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The Game of Imagination - How to connect generations through fantasy
Research shows that people who approach aging positively live, on average, 7.5 years longer and are happier. The Game of Imagination contributes to this by offering a new way to connect: warm, playful, and nonjudgmental.
Through five types of cards – depicting character traits, animals, objects, places, and situations – people with dementia are invited to associate, imagine, and create new stories together with those around them. The game activates what often remains beneath the surface: imagination, humor, creativity. Everything fades away except wonder.
And this is where the key lies: the child as a source of strength. Children see the world with openness and without prejudice. Their curiosity creates space for genuine encounters. When they play with older adults – at home or in care facilities – something wonderful happens: a connection beyond age and limitations. Every primary school child deserves at least one meaningful, warm encounter with an older person. It’s an investment in a generation that will learn to see vulnerability, loss, and connection in a new way.
The Game of Imagination is more than just a card game. It is a social tool that breaks stereotypes, overcomes isolation, and builds bridges between generations. For those who can look at others with wonder live not only longer – but, above all, more humanly.
Testimonials
Today we played The Game with our people with young dementia and their partners! It was a great afternoon for everyone. Worth repeating. People asked for more! It was also a nice experience and enrichment for Angelica (student who makes her thesis about the Game). Powerful invention of you! Well done!
I also really enjoyed it myself. This makes me happy.
I will use this Game in class. I teach children in Brussels from 10 to 12 years old and that is a mix of language backgrounds. Looking forward!
This Game is immediately applicable for improvisation lessons in my theater company.
Awesome! We have tested the Game, it really works! At first I was a bit timid, and I first watched from a distance ...
Let me introduce myself: I’m Hilde, caregiver with my brother for my mum for 3 years now and with the intention of keeping her at home for as long as possible. Unfortunately, in July she made a fell, she went to a hospital and now she’s staying in a residence in Kortrijk for good. Invasive events both for her and for us.
The first time I became acquainted with you and your game was because of the television program ‘Van Gils and Gasten’. Observing my mom and other people in a closed ward, I was immediately interested in your game. I approached the head nurse of the service to purchase the game (which he did immediately) with the intention of playing the game with my mom and others during Sunday afternoons.
I already have so much to tell you about the people and their stories. Soon you will give a lecture in the Budafabriek in Kortrijk. I'm coming! Would it be possible, Kasper, to meet and talk to each other there? I have worked out a dozen fairy-tale stories based on the Game together with the residents and I intend to do even more with it. I would like to read them to you and present my project. Thanks in advance for the valuable game and for the time you take to read this email.
In the beginning, this Game seemed to be a bit too difficult for my father. I found it very confronting to see him struggling with the concepts and the assignment. Until I read the accompanying booklet from the game box, the story behind the Game and the line of thought. And it soon became clear to me that there were no wrong stories. You can't fail. Every response is a good response. And that it is more important that we tell than what we tell. It is very emotional and enriching to play this Game with your loved ones. I advise people to take their time for this.
Not only for people with dementia but for the entire family. Can also be used in relationship therapy. Teach children to use their imagination again, highly recommended.
80th Book Fair has ended ... Had a fascinating and hopeful conversation with a talented young man, Kasper Bormans. Kasper has, among other things, designed the "Game of Imagination" for people with dementia. He touched my heart with this, so beautiful the way he uses the power of fantasy to establish a connection with people who now seem to be lost in our world ...
Fun game. Can be used with many target groups. Also handy to work in a playful way in a therapeutic context.
I burst into tears after seeing the presentation of this game on television ... As an ex-caregiver - we lost our dad in March - I can only say: how much I would have liked to play this game with him! I think it's a great idea and I am convinced that it is a key to meet in each other's world again. It was such a comfort for the my heart to hear someone say ‘caregivers deserve a stage’ because you only know how heavy it is when you experience it. And how heavy it is, if your care is no longer needed ... Anyway, TOP INITIATIVE.