Playing Barnga in a hyflex class

1. Let’s Play!
•Click “play”
•Select “easy”
•Stop
•This is the hand you’ll play
Go to google.com & type in Solitaire

2. •You will be assigned to a group in a breakout room and
receive rules for an easy card game. You’ll get a few
minutes to study rules and practice playing “at your table”
•Then you will put the rules away and from that moment
on–there will be no verbal communication– NO
SPEAKING, NO WRITING, NO SIGNING OF WORDS!
•You can turn on your camera but you have to mute
yourself. You can use emoticons in the chat box. You
can draw on the whiteboard in your breakout room.
•You’ll play at your home table in silence for a few minutes.
•Scoring is explained on the guidesheet.
•Each round will last a few minutes.
At the end of each round players should
move to a new breakout room as
outlined on the guidesheet.

3. •What was going through your mind when…?
•BARNGA was introduced
•when first began card game
•rules taken away
•when had to move to a new table (aka breakout room)
•when playing with those from other tables…
•Did what you were thinking and feeling change during play?
•What were your greatest successes and frustrations?
•How did you deal with rule violations?

4. •Each group did its best, but all had different sets of
circumstances and ground rules.
•Most discovered different rules, but didn’t know exactly how
they were different. Even if you knew, it’s not clear how to
bridge differences.
•Communicating with others is difficult and requires
sensitivity and creativity.
•In spite of many similarities, people have differences in the
way they do things…you have to understand and reconcile
those differences in order to function effectively in a group.
•What were other problems that arose while playing?

5. •What specific “real-life” situations does BARNGA simulate?
•What does the simulation suggest about what to do when you
are in this situation in the “real world?”
•What were the underlying causes of the problems that arose
in this session?
•Have you ever had an experience where there was a rule
difference that you didn’t know about? How did your view of
things change once you became aware of it? In retrospect,
how would you do things differently in this game?
•When are you all likely to encounter situations in the real
world like BARNGA? What would you like to have happen
when you next experience ‘rule’ differences? How will you
increase the likelihood of having a positive experience?

6. • What did you think the simulation suggests
about the “real world”?
• What do you think the simulation teaches us
about communication and conflict?
• How is BARNGA related to this course?

7. •To help you interrogate
assumptions you may have
about group norms and
critically analyze where those
norms have come from and
whether or not they continue to
be useful in new contexts.
•To understand what happens
when we are not utilizing the
same “rules” or “norms” as
others in the group.
•To interrogate what the role of
communication is in helping us
either be confused or
understand one another.
The Point

8. •Cultural imperialism: imposing your rules because you
believe they are right/better.
•Assimilation: don’t question new rules. Just follow along.
•Integration: blend together rules you learned with a new
set of rules to create a new game.

9. “We don’t see things
as they are, we see
things as we are.”
- Anais Nin (writer)

10. 12:30-12:35 Introduction and Set-Up
12:35-1:05 Simulation, including Practice
1:05-1:15 Debrief (Descriptive)
1:15-1:35 Debrief (Applied)
1:35-1:40 Debrief (Take-Aways)
1:40-1:45 Closing Comments
SCHEDULE