Conversation Starter Cards: Which Ones Should You Get for Your Family?

Talking Point Cards vs. BestSelf vs. TableTopics vs. WHAT DO YOU MEME? vs. Life Sutra 

UPDATED JULY 14, 2024 | VERIFIE

Table of Contents:

• Comparison Overview
• Durability
• Amazon Reviews
• Portability
• Cost
• Sustainability
• Expert Contribution
• Conversation Initiation
• Fun Factor
• Vibe Variety
• Conversation Continuation
• Closeness Quotient
• Question Quality
• Final Winner

Talking Point Cards vs. BestSelf vs. TableTopics vs. WHAT DO YOU MEME? vs. Life Sutra 

I LOVE using conversation starter cards with my family. 

They help us pass the time on road trips, spend less time on screens, and really connect with one another in ways you’d never expect. 

But if you’re like me and you’ve tried a few different products, you know they’re not exactly created equal. I made this comprehensive guide to help you pick out the best conversation starter cards for your family. 

Here’s my 12-part criteria list, with 6 “hard” criteria that are a little more self-explanatory: 

• Durability 

• Amazon Reviews 

• Portability 

• Cost 

• Sustainability 
• Expert Contribution 

And 6 “soft” criteria that I’ve found to be really important to the conversation starter card experience: 

• Conversation Initiation 

1. 1. 1. (How well do the questions actually start a conversation?) 

• Fun Factor 

1. 1. 1. (How much fun have we had as a family using the different cards?) 

• Vibe Variety 

1. 1. 1. (How diverse are the questions and categories? Can we start with icebreakers and then go deeper? Is there “something for every mood”?) 

• Conversation Continuation 

1. 1. 1. (How well do the questions keep the conversation going? Do the questions easily transition into longer and more varied conversations?) 

• Closeness Quotient 

1. 1. 1. (How connected do we feel after a session with the cards? Does it feel like we’re deepening our relationships as a family?) 

• Question Quality 

1. 1. (The most important question of all… How good are the questions? Are they thought-provoking and interesting? Are they worded in a way that makes them intuitive and easy to answer? Are they actually unique and creative, or do they feel like they were just copied and pasted from Google?)

Without further ado, here’s my best shot at a comprehensive family conversation starter card showdown! 

Durability: 

Talking Point Cards: Sturdy box, thick and flexible cards, 5/5. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

BestSelf: Flimsy pack, thick and flexible cards, 4/5. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

TableTopics: Acrylic box (can chip), Thick cards, 4/5. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: Cheap box, thin cards, 2/5. ⭐⭐

Life Sutra: Sturdy box, Thin/cheap feeling cards, 3/5. ⭐⭐⭐

Durability Winner: Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Amazon Reviews: 

Talking Point Cards: 2,943 ratings, 4.7 stars. 

BestSelf: 21 ratings, 4.6 stars. 

TableTopics: 2,229 ratings, 4.7 stars. 

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: 38 ratings, 4.5 stars. 

Life Sutra: 130 ratings, 4.6 stars. 

Amazon Reviews Winner: TIE between Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and TableTopics ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Portability: 

Talking Point Cards: Small and compact box, lightweight, 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

BestSelf: The size of a pack of playing cards, very light, 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

TableTopics: Very large and heavy plastic, 1/5 ⭐

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: Huge box, heavy, 0/5 ❌

Life Sutra: Slightly clunky box, not too heavy, 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Portability Winner: TIE between Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and BestSelf* (BestSelf only has 50 question cards, while Talking Point Cards has 200) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cost: 

Talking Point Cards: $29.97 for 200 cards, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

BestSelf: $14.99 for 50 cards, 2/5 ⭐⭐

TableTopics: $25.00 for 135 cards, 2/5 ⭐⭐

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: $19.99 for 350 cards, 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Life Sutra: $34.95 for 190 cards, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Cost Winner: WHAT DO YOU MEME? ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sustainability: 

Talking Point Cards: Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council on Amazon as being “Made with materials from well-managed forests, recycled materials, and/or other controlled wood sources” ✅

BestSelf: No mention of sustainability ❌

TableTopics: No mention of sustainability ❌

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: No mention of sustainability (and an unnecessary plastic holder) ❌

Life Sutra: Didn’t notice at first but these cards are also FSC-certified as being sustainable ✅

Sustainability Winner: TIE between Talking Point Cards ✅ and Life Sutra ✅

Expert Contribution: 

Talking Point Cards: Four different ‘content experts’ (therapists, counsellors, life coaches, licensed psychologists) who write and review the questions, 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

BestSelf: No mention of expert contribution, 0/5 ❌

TableTopics: No mention of expert contribution, 0/5 ❌

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: No mention of expert contribution, 0/5 ❌

Life Sutra: Questions created by one licensed psychologist, 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Category Winner: Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Conversation Initiation: 

Talking Point Cards: Tons of open-ended and opinion-dependent questions that immediately open things up for discussion, really comfortable and disarming tone that just makes you want to talk, definitely stands out as being great for kids and adults of all ages, 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

BestSelf: Can be good for starting conversations if you’re in the right mood, some of the questions don’t lend themselves super well to longer conversations, 2/5 ⭐⭐

TableTopics: Good for jumping right into a good conversation, some pretty creative questions that make you want to talk, 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: Pretty good for starting a conversation, but usually it’s pretty surface-level, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Life Sutra: Good for getting kids to start talking but definitely not as inherently interesting for adults, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐ 

Conversation Initiation Winner: Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fun Factor: 

Talking Point Cards: Really strikes a perfect balance of “fun through silliness” and “fun through meaningful conversations and getting to know each other better,” the more lighthearted questions are a blast, definitely makes for a great “screen-repellant” by giving the kids an engaging in-person alternative, 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

BestSelf: Not as fun, noticeably more serious, I remember one of my kids saying that a question from here “feels like homework,” 1/5 ⭐

TableTopics: Definitely shared some laughs with these, more aimed at younger kid humor than a wide range of ages, 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: The activity cards spice things up and give you a fun break, the questions themselves not being great hold back the ‘fun level,’ though, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Life Sutra: The idea behind the ‘activity’ category is fun but we didn’t find it to be that great in practice, a lot of the regular questions have a more dry and therapeutic feel to them, 2/5 ⭐⭐

Fun Factor Winner: Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Vibe Variety: 

Talking Point Cards: Really great range of depth and icebreaker-ness among the different questions, the different categories make it super easy to pick exactly the right question for the mood and comfort level, 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

BestSelf: Kind of a one-trick-pony in terms of only having heavier questions, not a lot of options to start the conversation off on a lighter foot, 2/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

TableTopics: Relatively good mix of lighter questions and deeper ones, 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: Pretty much everything is in the same ‘silly icebreaker’ type mood, the ‘Deeper’ category is not deep at all, 1/5 ⭐

Life Sutra: A really good mix of topics and ‘life areas,’ 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Vibe Variety Winner: TIE between Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and Life Sutra ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Conversation Continuation: 

Talking Point Cards: Questions can hold really strong conversations individually, tons of interesting concepts interspersed through the questions that make everyone want to chime in, generates a “one more card” feeling where you’re eager to keep the conversation going because you want to see what the question is, 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

BestSelf: Questions lend themselves well to longer and more philosophical conversations, if you’re in the mood for deeper conversations you can easily keep them going for a while, but if you’re not you’re kind of out of luck, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

TableTopics: Most questions (on an individual level) lead to good conversations, but they kind of lose steam after a while and it feels likely that you’re going to be wanting to be pulling more than 10ish of these cards at a time, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: Lots of questions that can be answered in only a few words, feels more like you’re supposed to just go through the questions than really sit down and engage in conversation, 1/5 ⭐

Life Sutra: A good amount of these questions seem meant to be answered with just a couple of words or sentences, sometimes it feels like the ‘style’ of conversation that these are promoting is the kid answers a question and then the parent gives their thoughts on it, not as much room for two-way conversations, 2/5 ⭐⭐

Conversation Continuation Winner: Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Closeness Quotient: 

Talking Point Cards: Really great at getting family members to hear about what’s going on in each other’s lives and creates a natural place to check-in with each other, for us it helped uncover some shared interests and goals we didn’t even know we had, definitely leaves a warm and fuzzy feeling between the family members afterward, 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

BestSelf: Has the potential to really bond families but you have to do a lot of the heavy lifting and have everyone really ready to open up about their emotions right out of the gate, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐ 

TableTopics: Can definitely have a great bonding effect, not quite as good if your kids are older, 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: Will help you bond in the way that playing a board game together helps you bond, but not much more than that, 2/5 ⭐⭐

Life Sutra: Good for getting kids to share more about themselves and help parents understand them more, not as good at getting adults/parents to open up, still helpful for hearing where everybody’s head is at, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Closeness Quotient Winner: Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Question Quality : 

Talking Point Cards: Has a noticeably higher quality of questions than any of the other products, consistently really thought provoking and engaging, I’ve noticed over time a lot of subtleties in the phrasing and wording that end up making a big difference in how the question gets answered, 6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

BestSelf: Certain questions are very basic and unoriginal (which makes there only being 50 cards feel even worse, there are also some really good ones though, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

TableTopics: Some of the questions are very oriented towards young children (we end up skipping through a lot of these), other than that there are some really good ones mixed in, 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: Very surface-level questions without a lot of depth to them, 1/5 ⭐

Life Sutra: Pretty good questions overall, some of them feel a little unoriginal and they skew young in terms of their content, 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Question Quality Winner: Talking Point Cards ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

And the Winner Is… the Talking Point Cards Family Pack! 

Really, all of these other products are just playing for second place. 

The Talking Point Cards Family Pack is our absolute favorite set of conversation starter cards, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. 

Demonstrated by tying or winning 5/6 ‘hard’ criteria and tying or winning all 6/6 of the ‘soft’ criteria, the Family Pack truly is the whole package. 

Go ahead and get the Family Pack today so you can start having some amazing conversations tomorrow!