What Runs in Our Family?

Most families never sit down to talk about who had what, and how old they were. These cards make it a game instead: you start with silly questions about the worst dish anyone ever cooked, move on to old recipes and family stories, and end up with the health history your doctor keeps asking about.

Every card is marked Gentle, Personal or Deep, so you decide how far to go. An 8-page Host Guide gives you the first sentence to say, how to talk to the elders beforehand, and what to do if someone goes quiet, gets upset, or a family secret comes out. Made for holidays, reunions, grandparents' birthdays, Lunar New Year and Sunday dinners. (In the US, Thanksgiving is also National Family Health History Day.)

How it works

1. BeforeRead the Host Guide (15 minutes), ask the oldest relatives privately, then print and cut the cards.
2. At the tableStart with Warm-ups and Roots. 20 to 40 minutes is plenty; stop while it's still fun.
3. AfterPhotograph the tree pages, scan any Health Stories card to make the doctor's summary, and call whoever wasn't there.

What you get

• 54 cut-out cards, 6 to a sheet with dashed cutting lines: 6 Warm-ups (just for fun), 12 Roots, 12 At the Table, 12 Health Stories and 12 Wisdom & Wishes
• Sensitivity marks on every card (Gentle, Personal, Deep), and EVERYONE cards that go all the way round the table
• A QR code on each Health Stories card that opens the same question in the free digital companion on your phone
• Three ways to play: Pass the Plate, Generation Round and the Story Jar
• An 8-page Host Guide: your job as host, building your deck in three rounds, talking to the elders first, six opening scripts, running the game, 12 "what if" moments and how to ask the deep questions gently
• A two-sided Family Health Tree: tick what each relative has had and write the age it started
• After the gathering: the three family patterns worth telling your doctor, with sources
• Card backs, so you can print the cards double-sided

For conversation and record-keeping, not diagnosis: it helps your family have a better talk, and you a better conversation with your doctor.