Attention all vegans! Get ready to whip out your wallets because this blog is about to introduce you to something that’s more exciting than finding a hidden stash of kale chips!
The world’s first vegan gaming company, 'This Is Not a Game', has rolled out a hilarious new game called Plants Against Veganity. A game that has been…as the founder put it; ‘Making vegans fun at parties since 2024.’
Today, we’re diving deep into the mind of the brilliant creator behind this uproarious product, Rory Cockshaw, so stick around for a chat filled with plant-based puns and giggles galore!
Let's kick things off with the inspiration behind your business ‘This Is Not A Game’ and what sparked the idea for Plants Against Veganity?
To start with, I’ve always loved both comedy and board games. I watch stand-up comedy probably most nights, and I play board games and card games whenever we have people staying over, or if I go back to spend time with family. Both are a huge part of my life!
It was while playing Monopoly with my now-fiancee in August last year, and later while playing Cards Against Humanity with family, that we realised: nobody makes funny vegan tabletop games!
More to the point, nobody really uses comedy or gaming as a means to communicate veganism to the masses - and I thought there was huge potential there.
Having worked for about two years in the vegan campaigning space full-time, I knew that actually comedy was a real gateway to the heart.
As primarily a street outreach campaigner, I knew that if I could make somebody laugh (by being ironic or self-deprecating, often), the conversation would hit home far more than if we just talked about the nasty, horrible things we do to animals, which is incredibly important, but also mostly depressing and hard to think about.
In fact, I’ve recently come to learn that there’s something called the “Humour Effect”, which is a cognitive bias that causes you to remember funny information better.
So I decided to take it on myself to create comedy vegan games that would help people to “laugh first, think second” - to break down stereotypes around vegans and veganism, get rid of taboos, and make it easier for people to think positively about the bright side of plant-based lifestyles.
You've certainly achieved that!...Can you share a bit about your journey in bringing this genius creation to life. What were some of the standout moments, both good and bad, that you encountered along the way?
The most memorable part, by far, was when I took an early prototype of Plants Against Veganity on a roadtrip up to Scotland with my mum and my sister.
On the way back, the van broke down, late at night, and we couldn’t get towed until late the next day. We spent 20 hours just sat in the van or in a service station, trying to sleep or entertain ourselves.
But we had a brilliant few hours just playing Plants Against Veganity on little paper cut-outs, laughing like drains, grateful that I’d thought to bring it along!
That was really a pivotal moment because, up until then, I hadn’t invested any money in the business at all because I thought it was too risky. But it was really then that I decided to go all-in and try to make it work.
That was January; by July, I had brought 400 full decks to Vegan Camp Out for the official launch, and sold over half of them by the end of the fourth day.
We’ve now sold over 700 worldwide and launched two expansions - and this week I leave my job to work on it full-time!
Wow, that’s super exciting!
Next, if you had to sum up the game in just three words, what would they be?
Hilariously, irreverently vegan.
Yes, spot on! And in all your gameplay, which card pairing has made you laugh the most?
Oooooh, that’s tough.
I have to say, the one that always gets the most laughs when people see it for the first time in person is something like:
“I did Veganuary once. Never again. After ten days, I was… Giving blowjobs for the protein.”
Such a hilarious combo! On that note, laughter is crucial, and your game serves it up generously… Hit us with your top vegan joke!
Well, I love a pun. I once used the following few lines in a speech I gave about veganism, to great critical acclaim:
“People say veganism is expensive, too. But I’d argue that eating meat is a lot more costly.
I mean, have you ever eaten pelican? Comes with an enormous bill.
Or venison. That’s really deer…
Or a dead budgie. They don’t go cheep!”
Haha, brilliant! We will definitely be recycling those! Shifting gears a bit to a more serious topic; we'd love to hear about your personal experiences with veganism. What led you to adopt this lifestyle?
I ate animals right up until the age of 19. I was born the son of a priest, so was raised in a very Christian household, but I also stopped being religious around the age of 16 or 17.
I think that left me with a sort of ‘gap’ in my outlook on the world - when you lose one framework for understanding the world, you sort of find yourself needing another one - so I think I was open-minded.
I dated a vegetarian girl for a bit around that time and found that being vegetarian was quite easy - and also, as I was going off to university, I fancied ‘reinventing’ myself a little. It was quite superficial, to be honest.
But once the ‘shutters of my mind’ opened, I couldn’t close them again. Being a vegetarian opened me up for the first time to vegan philosophers and ethical animal advocates, and I couldn’t ignore what they were saying.
The final straw was a talk by Alex O’Connor, back when he was vegan, who came to my university on the 25 January, 2020, at around 8pm.
I went along and was utterly convinced by everything he said. He trashed all of my excuses in the most elegant, well-considered way, and I walked out of that room a vegan.
Over the course of the next year or two, I started dabbling in vegan activism, and by the time I graduated I had a job as a full-time activist. Since then, I’ve worked in a few vegan organisations, including a vegan pet food company, before launching my own business in late 2023.
What a great testimonial! We’re glad it has led you to where you are now.
Next, Where do you get your protein? Okay, joking! But, what would you say is the most frequent question you hear from the non-vegans out there?
Hah! Well, it probably is that. Or the classic “But what if you were on a desert island with a pig?”. Or, maybe, “But surely everyone can eat what they like? As long as I respect your decision to be vegan, you should respect my decision to eat meat, right?”
To which I always answer: “It’s not ‘eat what you like’, it’s ‘eat whom you like’. Animals are sentient beings, they are someones, and they have a right not to be eaten. Other than that, you’re perfectly correct - I don’t care what you eat, just whom you eat!”
Well, that response absolutely needs to go viral! It's perfectly spot on, and honestly, who could argue with that?
Moving on…fun is the fertiliser for friendship! So, besides grabbing this game, for a fellow vegan preparing to join a gathering of non-vegans, what advice would you give to ensure a great time for all?
From a standpoint of effective outreach, people hate being outreached to whilst they are eating animal products - it actually turns them away from vegan ideas, rather than towards them, because the human brain simply isn’t smart enough to consider that it might be doing an immoral thing whilst it is doing the thing.
So, much as it may pain us to do so, I’d recommend saving the ‘vegan chat’ until after the meal - or before!
But it is incredibly hard, as a vegan, to sit around and watch people eat the dead bodies of sentient beings. A lot of vegans simply choose not to attend, which I completely get. I’ve definitely refused to attend places where I knew people were going to be gorging themselves on animals. It’s much nicer to stay home, sometimes.
At the same time, it’s also important to have some representation there, otherwise we simply normalise the mass consumption of animals.
That’s why Plants Against Veganity works so well - it’s a brilliant after-dinner game for any mixed group, and it uses humour rather than depressing facts and finger-pointing to tear down carnism.
Absolutely! Great advice there, and lastly, for those eager to get their hands on the game, where can they purchase it?
At all good vegan games websites near you!
Head over to https://thisisnotagame.co and buy it there - or, alternatively, you can find us on Abillion, Etsy, Amazon, as well as in a few vegan stores, like Jenning’s Plantry in Kent.
Or head over to our Instagram, @thisisnotagameco, and you’ll find a list of all the markets we’re attending before Christmas!
Well, there you have it! If you’re ready to let your inner plant-powered party animal loose, make sure to snag yourself a deck of these laugh-out-loud cards by following the link provided!
Thanks a bunch for sticking around and reading - now go sprinkle that vegan joy far and wide!
VCA
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