Creator: Christopher Alan Slater
Exhibition: CYOW 5: Sweaty
Published: July 2026
Format: Card Game
Access: Written English
Content Warning: anxiety, sweat, teen isolation
This piece is a solo narrative card game about courage, embarrassment, and surviving a school dance.
Description of the Work
From the introduction written in the game’s rules:
It is the late 1980s.
Tomorrow is the annual Catholic School District dance, and you have one major problem: you still haven’t asked your crush if she’ll go with you.
Every time you think about it, your stomach twists into knots. Your palms get clammy. Your heart pounds.
You are getting sweaty.
In Don’t You (Sweat About Me), you will play through three chapters of an awkward teenage story:
- The Hallway
- The Dance
- The Parking Lot
Throughout the game you’ll gain Courage and Sweat as you try to navigate embarrassing situations, survive moments of panic, and maybe even make a genuine connection.
Can you find the courage to keep going before your nerves get the better of you?
How the Work Relates to the Theme
The theme of “Sweaty” reminded me of a particular school dance of my childhood, and so I used that as inspiration along with all those John Hughes movies of the ’80s.