She made a card game for her students, but adults are using it to have real talks

Some of the people gathered in the corner of Upper Marlboro’s Free State Distillery on Thursday evening didn’t know about the latest scammer of the week.

Cortnie Burriss filled them in.

A man allegedly bilked several women out of money while claiming on social media to be an NFL player. What Burriss wanted to know was: Why did the scam work?

She laid out multiple possibilities on the television screen overhead, aiming to stir up conversation. Was it trust, fantasies of wealth and fame, manufactured credibility online or the audacity to wear a helmet in public? The group had 15 minutes to discuss.

Rel Wright, 43, and Matthew Bratton, 44, each threw a playing card onto the table. The pair went back-and-forth about their disbelief that the fake NFL player’s victims could be that gullible. Their conversation expanded to disillusionment in the American dream and dismay at people’s faith in social media or AI tools — the alleged scammer had apparently created such an intricate digital footprint that some AI platforms had been duped as well.

“Wait, AI was in on it?” said Jennifer Morgan, 47, with a chuckle.

This loose, escalating but controlled conversation was exactly what Burriss had in mind when she developed “Talk Your Suit.”

The former D.C. high school English literature teacher wanted to teach kids how to have conversations in real life as they increasingly grow up isolated in a world mediated by screens and keyboards.

But Burriss also sees those issues among her friends and community, where some are hesitant to engage in deep conversation, attend therapy or discuss their feelings. Some people might be more comfortable in less formal environments where they can work through their thoughts, she said.

“Growing up here and being steeped in culture, you have game nights all the time, and those game nights usually bring up really hot topics, heavy questions and more often than not, it ends in arguments,” Burriss, 44, said in a Tuesday phone call with The Banner. “People have ruined friendships, flipping tables over and walking out in a huff. And I’m like, ‘Ah, this can be fixed.’”

The Brandywine resident developed the first version of what would become “Talk Your Suit” to get her students to discuss Dante’s “Inferno.” Students had to discuss the thematic meanings of the nine circles of hell and had plenty of opinions about poetic retribution.

“They hated the game at first because they just wanted to say what they wanted to say,” Burriss said. “But once they got used to it and they realized, oh wow, there are other ways to have a conversation and to keep a conversation going than my personal opinion.”

The game deals each player five cards and assigns different conversation tactics, such as inviting someone else to talk, to each of the four suits. Players are encouraged to keep a conversation going with each turn. One suit prompts a player to use a real-life example to support their argument. Another asks a player to summarize all the points that others have made.

The game is a twist on a method of discussion she learned from her Bowie State University professor. Players also incur penalties for using their phones or for hogging the conversation. Burriss acts as the moderator and referee to protect the discussion and encourage people to break out of their habits.

“One of the biggest things I notice is a lot of people had opinions,” Burriss said. “But you don’t really tend to tell real-life examples, you kind of theorize sometimes, and that kills a conversation. So, those are the conversational moves that I gave to my students — and that I give to adults.

“From there, the conversations become richer because we’re listening to each other,” she added.

On this night in early September, Burriss and her players were celebrating the one-year anniversary of this monthly game night at Free State. The group grew to a dozen players over two hours. Players delved into topics including phone call etiquette and whether the behavior of someone in a “situationship” deserved a green or red flag.

One discussion that morphed in a few directions was this prompt from Burriss: When somebody says, “If you don’t want to be my friend anymore, just say that.” Players were told to choose between reasonable, delusional, confrontational or juvenile.

The four men of the group said they would be brutally honest but still be cool. They also said they would mimic what they saw the women in their life doing. The women pushed back against the generalization.

But during this conversation, one of Burriss’ friends laid a card on the table that asked the host to join. She wanted to know why Burriss had ghosted her more than 17 years ago when she was pregnant with her first child.

Burriss took a breath. “Actually, recently, I apologized to her about it, right? Because now that I got my own, I’m like, ‘Bruh, that was mean,’” Burriss said with a hearty laugh before continuing to elaborate.

It was a conversation that Burriss was ready to have.

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