Quintessence Game
World Games — Amor Fati — Four Winds — Adinkra — Quintessence-Game
Wisdom from all corners of the world
The Quintessence game is a card game with wisdom from all corners of the world for practicing the art of living as a global citizen. The name refers to the intercultural symbolism of the natural elements and literally means the fifth element or the ‘quinta essencia’.
The goal is to have meaningful conversations in a small group on the basis of three described game forms and card readings with the 20 playing cards.
Duration is one hour to half a day per game form.
1. QUINTET
Cultures from all corners of the world know the elements of nature as the basis of existence and as symbolism in mythical stories. In African, European, Indian and Native American wisdom traditions, these are earth, water, air, fire and an energetic and spatial element, the ether or quintessence.
In this game, the goal is to have a conversation as a group around the wisdom spells while placing a quintet on the table together.
2. WHOSE QUEST?
In all corners of the world, the labyrinth appears as a symbol of the journey of life, which is symbolized as a meandering path around the center. According to mythical wisdom, there the path and purpose, life and death, above and below coincide in the generation-spanning life cycle.
The aim of the game is to explore an issue by letting the wisdom spells speak and thus enrich the issue into a quest. The introducer chooses cards from the fan on the table as needed and explores with the company the hidden eye, heart, spiral and hand power in the wisdom proverb by addressing everyone’s wisdom (of pathos, ethos, mythos and logos) in combination.
3. ORACLES
Cultures from all corners of the world know creatures that mediate between humans and the world of gods and spirits, such as angels, shamans, ancestors, demigods and mythical beasts. The mythical connection of the four cardinal directions, four elements of nature, four seasons, etc., by seeing analogous patterns, forms the basis for the art of oracles.
The aim of this game is to obtain advice on a personal question (wish or problem) with wisdom from the four cardinal directions. To this end, an oracle is chosen from the circle of players to appeal to the wisdom of the group. The persona asking for advice takes one of the cards in one of the four colours that are positioned on the table in the four cardinal directions. The person, playing the role as oracle, reads the card and helps the interpreting process of the drawn card as an oracle spell by a reflection on the question connected to the symbol on the card.
© Quest for wisdom foundation (QFWF), Weesp 2024,
Intercultural enriched edition of the Quintessence game, introducing the board game Amor Fati: for the cosmopolitan art of living!
Author & concept development:
Heidi S.C.A. Muijen
Graphic design:
Pé de Wit
Update 2026-08