We kinda know we are doing something crazy, and it would be hard to know whether we would do this if we knew how much it would take. We spent more and more time, invited more teammates onboard, and spent more and more money to perfect and to make Menstru-Nation more complete. Please give us a chance to show you what we have achieved.

📢 Our Mission

The idea for Period Party first came up unexpectedly. Maxwell and I were brainstorming game ideas under the prompt of “cyclical phases” (think day vs. night). The first idea that came to mind was: “When I’m on my period, and when I’m not on my period…”

We both laughed at the idea, but then we paused to reflect. Maybe it was a wild thought for a game… but we just couldn’t let it go.

We started looking at other products out there, but nothing was like the game we wanted to make. We wanted the focus to be on bringing to light the stories that often go untold. This wouldn’t be a game just for young girls learning about their periods, it should be a cathartic experience about the social dynamics that all menstruators can relate to.

As our early prototypes became solid enough to playtest, we started to notice... for some, periods felt uncomfortable to talk about in a non-academic setting. For others, it felt inappropriate or awkward to bring up in public. That’s what made us realize that our game had an opportunity to set the record straight:

Periods are normal.

The things people experience on their periods don’t have to be bottled up and saved for private settings.

We started reflecting on how our design decisions could support this mission without ever losing sight of the fun. Menstru-Nation stayed mythical, but began to look more like a representation of our own world, so the stories wouldn’t feel disconnected or far-fetched.

Our mechanics focused on giving players reasons to talk to each other while playing—not necessarily about the theme, but simply to keep the table dialogue flowing. That left space for exclamations, jokes, or stories about periods to slip in naturally.

And most importantly, we wanted the game to be low-key and lighthearted enough that (a) players would feel comfortable sharing it, and (b) skeptical players would feel comfortable enough to give it a try—especially given the social context periods still have in our world today.

We believe we shouldn’t have to push anyone to talk about periods directly if they don’t want to. Just playing cards with pad or blood suits, seeing the artwork, or passing around the first-player tampon token might be enough to slowly break down that barrier.

To our amazement, we were somehow able to thread that needle. Every new playtesting event was incredibly motivating and kept us pushing forward:

• People would walk by our signs, shocked and excited: “Is this that period?”
• One gamer returned to our table at the end of a long day and told us, “We were discussing periods together after walking past your sign.”
• A middle school boy uneasily sat down at our table at first, but eventually confidently shouted, “I play a pad card!” The idea that the theme was something to be uneasy about seemed to melt away.
• A husband shared his inspiration for caring for his wife during her periods after flipping through the artwork on our Care suit.
• A player asked her friends “which products do you use” after playing the Disc card.
• A player asked about the meaning behind our Pink Tax card, and another player explained it to them (while we were busy taking notes about how the story on the card could be clearer).

These moments were exactly what we had hoped might happen when we first came up with the idea, but seeing them happen organically around a table was beyond special for us.

Sometimes laughter and play are the best soil for new perspectives to grow.

Period Party may not fit the standard period-forward product out there—and we think that’s exactly why it’s valuable.

If you want to follow more of our journey, follow us on Instagram @playperiodparty or join our mailing list at www.playperiodparty.com

🧛‍♀️ Behind Menstru-Nation

Camille (Designer & Producer): One of the earliest art direction decisions we made was that we wanted to show realistic women. In other words, women that aren’t idealized for fiction. How did you build on that goal throughout the project? Any characters or design choices that particularly show this? 

Sierra (Illustrator): When thinking about those stereotyped women, we usually imagine they have “perfect” made-up faces, hourglass body shapes, and beautiful dresses. Like Barbie. But in reality, women have different shapes / aesthetics / personalities. Their bodies and outfits change as they reach new ages. For example, Spider Spirit may have had a slim body when she was young. However, after giving birth to her kids, she would have a bit of a belly after postpartum recovery. She would take care of her babies, doing many chores, so her arms would be stronger too. Her outfit would also be more comfortable and loose to better match her lifestyle. Having long curly hair and wearing a tight luxury dress to take care of babies? That’s only happened in Drama shows. 

Camille:We wanted Menstru-Nation to reflect many different lives and period experiences. Not every period is miserable, and not every period is easy. So we made an effort to listen beyond our own experiences, talking with people who had experiences with student athletics, perimenopause and menopause, blindness, and wheelchair use. We also collected period stories from family, friends, and even playtesters. (Huge thanks to all who shared their stories!) Next we had to turn them into 25 actual residents of Menstru-Nation. We wrote character bios and built a gigantic spreadsheet to track everything. Age, career, period experiences, who wore pants, who had short hair, etc. Sierra, What was it like getting all of that and turning it into actual characters?

Sierra: This was the most challenging part I can remember: designing our characters while considering their ages/ethnicity/personality/emotion/mythical abilities and other bunch of requirements at the same time. Basically, I searched online to pick image references and then sketched. For body types, it all depends on their ages but it also can relate to their abilities or life experiences. Imp, she is skinny because she is young, outgoing and she is a performer. But the main reason is mythically, she is IMP. How to make people recognize “she is a small demon” at first glance? Red skin with skinny limbs helps.

Camille: Periods are so often associated with puberty and teens, but our characters span many different stages of life. How did you approach making those ages and life stages visible in the character designs?

Sierra: For my approach, I think ages can be seen from their body poses or facial expressions. Young people are more active or emotional, while older generations are calm and restrained. Speaking of designing women in their 40s/50s, this group isn’t represented that often especially in Asia. I think it’s because many of them are not as “pretty and active” as young girls, or are busy with their families like being mothers. However, despite being a mother, they do have their careers and hobbies and abilities. So focusing on what they like or what they do might help them get rid of some stereotyped images, so those character bio stories you guys wrote are super helpful for me to better know who they are. 

Camille: Earlier, you mentioned mythical abilities too. That was one of my favorite parts of developing the characters. We got to imagine how their mythical features might actually shape their period experiences.

Sierra: I like those unique period related ”symptoms” on some characters, like Harpy has “period” eggs, whereas Fox Spirit has one red tail within the other 8 tails.

Camille: A big challenge in building this world was telling some personal and sometimes challenging and emotional stories. We don’t want to make fun of them, but we also need to keep the tone light. It’s a game after all! Sometimes, we used humor and funny flavor text. Other times, we approached the story from a different angle. For example, Spider Spirit’s household alludes to a tradition in some households that when you are on your period, you cannot go into the kitchen. It’s a fairly heavy story, but in our event card, we show her happily enjoying her time off while some drama is clearly happening in the kitchen behind her. Many period related stories involve blood, bathrooms, period products, stains, pain, and other potentially uncomfortable subjects. How did you bring lightness into the artwork? 

Sierra: My main approach to avoiding graphic or disturbing scenes is through my use of color and lighting. Normally, bright colors feel fresh, soft lighting and light contrast environments feel relaxing. Also adding some cute decorations or funny poses helps. Like Werewolf broken pajamas, she seems nearly out of control but those bright colors help to control the depiction of her to not become a real scary monster. In Ogre’s Laundry Moment, her smiles and relaxing pose within a bright environment helps her not be recognized as a creepy murderer. 

Camille: Our party boards’ full art is another place where I think this lighthearted tone shines through. We are really excited about how they turned out because they brought to life something we had mostly had to imagine: what does “celebrating a period” actually look like?

Sierra: Those party scenes were indeed a challenge but also a playground for my imagination. I searched and captured any potential interesting products online or sometimes created them. Oh and most importantly, thinking of a specific character’s personality and creating the environment based on their habitat. Like Dragon Maiden’s underwater palace or Cyborg’s Jungle party. 

🎨 Our Team

radical rhinoceros pictures (Kickstarter Promotional Video)
https://www.radicalrhinoceros.com/

And a very special thanks to all our playtesters, interviewees, and everyone who contributed ideas for our flavor text along the way.

👶 New to Kickstarter?

If its your first time here, you also may be wondering "what is all this Kickstarter layer for... why can't I just buy Period Party?" Well, the simplest way to think about backing our project here is that you’re supporting its mission and journey from a finished idea to a physical product. When you back Period Party, you’re helping us fund the manufacturing, production, and logistics for the game, and you’ll receive the rewards based on your tier of support once production is complete.

The good news is that Period Party is nearly ready for production. We’ve spent the past three years designing, refining, and playtesting the game. At this point the gameplay and art are both finished. What's left is finalizing the copywriting and graphic design (especially for our rulebook and the back of our box). Ultimately, your support will help make the final steps of manufacturing and production possible!

After you back the project, if the campaign is successfull, you'll be charged your pledge amount at the end of the campaign. Then we will send out a "pledge manager" soon after to collect your shipping address. Once things are ready to ship next year, we will reach back out to double check all the information we have about your shipping destination is correct, and charge the shipping at that time.

🛍️ Retailer

Are you a retailer (FLGS or brick-and-mortar store) interested in stocking Period Party? Please fill out our instruction form, and we’ll reach out to you after the Kickstarter campaign with more information (and an exciting deal)! We'd love to see Period Party on shelves around the world.

A game that’s truly one-of-a-kind. 

No substitution. 


Designed to stand out on the shelf. 

Period Party's packaging (all six sides) was created with retail display & selling motion in mind. 

A surprisingly versatile gift for many. 

For game lovers, (current or past) menstruators, teens, families, trick-taking lovers, or simply someone who appreciates a surprising gift.

Continuous marketing hype. 

Our marketing won't stop when the Kickstarter ends. We plan to continue promoting Period Party as it enters retail, building collaborations and finding new ways to get the game and its mission in front of more people. You won't be selling this game alone.

Be part of the mission. 

Help us bring conversations about periods into more everyday spaces, one game shelf (and one surprised passerby!) at a time.

📆 Estimated Timelines

Please note that this timeline is an estimate. We’ll do our best to keep everything on schedule, but delays can happen along the way.

📦 Estimated Shipping

Please note: The shipping rates provided above are estimates and may vary by region. Your final shipping cost may also vary depending on the number and type of add-ons included in your pledge. Final shipping charges, as well as applicable sales tax, VAT, tariffs, or other duties, will be calculated and collected through our Pledge Manager after the campaign and closer to fulfillment. For certain destinations, we may also need to collect additional information, such as a Tax ID, to ensure smooth delivery.

Unfortunately, due to import restrictions, shipping limitations, and geopolitical circumstances, we are currently unable to ship to Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Syria, Russia, Ukraine, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Cuba.

We’ll do our best to ship Period Party everywhere else. However, international shipping conditions can change, and if unforeseen circumstances prevent us from fulfilling your reward to your destination, we’ll provide a refund accordingly.