Oblique Strategies (subtitled “Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas”) is a card game consisting of 100 printed cards in a black container box, created by artists Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt.
The Oblique Strategies card set was first published in 1975 as a combined project to encourage creative thinking and increase potential in any given situation. Each card offers an aphorism or strategy to help break through creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking.
In 1970, Peter Schmidt created “The Thoughts Behind the Thoughts” – a box of 55 thoughts. He had these sets, which had accumulated in his studio, produced as art prints. Eno, who had known Schmidt since the late 1960s, pursued a similar project himself: in 1974 he wrote thoughts on a number of bamboo cards and gave them the title “Oblique Strategies.” There was considerable overlap between the two projects, so Schmidt and Eno combined them into a single deck of cards for general sale in late 1974. The set was printed in three limited editions before Schmidt died suddenly in early 1980. Since then there have been three (English) editions – the first in 1975 (500 copies), the second in 1978 (2500) and the third in 1979 (1000).
Musicians Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt used the original form of the cards themselves when recording the album “Taking Tiger Mountain”. These cards were used to trigger the next action during the recording of the album (such as “be dirty” or “get your neck massaged”).
You can use “Oblique Strategies” simply as a quarry for random finds among creativity techniques, or conduct regular games alone or with a team with the cards. Challenge yourself with the cards when working on a current problem.
The card set is available in English only.
Here are some sample inspirations from the cards:
“Make it more sensual”
“Slow preparation..Fast execution”
“Try faking it”
“Gardening, not architcture”
