Curiosity 

Setup: Pairs
Time: 10-15 minutes pr. person

Directions

•  Pair participants up, either at random or by having people choose a partner about whom they are curious.
• Designate an A and a B. As have 5 minutes to ask B whatever they want, provided that they feel really, genuinely curious to know the answer to their question. Bs can answer or decline to respond to any question. 
• At the end of the time, Bs get a chance to give a minute of feedback to A on how they felt about the questions, including if there was anything they wished had been asked or anything that really struck them. Then, A resumes questioning for 3 minutes. 
• At the end of the time, A gives a “gift” to B of three sentence stems: “My first impression of you was. . .”, “I felt you the most when . . .”, and “What I really get about you is . . .”. (Optional: B responds with emotional impact for a minute, or shares “What I WANT you to get about me is…”). Partners can then switch roles, or the facilitator can shuffle up the pairs.  

Variations

Speed Curiosity! ­
This is best played in two lines, or with an inner and outer circle, so switches can happen quickly. Partners only have 30 seconds or 1 minute to ask. Prompt them to go with the first thing they feel really curious about when the person across from them sits down.

You can either have As asking every time until the circle has gone around once, and then Bs ask; or switch off As and Bs asking questions quickly. This can act as an authentic improv game, helping people to turn off their filters, and also to notice what things they generally tend to be curious about and what things about them others tend to find curious. 

Checking for Curiosity
Instead of the feedback round, have A continue to ask questions for 1 minute, and B (instead of answering) shares their interest in answering the question by holding up a number of fingers. 1 is “Eh…I guess I could talk about that, if it makes you happy…” and 5 is “Can I respond yet??”

After a minute, resume the game, with more enthusiastic interactions guaranteed. At the end, have A answer the sentence stems, “Being with you I feel…” and “The adventure I’d like to go on with you is…” 

This game was developed by Authentic World, with variations from the Austin Love Juggernaut. It’s a classic. Like the Noticing Game, Curiosity is a good way to introduce Authentic Relating to new people ­ it simply and elegantly bypasses the social barriers to connection. I love playing it on first dates and with seatmates on a plane! Try it out with different timings, different pairings, and different sentence stems at the end.