Pretty Ugly Wants to Fight “Beautymania” Worldwide
Pretty Ugly is a satirical game about modeling-related reality TV shows and the pervasive “beautymania” that is constantly affecting young teenagers in developed countries. The game sets players up to match cards to create their idea of a socially acceptable beauty ideal…except the rules are always changing what the standard of beauty is in order to challenge the players’ perception of beauty.
Pretty Ugly is a simple card game that satirizes the craze for superficial beauty in modern society. In the US, more than 200,000 teenagers undergo cosmetic surgeries every year. Beautymania is the younger generation’s obsession about beauty and it’s growing among young people at alarming rates. TV programs like The Next Top Model give their audience an artificial and unhealthy idea of what beauty is. In this satirical card game, the authors play with popular cultural views and give players a new perspective on beauty.
In the game, players compete as models who must adapt their body parts to a randomly determined beauty ideal that they can never really reach. Hairy legs or a beer belly can be part of the beauty ideal that can also be changed during the course of the game. Pretty Ugly is a fast-paced game for 2-6 players that takes only 30 minutes to play. The game was successfully tested in ethics classes to promote discussions about beauty among students.
Pretty Ugly is being developed by Karma Games, a German company based in Berlin that develops fun online, board and card games with a social impact. To ship their first game, Karma Games has launched a Kickstarter campaign that you can help by backing it until December 18 and they’re more than halfway funded to their $10,000 goal.
To learn more about Karma Games, check out their website and follow their progress on Twitter at @karma__games
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