Rewriting Reality: A Philosophical Game Night

How do we define what is right or wrong when reality offers no clear answer? The Prague Experience Exchange invites you to an evening of exploration, debate, and connection through famous philosophical dilemmas presented as interactive games.
Join us for Rewriting Reality: A Philosophical Game Night, where you'll dive into classic game thought experiments like The Trolley Problem, Trading Identities – Do You Still Feel Like You? and John Rawls' Veil of Ignorance. In small groups, you'll tackle ethical questions, make tough decisions, and reflect on how these scenarios shape our understanding of morality, identity, and justice.

just curiosity and an open mind!

Event Outline (2.5 to 3 hours total)

1. Welcome & Introduction (10 min)

• Introducing the theme:
• The game structure: Participants will explore famous thought experiments, discuss in small groups, and share insights with the larger group.

2. Game Rounds: Thought Experiments (3 rounds, 30 min each) Each round introduces a famous philosophical scenario. Participants discuss it, choose an outcome, and reflect. This will be organized into teams of 4-6 peoples.

💡 Round 1: Trading Identities – Do You Still Feel Like You?
🌀 “Everything around me is evaporating. My whole life, my memories, my imagination and its contents, my personality - it's all evaporating. I continuously feel that I was someone else, that I felt something else, that I thought something else. What I'm attending here is a show with another set. And the show I'm attending is myself.”
— Fernando Pessoa
🔹 Scenario: Our identity is shaped by our memories, beliefs, and personality. But what if we gradually traded parts of ourselves with others? Would we still feel like the same person, or would we become someone new?
🔹 Challenge: In small groups, each participant writes down three core identity traits that define them, this could be a memory, a belief, or a personality trait. players take turns offering one of their identity traits to another player in exchange for one of theirs.
After each swap, participants must reflect and share:

• Do I still feel like myself?
• Why does this change feel significant (or not)?

After 3-4 swaps, they review their new identity and discuss: At what point do we stop recognizing ourselves?

🔹 Discussion: If we change over time, is there a true, stable version of ourselves? Is identity defined by memory, continuity, or something deeper? If another person now holds all of our original traits, are they more us than we are? each group will presented their conclusion and we can have small debate about it

🚋 Round 2: The Trolley Problem – Ethics and Consequences

🔹Scenario: A trolley is heading toward five people tied to a track. You can pull a lever to divert it, but one person will die. What do you do?

🔹Challenge: Each group receives a printed "trolley track". They must decide what they'd do and why.

🔹Discussion: The decision seems simple at first, save more lives, but is it really that straightforward? Is actively choosing to kill one person morally different from passively allowing five people to die?

⚖️ Round 3: The Veil of Ignorance – Justice and Fairness

🔹Scenario: Imagine designing a new society without knowing your place in it - rich, poor, healthy, disabled, etc.

🔹Challenge: Each group receives a blank "society blueprint" and must create rules for education, healthcare, and rights while under the veil of ignorance.

🔹Discussion: How do fairness and privilege shape our views on justice?

Debrief & Reflection (20 min each game)
🔹Groups share their conclusions and how the experience shaped their thinking.