Relationship Scenarios
How would we actually handle it?
- Players
- 2 players
- Length
- 25–40 min
- Cost
- Free · no signup
- Long distance
- Works long distance
Ready?
How would we actually handle it?
- Players
- 2 players
- Length
- 25–40 min
- Intensity
- Sweet
Free · No signup · Nothing you answer is saved
How do you play Relationship Scenarios?
Relationship Scenarios presents realistic situations couples eventually face — a job offer requiring a move, a family member crossing a line, money getting tight — and both partners describe how they would want it handled. Discussing them in advance, with nothing at stake, makes the real version substantially easier.
How to play
- Read the scenario. Both describe how you would want it handled.
- Be practical — who says what, who decides, what happens first.
- Where you differ, work out why rather than who is right.
- Note anything that produces a real disagreement. Do not resolve it tonight.
- Eight to ten cards is a solid session.
Why couples love this game
It is a fire drill. Couples handle these situations badly not because they disagree but because they are negotiating for the first time under pressure, at speed, when it already matters. Having had the conversation once, calmly, changes the real version enormously.
Every couple eventually faces a version of these — a job offer somewhere else, a family member who crosses a line, a friend who becomes a problem, money getting tight. Almost nobody has discussed any of them before they happen.
This deck runs through them as scenarios rather than as decisions. Nothing here is real, so nobody has to defend a position, and you both get to find out how the other thinks before it counts.
Where What Would You Do? is mostly for laughs, this one is deliberately practical. It is the rehearsal.
Example questions
- One of us gets a great job offer that means moving. How do we decide?
- A member of my family says something unacceptable to you. What do you want me to do?
- We disagree about money for the first time properly. How does that conversation go?
- One of us wants to go on a trip the other cannot afford. What happens?
- A close friend of mine starts behaving badly towards you. How do you raise it?
- One of us loses a job. What changes first?
The full game has 20 of these, shuffled every time you play.
Who this game is best for
- Couples moving in together or getting serious
- Anyone about to face one of these for real
- Married couples who have never set the rules explicitly
- Long-distance couples planning to close the gap
Tips to make it better
- Stay practical. "We would talk about it" is not an answer — say who says what.
- A disagreement here is a success. You found it in the cheap version.
- Do not use a card to relitigate something that actually happened.
- Write down anything you genuinely agree on. It counts.
Frequently asked questions
Why discuss these before they happen?
Because the alternative is negotiating for the first time under pressure. Most couples who handle a crisis badly are not disagreeing about values — they are having a first conversation at the worst possible moment.
What if we disagree on a scenario?
Then the game worked. You found the disagreement in the version that costs nothing. Note it and come back when you are not playing.
How is this different from What Would You Do?
That deck is hypothetical and mostly for laughs. This one is practical and specifically about situations the two of you are likely to face.