Visual Arts + Tech

Mask-Off!

David "DJ" Wernsing

This project is a card game that revolves around each player being assigned hidden rules that they must follow as they participate in conversation, trying to guess other players’ hidden rules while hiding their own. The central concept of the game is the act of masking, or hiding neurodivergent behaviors in order to blend in. Many neurodivergent individuals come to realize that there are certain unspoken, sometimes arbitrary rules in conversation that neurotypical people do not seem to notice unless they are broken. By forcing players to break the rules, they are put into the experience of paying constant attention to and keeping track of these rules.