“The Bonsai Diary” offers tabletop serenity
Draw, write, and imagine a tree that outlives you
Trees can survive centuries. People, not so much.
So for us humans, training a bonsai tree requires imagining a time horizon beyond our lifetimes. Caring for a bonsai is, fundamentally, an act of hope.
The Bonsai Diary is fully funded!
I created “The Bonsai Tree” to let you exercise that special kind of hope where you stretch your empathy into a future you won’t get to experience but still care about. It’s a game where you grow a tiny seedling into a magnificent bonsai through drawing, journaling, and imagination.
To draw a bonsai, use strokes of pencil or ink to define the trunk and branches of your tree. Time passes with each turning page, so after tracing the last page's bonsai you'll add one new stroke to make your tree taller and wider. Most pages also have special instructions for drawing your tree in a way that resonates with what's happening in the fictional world of the game. Writing prompts on each page then guide your journaling.
I designed this game to play a little at a time so you can fit a moment of mindfulness in your day. While made for solo play, I’ve watched couples play it together and connect profoundly as they ponder their future together.
If you’re not sure this is your kind of thing, Xoe Allred of Knife Bunny Games recorded actual play of an early version of this game. The layout is significantly improved since then, but its spirit remains the same:
The Bonsai Diary is available now for pre-order on Kickstarter. It was fully funded within hours, so there’s no risk in placing your order:
