The Transformation Game

One Thursday in June 1978, as part of the Art of Synthesis workshop, 24 people gathered in the Cluny Ballroom around a large make-shift ‘path’ of A3-sized paper ‘squares’.

There were five ‘angels’ dressed in sheets borrowed from the Cluny laundry who occupied ‘heaven’, the raised platform at one end of the room, five ‘insights’ in light coloured clothes and five ‘setbacks’ in dark clothes clustered on opposite sides of the room, five players in a circular ‘sanctuary’ waiting to be ‘born’, and four guides supporting this first-ever precursor of what nine years later would become The Planetary Game with up to 120 participants.

This was the first public appearance of what was then known as Joy’s Game. Conceived as a way of reflecting the essence of the Findhorn experience, the game had begun as a hobby two years earlier. It grew organically through many hours of playing on prototype boards, deep inner listening, intense brain-storming and long philosophical discussions focused by originator Joy Drake, with a small group of Game devotees. What emerged was a powerful tool for engaging in a mystery school as a way of life.

Such was the success of that first daylong event that the following year saw the launch of a regular week-long Game workshop including both the five-player, two-guide original Game (still offered monthly at the Foundation) and the large group experience.

Since then thousands of people have played the Game in its various forms. Several different products and programmes now make up the Game ‘family’, and are available through InnerLinks, a training and consulting company supporting the outreach of the Game. The widely-known Transformation Game, available in nine languages, was produced in 1987 by Joy and creative partner Kathy Tyler, who joined her in this work at Findhorn from October 1978. Other products include the Angel Cards, Blessing Cards, Intuitive Solutions and Mentor Spirit cards.

Today there are over 1000 facilitators in 40 countries trained in different versions of the Game: the Transformation Box Game, the original version, various team versions, and the Planetary Game, a life-sized version of the Game which works with collective as well as personal issues. Frameworks for Change is a specialised version for organisational settings, and the Frameworks Coaching Process is used in the workplace.

Kathy and Joy now run InnerLinks Associates from Asheville, North Carolina, USA. I have been involved with the Game since its beginnings and am a partner with them in InnerLinks UK, based in the Findhorn community.

“We continue to experience the excitement, wonder and transformational power of those first games in our programmes and products today,” they say. “The Game has spanned an entire generation, magnifying lessons on the spiritual path and accelerating momentum for change and evolution. It continues to inspire, support and serve personal and collective transformation and awakening, helping us all come home to the fullness of who we are and who we can become. Happily the Game remains a trusted partner on the spiritual journey.”

Mary Inglis