ICYMI: Friend Or Faux: A Game of Ridiculously Revealing Questions Tested By Patch

While enjoying margaritas at a bar in Dallas, Texas, during their annual get-together two years ago, four life-long friends started asking questions about themselves to test how well they knew each other.

The four women had been friends since childhood, all grew up in Colorado Springs, but were surprised to learn how much they didn’t know about each other's lives.

After several rounds of taking turns asking and answering personal questions — and several more rounds of margaritas — the women realized they'd stumbled onto something good.

"We thought, 'That was super fun,' and decided to make a game out of it," said Colleen Stalwick, one of the game's co-creators who now lives in Happy Valley. "What started as a fun idea just for us, turned into a tequila infused 'This is the greatest idea in the entire universe that must be shared with everyone!' Turns out, we still felt the same way the morning after."

Born from a casual bar game, Friend or Faux is now halfway through its Kickstarter campaign to be officially produced — and a handful of game companies have also taken an interest in licensing, according to Stalwick.

"We had an amazing response at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair," she said. "The industry experts confirmed there's a need for this game. With social media, people are really stuck in their cell phones and aren't talking."

Friend or Faux, Stalwick said, gives people an opportunity to talk about things they might not otherwise share either out of embarrassment or just simply because they wouldn't think anyone would be interested.

"A lot of the questions are based around what are otherwise really funny life moments that we never talk about," she said. "Like, 'Have I ever crop-dusted someone on a plane?'"

For those who aren't aware, "crop-dusting" — in this context — is the act of passing gas as you walk by someone. This is not something many folks would volunteer to share, but in Friend or Faux your true friends are likely to know whether you've told them or not because they know you.

"You'll learn about each other while trying to show how much you think you know," Stalwick said. "You may find your friends sometimes know you better than you know yourself. And even if you don't know (one of the people you're playing with), you make guesses and learn as you go."

The questions range from the innocent (Do I prefer Mayo or Miracle Whip?) to the much more personal (Do I like to role play in the bedroom?). As each question is asked, players get one point for each correct answer.

Over five rounds the questions become increasingly personal and increasingly risqué. In fact, there are several questions that are unfit for print — but perfect for friends in an intimate setting.

Click here to check out the Friend or Faux Kickstarter page.

As part of telling of this story, Stalwick invited me and five friends to play the game at my home on Saturday, May 13.

Sitting at my dining room table, I drew the first card from the deck marked Round One.

The card had a simple, innocuous question: When I was a kid, what did I want to be when I grew up?

I read it aloud to the five friends sitting with me, my wife being one of them, and they all took turns making a guess.

Their guesses varied but mostly stuck to either a writer or author. My wife inexplicably guessed Indiana Jones. While I'm sure at some point in the early 1980s I probably did want to be Doctor Jones, the correct answer was radio DJ. Turned out my friends didn't know me as well as perhaps they thought they did. That was fine because as the game continued it turned out I didn't know them very well either.

"It challenges how much you're willing to share about yourself," Stalwick told us after the game. "People want to talk about themselves and share … but on a more psychological level, people want to know they share experiences and are not going through life events alone."

Which means that whether you're someone's BFF or if you only met a few minutes ago (as was the case with four of the people at my house on Saturday), you can play the game with anyone and either challenge your beliefs or your perceptions — because, let's face it, we all assume things about each other whether we want to admit it or not. But with Friend or Faux, your assumptions can either be proven or thrown back in your face.

Photo Courtesy: Colleen Stalwick, Friend or Faux