Thursday, February 14, 2019
Since 2011, The Newly-Dead Game® has been a fixture at the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival, and couples always scramble to participate. This year, everyone in the audience can play along, with a new Individuals Edition of the game!
Frozen Dead Guy Days is a wild and wacky annual winter festival held in the tiny mountain town of Nederland, Colorado, just west of Boulder. This year’s event takes place March 8-10, 2019. Frozen Dead Guy Days has been nominated in USA Today’s 2019 10 Best Readers’ Choice travel awards. You can vote once a day now through Monday, March 11th.
A Short History of The Newly-Dead Game
In March of 2010, the ABC Nightly News ran a national storyabout this crazy festival in Nederland, Colorado. From my home in Albuquerque,New Mexico, I was transfixed by images of coffin racing over a snowy obstaclecourse, a parade of hearses, and costumed polar plunging. I said to myself, “Idon’t know how, but next year, I’m going to be there as part of that festival.."
At the time, I was writing my book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die, and working with a marketing guru. He suggested creating a game that would be fun as well as educational and came up with the title.
The Newly-Dead Game is based on the idea behind the classictelevision show, The Newlywed Game.Couples are quizzed on how well they know their partner’s last wishes. Thecouple that gets the most questions right win fun prizes.
2011: Couples Play The Newly-Dead Game at Frozen Dead Guy Days.The first year at Frozen Dead Guy Days, we played the game in a tent during breaks between musical acts. I froze at a windswept information table the rest of the time. In subsequent years, I took on the responsibility of also showing the humorous documentary “Grandpa’s in the TUFF Shed.." The 1998 film tells the strange but true story of how Bredo Morstoel came to be the Frozen Dead Guy (read the full story here). It also got me out of the cold and into a comfortable indoor setting.
2011: Gail Rubin chillin’ out in Nederland, Colorado at Frozen Dead Guy Days.How to Play the Individuals Edition
Both the Couples and Individuals editions of The Newly-Dead Game pose four questions. While couples can be asked different questions, individuals have four simple questions to answer themselves. However, your answers may not be so simple. The four questions are:
- Do you have a will?
- What are your disposition plans?
- Do you have advance medical directives?
- Do you have a final resting place for yourmortal remains?
In the Individuals edition, you can choose one of four answers for each question. The number of points you get for your answer depends on your degree of preparedness. The last answer is always, “I don’t care. I’ll be dead.." Strategy hint: You won’t get any points for that answer.
You can buy a digital version of The Newly-Dead Game for couples here. If you purchase the download, we’ll send you a bonus – your own Individuals Edition of the game!
Attend Film Showingsand Games!
The Newly-Dead Game will be played four times during the 2019 Frozen Dead Guy Days festival. If you’re in the neighborhood, you can find us in Unit 108 on the first floor at the Caribou Shopping Center, 20 Lakeview Drive, Nederland.
This is also where you can see showings of Robin Beeck’s 25-minute documentary masterpiece, “Grandpa’s in the TUFF Shed.." It’s showing every 30 minutes on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Don’t miss this chance to laugh and learn about how the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival got started!
Here’s the schedule for both editions of The Newly-DeadGame:
- Saturday, 1:00 p.m. – Couples Edition
- Saturday, 5:00 p.m. – Individuals Edition
- Sunday, 12:00 p.m. – Individuals Edition
- Sunday, 4:00 p.m. – Couples Edition
A big thank you to our sponsors who make these film showings and The Newly-Dead Game at Frozen Dead Guy Days possible: AquamationInfo.com, Seven Stones Botanical Garden Cemetery, and Passages International.
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Gail Rubin, CT, is author and host of the award-winning book and television series, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die, Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips, and KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die.
Rubin is a Certified Thanatologist (that's a death educator) and a popular speaker who uses humor and films to get the end-of-life and funeral planning conversation started. She "knocked 'em dead" with her TEDx talk, A Good Goodbye. She provides continuing education credit classes for attorneys, doctors, nurses, social workers, hospice workers, financial planners, funeral directors and other professionals. She's a Certified Funeral Celebrant and funeral planning consultant who has been interviewed in national and local print, broadcast and online media.
Known as The Doyenne of Death®, she is the event coordinator of the Before I Die NM Festival. She also hosts A Good Goodbye Internet radio show and produces Mortality Minute radio and online video spots. Her YouTube Channel features more than 450 videos!
Rubin is a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, Toastmasters International and the National Speakers Association New Mexico Chapter. Her speaking profile is available at eSpeakers.com.
Gail Rubin has been interviewed about funeral planning issues in national and local broadcast, print and online media. Outlets include The Huffington Post, Money Magazine, Kiplinger, CBS Radio News, WGN-TV, and local affiliates for NPR, PBS, FOX, ABC-TV, CBS-TV and NBC-TV. Albuquerque Business First named her as one of their 2019 Women of Influence.
Sign up for a free planning form and occasional informative newsletter at her website, AGoodGoodbye.com.