Welcome to the Rainbow Family Circus
The home of the Happy Families- Progress Edition Card Game.
You’re probably here to find out more about the Happy families – Progress Edition card game, so let’s jump right in.
The History
The original Happy Families game was first designed by John Jacques Jr for the great exhibition in 1851. It featured 11 families, each with a mother, a father, a son and a daughter. The game was of its time. The traditional characters – and even those of later variations – were white, cis, able-bodied, hetero-normative, and monogamous and they rarely included any non-human family members.
The Happy Families – Progress Edition was created by us to bring the game up to date. Every family has a structure different to the others. Some of the characters have unique characteristics that are easy to spot. Some of them, less so. And as some characteristics are not obvious at first glance, or are not even physical at all, you will never know how many of these characters speak English, or are of a particular faith, or are vegan, or diabetic, or employed, or have mental health issues, or any version of the many things that make each of us unique.
And that’s why this lovely bunch of characters works so well. They are, in many ways, ambiguous. Just like the rest of us. And that is exactly as it should be.
You can buy your own copy of the game here >>>
Beyond the playground
When is a game more than just a game?
When it tells a story that is ready to be heard.
This may just be a little card game, but we believe that this little card game can become far more than a deck of cards and half an hour of fun. Because the cards represent such a diverse range of people and families without fanfare or labels, it can also be a tool for conversation, a jumping-off point for learning, a non-confrontational way to question assumptions and discuss difference, and a family-friendly way to embrace diversity whilst having fun.
Children, parents, care-givers, teachers, child-minders, nurseries, youth groups and community groups will all find joy in these cards.
How might you be able to use them to facilitate conversations about diversity and representation?
Why not buy your own pack and see? >>>
Who are we?
We’re a queer, co-parented, blended family, with various genders, neurotypes and hidden disabilities. In our household there are two parents – G and Ruth, and four kids – Ember, Brennan, Will and Ivy plus a grumpy but lovable black tom cat called Stompah. We are surrounded by a small army of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, some of whom are related by blood, others by choice (and all by love), from all over the world. We live in a dated and draughty – but beautiful – converted canal warehouse on the English/Welsh borders.
We think we’re a pretty cool bunch but we have never fitted into anyone’s model of what a traditional family might look like.
We are far from alone in that.
And that’s OK! We are proud of our differences and we are extremely privileged to have family and friends that don’t care two hoots that some of our kids have three mums, none of us are neurotypical or our cat is a 28-toed mutant. We are only one of many, many families that don’t fit into the traditional ideas of what a family looks like, and yet, when we looked around us, we saw very little representation of families that are anything like ours or those of our friends.So we decided to fix it.
And because it matters to us we wanted to make sure we did it right.
All our card decks are printed and hand-finished in the UK by an LGBTQ-owned printing company. All of our packaging is recycled and biodegradable.
When we started to create this game we sent draft versions of the cards to a wide range of people from all kinds of communities to get feedback and make sure that we were as representational as we possibly could be. The game that exists now is only what it is because of the input from those awesome people. It may take a village to raise a child but it turns out it takes a diverse community to make a genuinely representational card game.
Click here to buy the game now >>>
What do other people say?
“Superb quality game that exceeded expectations. Our family has changed shape and it was brilliant to be able to play with the kids and their friends and for us all to recognise ourselves as represented. Simply hadn’t realised the enormous impact this would have – I’m truly grateful for the surprisingly profound, positive impact. We did still argue a lot over some blatant cheating, so plays just as well as the previous versions too. Thoroughly recommended.”
“Sometimes you see incredible things. The simplest ideas are often the best and most powerful.
The incredible Rainbow Family Circus have created the progress edition of Happy Families. You may know this game from being a kid. However, the traditional pack didn’t really show or reflect the wide range of family make-ups out there… this does.
It is EPIC. Buy yourself a pack today.”
“Super excited to receive these yesterday and they were immediately out and used with my child clients.
These are amazing..
Just what is needed in today’s diverse world.
Inclusivity Rocks!”
