Rory's Story Cubes - www.storycubes.com

One of my favorite ways to expand my skills while writing is to play the game Rory's Story Cubes.  I found it while shopping at a local grocery store and being a writer at heart, I was thrilled by its' contents!

Picture #1:  A picture of the bag the game pieces are stored inside of, 

and the description of the game which comes with it.

Picture #2:  The directions for how to play the game. 

Picture #3:  A sample picture of what the cubes look like.  

They are fairly easy to read and decipher.

The game consists of following only three simple rules, and then leaves the rest up to your imagination.

THE RULES:
1.  Roll all nine cubes.  Pick only one that will be the starting image for your story.  Start the story with "Once upon a time".  For example:  "Once upon a time the turtle...."
2.  Roll all 9 cubes again, and then tie them into a theme that the entire group picks, which your story will be based upon.  For example:  animals, reptiles, magic, etc.
3.  Divide the cubes evenly.  Let each person take a turn by rolling their cube, and then using the new picture that results from that roll, to add to the story until all 9 cubes have been rolled a third time.

So, in a nutshell, after starting the game with "Once upon a time" and adding your first cube and theme, then you add to the game/story further by incorporating whatever image you roll on your dice.  Be prepared to have a lot of fun challenging your imagination and exploring your creativity!

A word of caution though that playing the game can turn into a Game of Telephone (Chinese Whispers), where you aren't sure if the ending will sound like the beginning or not, but that can be avoided by remembering to pick a theme. Choosing a theme helps everyone playing the game stay focused in terms of what they are allowed to talk about and where the story can go.  Listen carefully to each other and pay attention to what others are adding to the story, so that what you contribute helps everyone have fun and create a great story!

In terms of storage, the game pieces are easy to store and keep track of.  The images shown above display an orange bag which holds all of the cubes and the rules.  It all stores nicely on a shelf and can easily fit into a pocket or purse if you need to transport them somewhere.  The cubes are easy to read, and hold a variety of images which can be interpreted to have many different meanings as is seen in the third image above.

See http://www.storycubes.com/ to find out more about the game!