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Empower Empathy box art

Empower Empathy

Game ID: GID0113075
Game Info
Year
2020
Collection
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Description

Join the Super Squad to Resolve Social Dilemmas by Defending the City of Empathropolis against the Evil Villain Goobi!

Received 7 major awards in the toy & game industry:
1. 2021 Board Game of the Year Award of Creative Child Magazine
2. Staff Fave Hot Diggity Award Winner 2021
3. Tillywig Brain Child Award
4. Family Choice Award 2021
5. 2022 Board Game of the Year Award of Creative Child Magazine
6. 2022 Mom’s Choice Silver Award
7. 2022 Taiwan Prime Silver Award

Endorsed by:

California Association of Marriage Family Therapy
U.S. Association for Play Therapy
California Teachers Association
Community College Association
National Association for Bilingual Education
California Association of Resource & Special Educators Plus
Tri-Valley SELPA (Special Education Local Plan Area)
The Future of Mental Healthcare West

WHAT THIS GAME IS ABOUT:
The citizens of the city Empathropolis have been under heavy emotional duress ever since the villain Goobi has made the city sewers his new home, Apathalypse.
He goes about town casting spells of emotional confusion on otherwise everyday, normal situations.

Fortunately, Empathropolis has its very own team of superheroes to the rescue!

As members of the Super Squad, you are thereby summoned to patrol and restore the City back to peace.

As you chase Goobi around the city, various City Watch scenarios are unveiled as you identify as many emotions and appropriate responses are at play. You will gain powers to strengthen your emotional powers and use them to banish Goobi back to his sewers.

This cooperative game and Exploration Guidebook help children develop emotional awareness and empathy with a positive growth mindset by transforming them into superheroes with superpowers that can resolve any social dilemma.

Our Teaching Approaches:

Step into 160+ unique City Watch Scenarios to be mindful with thoughts, feelings and actions
Master emotional awareness with 28 different feelings
Sharpen communication skills through self-reflection with 80+ Power Up cards
Exercise empathy every day with our easy-to-use evidence-based exploration guidebook
Learn and practice important emotional and communication skills while having silly fun!

Our Board Game Design:

Quick to set up
Easy to learn
Professional graphic designs
Self-contained inbox storage for easy cleanup
Extra Dense high-quality handmade game box for durability and keepsake
Custom made Double-A Extra High-Density Premium 5-ply 2.5mm white cardboard for all game components 
Printed with Soy Ink®
100% environmentally friendly and recyclable

Playing the Game:

Place all configurable City Blocks, Power Blocks, and Sewer Holes GRAY side up, RED side down in any slots on the board slots. Every single play will be different.
All Superheroes start at the Start Block; Goobi, the villain is placed at the center circle of the board, his Sewer.
Players spin to determine whether to move a Superhero or Goobi. Dice roll determines the number of steps to advance forward or the sewer number to emerge from.
If the spinner stops at either of the Superhero quadrants, the player may choose ANY Superhero game piece to move.
Whichever city block the Villain lands on, flip over the City Block to RED.
When Superhero lands on a RED City Block, player must draw a City Watch™ Scenario Card to assess the situation by using the Feeling Cards and the Thoughts-Feelings-Actions prompt.
After solving the scenario, the RED City Block can be turned back to normal - GRAY.
If a Superhero lands on a Power Block, the player must draw a Power-Up™ Card and discuss the question on the card. After discussion, player keeps the Power-Up™ Card to:

1) Send Goobi back to Sewer,
2) Select to turn over any RED City Block back to Gray, or
3) Make Goobi stay in the sewer at its turn.

If Goobi lands on a power block, it immediately goes back to its sewer.
If BOTH superhero and Goobi lands on the same block:

1) Superhero is thrown into the sewer,
2) The block turns RED, and
3) The rest of the super squad must use the Feelings Card deck (roll dice to determine how many feelings to select randomly) to act out. After the rescue, player rolls dice to determine which sewer hole the Superhero may emerge from.

To Win The Game:

Strategize with the entire team of Super Squad to turn most, if not all, RED City Blocks back to Gray.
All members of the Super Squad must pass the predetermined round (Start Block) to complete the mission.
Keep the Villain in his sewer to cause the least damage to the City Blocks.
Collect as many Power-Up Cards as you can to keep the Villain in his sewer and/or turn the Red city block back to gray.
Identify as many Emotions as you can with each City Watch™ patrol.

—description from the publisher

Description

Join the Super Squad to Resolve Social Dilemmas by Defending the City of Empathropolis against the Evil Villain Goobi!

Received 7 major awards in the toy & game industry:
1. 2021 Board Game of the Year Award of Creative Child Magazine
2. Staff Fave Hot Diggity Award Winner 2021
3. Tillywig Brain Child Award
4. Family Choice Award 2021
5. 2022 Board Game of the Year Award of Creative Child Magazine
6. 2022 Mom’s Choice Silver Award
7. 2022 Taiwan Prime Silver Award

Endorsed by:

California Association of Marriage Family Therapy
U.S. Association for Play Therapy
California Teachers Association
Community College Association
National Association for Bilingual Education
California Association of Resource & Special Educators Plus
Tri-Valley SELPA (Special Education Local Plan Area)
The Future of Mental Healthcare West

WHAT THIS GAME IS ABOUT:
The citizens of the city Empathropolis have been under heavy emotional duress ever since the villain Goobi has made the city sewers his new home, Apathalypse.
He goes about town casting spells of emotional confusion on otherwise everyday, normal situations.

Fortunately, Empathropolis has its very own team of superheroes to the rescue!

As members of the Super Squad, you are thereby summoned to patrol and restore the City back to peace.

As you chase Goobi around the city, various City Watch scenarios are unveiled as you identify as many emotions and appropriate responses are at play. You will gain powers to strengthen your emotional powers and use them to banish Goobi back to his sewers.

This cooperative game and Exploration Guidebook help children develop emotional awareness and empathy with a positive growth mindset by transforming them into superheroes with superpowers that can resolve any social dilemma.

Our Teaching Approaches:

Step into 160+ unique City Watch Scenarios to be mindful with thoughts, feelings and actions
Master emotional awareness with 28 different feelings
Sharpen communication skills through self-reflection with 80+ Power Up cards
Exercise empathy every day with our easy-to-use evidence-based exploration guidebook
Learn and practice important emotional and communication skills while having silly fun!

Our Board Game Design:

Quick to set up
Easy to learn
Professional graphic designs
Self-contained inbox storage for easy cleanup
Extra Dense high-quality handmade game box for durability and keepsake
Custom made Double-A Extra High-Density Premium 5-ply 2.5mm white cardboard for all game components 
Printed with Soy Ink®
100% environmentally friendly and recyclable

Playing the Game:

Place all configurable City Blocks, Power Blocks, and Sewer Holes GRAY side up, RED side down in any slots on the board slots. Every single play will be different.
All Superheroes start at the Start Block; Goobi, the villain is placed at the center circle of the board, his Sewer.
Players spin to determine whether to move a Superhero or Goobi. Dice roll determines the number of steps to advance forward or the sewer number to emerge from.
If the spinner stops at either of the Superhero quadrants, the player may choose ANY Superhero game piece to move.
Whichever city block the Villain lands on, flip over the City Block to RED.
When Superhero lands on a RED City Block, player must draw a City Watch™ Scenario Card to assess the situation by using the Feeling Cards and the Thoughts-Feelings-Actions prompt.
After solving the scenario, the RED City Block can be turned back to normal - GRAY.
If a Superhero lands on a Power Block, the player must draw a Power-Up™ Card and discuss the question on the card. After discussion, player keeps the Power-Up™ Card to:

1) Send Goobi back to Sewer,
2) Select to turn over any RED City Block back to Gray, or
3) Make Goobi stay in the sewer at its turn.

If Goobi lands on a power block, it immediately goes back to its sewer.
If BOTH superhero and Goobi lands on the same block:

1) Superhero is thrown into the sewer,
2) The block turns RED, and
3) The rest of the super squad must use the Feelings Card deck (roll dice to determine how many feelings to select randomly) to act out. After the rescue, player rolls dice to determine which sewer hole the Superhero may emerge from.

To Win The Game:

Strategize with the entire team of Super Squad to turn most, if not all, RED City Blocks back to Gray.
All members of the Super Squad must pass the predetermined round (Start Block) to complete the mission.
Keep the Villain in his sewer to cause the least damage to the City Blocks.
Collect as many Power-Up Cards as you can to keep the Villain in his sewer and/or turn the Red city block back to gray.
Identify as many Emotions as you can with each City Watch™ patrol.

—description from the publisher

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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 1
This page: 1
Sentiment: pos 1 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
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Video hg5jTRc99xc Brains On Games Discussion at 0:27 sentiment: positive
video_pk 90074 · mention_pk 294470
Brains On Games - Empower Empathy video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:27 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Encourages naming and discussing personal and others' feelings
  • Cooperative design supports teamwork and communication among players
  • Provides structured prompts and guiding questions for adults
  • Versatile for classroom, therapy, homeschooling, or family play
  • Uses social stories to frame emotion discussions in a concrete, age-appropriate way
  • Visually clear components and a simple, approachable loop for younger kids
  • Can be integrated with real-life practice of emotional regulation and vocabulary
Cons
  • Effectiveness depends on adult facilitation to guide discussion
  • Possible repetitiveness if used with the same scenarios repeatedly
  • Outcome (Gooby winning) may occasionally feel discouraging to some participants
  • Limited depth for older or more advanced emotion work without additional facilitation
  • Requires teacher/parent presence to maximize educational value
Thematic elements
  • Emotional vocabulary development, empathy, social-emotional learning, and resilience in children
  • A cooperative city-themed scenario where heroes move around a circular board to prevent the villain Gooby from turning roads red and upsetting citizens.
  • Array
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • empower empathy is a game that does encourage those kinds of conversations
  • it's a cooperative game so everybody is going to be working together
  • the inside of the box has some guiding questions that parents can ask
  • these social stories that you're going to read and talk about
  • it's a quick game that's really about helping younger kids learn to name and recognize their feelings
  • the guiding questions from inside the box ... gives you lots of ideas about what you can talk about
  • you get to talk about whatever the scenario is that comes up
  • there are a ton of different scenarios
  • this is a game that you could see homeschooling parents using or teachers in the classroom
  • educational board games that facilitate conversation and emotion work
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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