Games thiagi

Games and faciltating tips THIAGI
GAMES
Workshops by Thiagi
Third Degree
A read.me game maximizes the learning from handouts and job aids. This type of game reinforces a reading
assignment with peer pressure and peer support. THIRD DEGREE is a read.me game that ensures the players
understand the principles presented in a handout.
Distribute copies of the handout and warn the players that they will be subjected to an inquisition on the content.
Specify the date, time, and location for the follow-up read.me game.
At the start of the THIRD DEGREE game, organize the players into groups of four to seven. Within each group,
identify the first victim through some random means.
For the next 2 minutes, the other players in the group will take on the role of inquisitioners, pounce upon this
hapless victim, and pile up various questions. The inquisitioners may refer to their handouts and notes, but the
victim should not. The inquisitioners need not take turns, be polite, or wait for the victim to finish an answer
before firing the next question. There need not be any logical sequence among the questions. The whole idea is to
try to confound the victim.
At the end of 2 minutes, stop the torture. Ask the current victim to select a new victim. Repeat the procedure for
another 3 minutes. Continue the process until all players have had an opportunity to be the victim.
To convert this activity into a game, use this scoring procedure: At the end of the last inquisition, ask each player
to distribute 100 points among the other players on the basis of their relative performance. The players do this by
writing the points on pieces of paper, folding them, and placing them in front of the appropriate person. Each
player opens the pieces of paper and adds up the points. The player with the highest total wins the game.
SECRET COACHES
Here's a neat activity to ensure that everyone shares the responsibility for maintenance functions during a team
meeting.
When participants arrive, they write their names on individual index cards. At the start of the meeting, someone
collects these cards, turns them upside down, shuffles them, and passes them around. Everyone takes a card,
making sure it is not the one with her or his name. The name on the card (which is kept hidden from others) is the
person's secret protégé.
During the meeting, everybody contributes to the discussion as usual. In addition, each person secretly monitors
his or her protégé and makes sure that person participates appropriately.
For example, if your protégé, John, is withdrawn, you may encourage him by saying, "What do you think of
Mary's idea, John?" On the other hand, if John dominates the discussion, you may ask Mary, "What do you think
of John's idea, Mary?"
Set aside 5 minutes at the end of the meeting. Ask participants to identify their secret coaches. The whole idea is
not to be spotted by your protégé. This means that you distribute your coaching comments to several different
people during the meeting, which is a good idea anyway. Also, you may work through someone else to coach
your protégé -- which is another good idea.
FORBIDDEN WORDS: A Framegame for Reviews
Here's an interesting game to play near the end of a workshop. It helps you to review major concepts.

Can you describe the concept of simulation game without using any of these words: simulation, game, play,
rules, reflect, represent, model, win, lose, and real? You may not use other forms of these forbidden words either.
For example, reflection, reflective, or reflected are not acceptable.
Here's my attempt: This is an activity which is very much like what happens every day. It involves make-believe
and pretending, but it is not drama or a roleplay. It is usually done on a computer, but a computer is not
necessary. In training, you may have teams of participants involved in this activity . . .
Here's how to incorporate this idea into a game: Participants are organized into triads. Each participant picks up a
card that has a concept to be described. This card also lists words which should not be used in defining the
concept. The first player (sender) describes the concept and the second player (receiver) tries to guess the
concept. The third player (monitor) keeps track of the time and makes sure that none of the forbidden words are
used. When the receiver guesses correctly and shouts out the concept, the monitor announces the time. This time
is recorded on both the sender's and the receiver's score sheet.
The second player now becomes the sender, the third player the receiver, and the first player the monitor. A
different concept is used. The same procedure is repeated until all three players have had a chance to be the
sender. The player with the shortest total time is the winner.
By the way, if the sender uses a forbidden word, both the sender and the (innocent) receiver are arbitrarily given a
time of 3 minutes!
When you load this framegame, the secret is to select the concepts and the taboo words with care. Force your
players to come up with plain English translations of technical definitions.
GLOSSARY: A Framegame for Reviewing Concepts
Remember the DICTIONARY game in which the players try to fool the others with their fictional definitions of
esoteric words? Here's a version of the game for reviewing technical terms from your workshop.
You can play GLOSSARY with any number of people from 3 to 30. With up to 6 people, play this as an
individual game. With 6-30 people, divide them into three or more teams of approximately equal numbers.
The game description that follows is for the individual version. You should have no difficulty modifying it for the
team version.
Each round of this game requires 3 minutes. Play at least three rounds.
Select a technical term (for example, performance gap). Distribute index cards to all players. Give 2 minutes for
each player to write down a definition of the term, imitating the textbook definition that would be found in a the
glossary section of a technical manual. Ask the players to put their initials on their definition cards. While the
players are busy, copy the official glossary entry from the technical manual.
After 2 minutes, collect everyone's definition cards. Mix the official card with the others, shuffle them, and read
one card at a time. Ask the players to try to identify the official definition from the technical manual.
Read each card again. After reading the card, ask players if anyone thinks it is the official card. Write down the
number of players selecting each card.
This is how the scoring goes:
• Each card receives as many points as the number of players who thought it was the official card. These points belong to the
player who wrote the card.
• Also, each player loses a point for being fooled by an unofficial card.
• Finally, players who chose the official card receives an extra point.
Play the game for a prespecified number of rounds. Use a different technical term for each round. For example, I
used these terms for the next five rounds: internal customer, input standards, process map, metric, and root
cause.
At the end of the last round, the player with the highest score is the winner.
GLOSSARY forces individuals and teams to review the critical features of various technical concepts. You can
apply it to any technical subject-matter area.
HELLO!

Purpose:
To collect background information about the participants.
Time:
15 to 30 minutes.
Participants:
At least 10.
Supplies:
• Flipcharts or blank transparencies
• Timer
• Whistle
Preliminaries. Before the workshop, figure out what types of information you want. In order of priority, here is a sample list for a
workshop on simulation games: participants' needs, participants' jobs, simulation gaming experience, attitude toward simulation gaming,
reason for attending the workshop, and preferred mode of learning.
Team Formation. At the start of the workshop, divide the participants into as many teams as there are categories
of information you want. Assign each team to a different topic.
Planning Session. Ask the teams to retire to convenient corners and spend 3 minutes devising a strategy for
efficiently collecting the information from all participants. Warn everyone that the total time for collecting all the
data will be only 3 minutes.
Data Collection. Announce the beginning of the data collection period. Ask the teams to collect the data (using
whatever strategies they devised earlier) within the next 3 minutes. Step back to avoid being trampled in the
hectic rush to interview each other.
Summarizing Data. After 3 minutes, call time. Ask the teams to retire to their corners, process the data, and
produce a summary report on a transparency or a poster.
Presenting Results. After 3 minutes, announce the start of the show-and-tell period. Call on teams in a random
order and give each team a minute to make its presentation.
Variations:
Too many people? Assign the same topic to different teams.
Not enough time? Suggest that teams sample representative participants rather than attempting to interview
everybody.
Too much time? Conduct a preliminary brainstorming activity to identify relevant areas of information to be
collected. Ask teams to design a questionnaire before collecting the data.
Too late? Use the game as an end-of-workshop activity. Here are some suggested topics: the best feature of the
workshop, the worst feature of the workshop, the most useful skill learned, plans for using the skill, and
suggestions for improving the workshop. Use the same frame, but call your game GOODBYE!
I'M A ....
Here's a fast-paced activity to highlight different cultural variables.
Ask participants to complete this sentence:
I am a(n) _______________ .
After they have done this, ask them to complete the same sentence 10 different ways.
Ask each person to place his or her list (written side down) on a table and pick up some else's.
Debrief by calling out various categories and asking for examples from different lists.
Here are some suggested categories:
• activity level (couch potato)
• age (senior citizen)
• association membership (Mensa member)
• astrological sign (Aries)
• belief (pro-life proponent)
• birth order (first born)
• ethnicity (hispanic)

• family type (person from a large family)
• gender (woman)
• interests (mystery-story reader)
• language (Spanish speaker)
• marital status (divorced woman)
• national origin (African)
• national politics (Democrat)
• organization (IBM employee)
• personal characteristic (impatient person)
• personality type (introvert)
• physical characteristic (tall person)
• political ideology (capitalist)
• profession (trainer)
• professional approach (behaviorist)
• race (Caucasian)
• region (Southerner)
• religion (Roman Catholic)
• socioeconomic status (yuppie)
• thinking style (analytical)
• tribe (Kpelle)
Stress the main learning point that there are more dimensions of difference than race or national origin.
LIGHT, MEDIUM, OR HEAVY
Purpose:
To encourage the participants to make personal statements.
Time:
15 to 20 minutes
Supplies:
• Stimulus cards. These cards contain words or phrases that the participants talk about. Create your own packet of about 20
cards to suit your participants and your topic.
• Paper and pencil for keeping score
Example: Here are some of the stimulus words that we used in a workshop on teambuilding: lemonade,
followers, income tax, freeloaders, my role, groundrules, goal, waste of time, computers, budget, beeper,
midnight, window, money, short people, and leadership. Note that some words are related to the topic and some
are irrelevant; some are bland and some are potentially embarrassing.
Participants:
3 to 7. If you have more participants, divide them into roughly equal-sized groups of 3 to 7 and have the groups
play in a parallel fashion.
Flow of the game:
1. The stimulus cards are shuffled and placed face down in the middle of the table.
2. The first player picks up the top card and reads the stimulus word. This person now has to make a personal statement related to
the word that reveals something about himself or herself. This statement should not take more than a minute.
Example: Greg picks up the card with the stimulus word lemonade and says
When I was about 9 years old, my mother always asked me to get lemonade for my grandfather. I used to
spit in the glass before getting the lemonade because I guess I didn't like my grandfather. When he died
recently, he left me a lot of money. I feel very guilty about what I did during those lemonade days.
3. After the statement, each of the other players holds up 1, 2, or 3 fingers to indicate how personally revealing the statement was.
A light or flippant statement gets 1 point. A heavy, emotional, embarrassing statement gets 3 points. Other statements belong to
the medium category and get 2 points. Different players may hold up different numbers of fingers. The speaker counts the total
number of fingers and writes it down on his or her scorecard.
Example: The four other players found Greg's statement schmaltzy. They all gave him 3 points, for a total of 12.

4. If a player does not want to talk about a particular stimulus word, he or she can pass, getting no points for the round. The next
participant may then use the skipped card, or pick a new card.
5. The activity continues with the next player picking up a new stimulus card. All players keep track of their total scores.
6. Depending on the available time, the activity may end after the third, fourth, or fifth round. Make sure that everyone has an
equal number of turns.
QUE CARDS
assignment with peer pressure and peer support. QUE CARDS is a read.me game that ensures that the
participants read a handout for details and recall these details later.
Distribute the handout and ask each participant to read it -- and prepare 10 question cards based on its content.
Each card should have a closed question on one side and the single correct answer on the other.
After a suitable pause for studying the handout and preparing the question cards, organize the participants into
groups of four to seven. Ask each group to mix up the question cards from its members and exchange the whole
pile with another group.
After the exchange, ask the group to place the cards in the middle of the table, question side up. The first player
reads the question on the top card, without removing it from the pile. Within 10 seconds, this player gives an
answer. Any player may challenge by giving a different answer.
If there is no challenge, the first player wins the card.
If there is a challenge, the card is turned over to reveal the correct answer. Whoever gave the correct answer (the
original player or the challenger) wins the card. If neither answer is correct, the card is buried in the middle of the
pile for recycling.
It is now the turn of the next player to read the question on the next card and continue the game as before. The
card pile may contain duplicate questions or questions that are similar to previous ones. This introduces an
interesting element of chance to the game.
The game comes to an end when the group runs out of the question cards. (Alternatively, you can stop the game
at the end of a prespecified period of time.) The player with the most cards wins the game.
Secret Messages
assignment with peer pressure and peer support. SECRET MESSAGES is a read.me game that ensures that the
players understand the principles presented in a handout. This game taps into the players’ visual intelligence.
Distribute copies of the handout and ask each player to pay special attention to the rules, principles, guidelines,
and suggestions contained in it. Suggest that they visualize the main points as they read the handout. Warn the
players that they will be playing a game that will punish non-readers and reward those who take the reading
assignment seriously. Specify the date, time, and location for the follow-up read.me game.
At the start of the SECRET MESSAGES game, organize the players into groups of four to seven. Give each
group a bowl of counters (pennies, paper clips, or poker chips) and a packet of message cards. These cards are
blank on one side and have a printed message (a rule or principle) on the other side.
Ask each group to shuffle the packet of cards and place it in the middle of the table, message side down.
Ask the tallest person in each group take the first turn to be the artist. This artist picks up the top card, reads the
message silently, and keeps it hidden from the other players.
One of the players in the group keeps time for 2 minutes.
The artist draws a series of pictures on blank sheets of paper to convey the message in the card. The artist should
not use any letters, numerals, or symbols found on a standard keyboard.
The other players attempt to guess the message and shout out their guesses.
If a player shouts out the correct message, the artist says, “Done!” and shows the card. After verification, he picks
up two counters from the bowl. The player who guessed the message correctly picks up one counter.
If the timekeeper announces the end of the 2-minute period before anyone has correctly guessed the message, the
card is buried int the middle of the packet for recycling. No one (except the artist) knows what the message was.

The player seated to the left of the artist becomes the new artist. The game continues as before.
The game comes to an end when the group runs out of the message cards. (Alternatively, you can stop the game
at the end of a prespecified period of time.) The player with the most counters wins the game.
TIME SAVERS
You probably have your own special techniques for saving time. In this fast-paced team game players to share a
variety of time-saving tips.
Purpose
To identify practical strategies for reducing the impact of different time wasters.
Players
6 to 30
Time
45 minutes to 1 hour
Supplies
• Blank envelopes
• Index cards
• Timer
• Whistle
Preparation
Prepare the time-waster envelopes. Select four or five major time wasters in organizational settings. Write a
different time waster on the face of each envelope.
Andy uses this game as a follow-up activity to TIME WASTERS. He uses the time wasters that were identified as
the top five in the previous game:
Trying to completely satisfy customers
Too many reports to write
Lack of planning
Delays in budget approval
Inability to say "No"
Flow of the Activity
Organize the players. Divide the players into 3 or more teams, each with not more than 7 members. Teams
should be approximately the same size. Seat the teams in a rough circle to facilitate the exchange of envelopes.
Brief the players. Review the time wasters. Explain that the players should brainstorm appropriate strategies to
eliminate each time waster, or at least to reduce its impact.
Distribute the supplies. Give one time-waster envelope and several blank index cards to each team. Refer to the
index cards as time-saver cards.
Conduct the first round. Ask the teams to brainstorm strategies for handling the time waster on the envelope.
These strategies should be recorded as short phrases or sentences on the time-saver card. Announce a 2-minute
time limit for this activity and encourage the teams to work rapidly. Explain that the time-saving tips will
eventually be evaluated in terms of both their quantity and their practical value.
Conclude the first round. After 2 minutes, blow a whistle and announce the end of the first round. Ask each
team to place its time-saver card inside the envelope and pass the envelope, unsealed, to the next team. Warn the
teams not to open the envelope.
Conduct the second round. Ask the teams to read the new time waster on the envelope (without looking at the
time-saver card inside). Tell the teams to repeat the procedure of brainstorming and recording strategies on a
blank index card. After 2 minutes, blow the whistle and ask the teams to place their time-saver card inside the
envelope and pass it to the next team.

Conduct more rounds. If you are pressed for time, move to the evaluation round (see below). If you have ample
time, conduct a few more rounds using the same procedure. Do not conduct more rounds than the number of
envelopes minus one.
Andy conducts 4 brainstorming rounds (which is the maximum number of rounds with 5 envelopes).
Conduct the evaluation round. Begin this round just like the previous ones. However, the teams do not
brainstorm more strategies. Instead, they open the envelopes and comparatively evaluate the time-saver cards
inside. They do this by reviewing individual strategies on each card, and then comparing entire cards to each
other. Teams distribute 100 points among the time-saver cards to indicate each card's relative practical usefulness.
Announce a 3-minute time limit for this activity.
Present the results. At the end of the time limit, check that the teams have recorded the points on each time-
saver card. Select a team at random to present its results. Ask the team to read the time waster from the face of the
envelope and then to read the ideas on each card, beginning with the lowest-ranked card. The teams should
progress from one card to the next, in ascending order of points.
Determine the winner. After all the teams have presented their evaluation, instruct the teams to place the time-
saver cards on a table at the front of the room. Then call for the representatives from each team to collect their
response cards. Ask the teams to add up the points on their cards to determine their total score. Identify the team
with the highest score as the winner.
Debrief the players. Briefly comment on interesting patterns among the time-saving tips. Also comment on the
similarities among the ideas from different teams. As a follow-up activity, ask each player to select a personal set
of time-saving tips for immediate implementation.
Variations
Not enough time? Short each brainstorming round to 1 minute. Move to the evaluation round after two
brainstorming rounds. Ask the evaluating teams to select the best time-saving card (instead of distributing the 100
points among the cards).
Not enough players? You can play this game with as few as three players. Ask the players to respond
individually to the time-waster envelopes. If you have more time-waster envelopes than teams, repeat the game a
couple of times with new sets of envelopes.
Too many players? Organize the players into teams of 5 to 7 members. Prepare several sets of the same time-
waster envelopes so that more than one team responds to the same time waster.
TIME VALUE
Time is money. This game helps players make sure that their time and money are well spent.
Purpose
To enhance the value of short periods of time.
Players
6 to 30
Time
30 - 45 minutes
Supplies
• Four or five flip charts with felt-tipped markers
• Timer
• Whistle
Preparation
Assemble a panel of judges. Near the end of this game, you need 2-5 people to determine the winning teams.
Enroll a few of your friends and tell them that all they have to do is to listen to half-a-dozen ideas and decide
which one is best and which one is the most unique. This activity should not require more than 5 minutes of their
time.

Flow of the Game
Form teams. Organize the participants into three to five teams, each with not more than seven members. It is not
necessary for all teams to be of equal size.
Assign teams to flip charts. Ask each team to stand by a flip chart. Make sure that the teams have plenty of
markers.
Announce the first topic for brainstorming. Tell the teams that they have 5 minutes to brainstorm alternative
responses to this question:
You have $5 to spend. How can you make sure that you get the maximum value for this money?
The teams should make sure that all members participate and someone writes down their ideas on the flip chart.
The team should generate as many ideas as possible within the 5-minute period. They may use several sheets of
the flip chart paper.
Conclude the first brainstorming session. After 5 minutes, blow the whistle. Announce the end of the
brainstorming session. Explain that the first session was just a warm-up to get prepare them for the second one.
Ask the players to flip the pages over and begin with a blank sheet of paper.
Announce the second brainstorming topic. Tell the teams that they have another 5 minutes to brainstorm
alternative responses to this new question:
You have 5 minutes of free time to spend any way you want. How can make sure that you get the maximum value
for this time?
Ask the teams to use the same procedure as before.
Conclude the second brainstorming session. After 5 minutes, blow the whistle again. Announce the end of the
brainstorming session. Tell the teams that you are now going to award score points for their accomplishments.
Identify the winning team in the first category. Begin by asking the teams to count the number of alternative
ideas in their list. Identify the team with the most ideas and declare its members to be the winners in the Number
of Ideas category.
Identify the winning team in the second category. Bring in your friends and introduce them as the panel of
judges. Ask each team to copy the two best ideas from its flip chart list on to index cards, each on a separate card.
Collect these cards, shuffle them, and read the ideas. Ask the judges to select the best one among these ideas.
Identify the team that contributed this idea and declare its members to be the winners in the Quality of Ideas
category.
Identify the winning team in the third category. Explain that one of the goals of brainstorming is to generate
unique and unusual ideas. Ask each team to copy the two most unique ideas from its flip chart list on to two index
cards. Use the same procedure as before and ask the judges to select the most bizarre — or the least conventional
— idea. Identify the team that contributed this idea and declare its members to be the winners in the Unique Ideas
category.
Thank the judges. Tell the judges that their job is done and they may retire to their chambers. Lead a round of
applause for the departing judges.
Debriefing
Introduce the debriefing session. This game requires some in-depth debriefing to ensure that the players
discover and share key learning points. Explain the purpose and the format of the debriefing session. Here's a
suggested script:
You probably have some interesting things to discuss about your experiences in the game you played. I want to
conduct a debriefing session to help you share your insights in a structured fashion.
Conduct the debriefing. Begin with a broad question such as: What did you learn from this activity? Encourage
the participants to share their insights. Whenever appropriate insert these questions into the discussion:
• This activity used several time-management techniques. Can you figure out what they were?
• Whenever you have to solve a problem or explore alternatives, brainstorming is an efficient and effective technique. Could you
have come up with such a variety of alternative ideas by working individually? What are the advantages and disadvantages of
brainstorming?

• Imposing an artificial deadline is a useful time-management technique. We used a deadline of 5 minutes. What would have
happened if we did not have any deadlines? What if we had a 2-minute deadline?
• Your ideas were evaluated according to three different criteria: quantity, quality, and uniqueness. What if I had specified these
criteria at the beginning of the activity? Could you have worked more efficiently? Why did no one ask for the goal, or the
criterion, or the scoring system at the beginning? What assumptions did you make?
• What if the judges used a single criterion (such as clarity of language) that was not specified in the beginning? What if this
criterion was specified at the beginning? What implications does the goal or criterion have for efficient time management?
• People claim time is money. We brainstormed ideas for enhancing the value of 5 dollars and 5 minutes. Compare your two
original lists. Which ideas are similar between the list for spending money and spending time?
• To continue with our brainstorming topics, here's another: You have 5 extra minutes every day. How can you make sure that
you get the maximum value for spending this time? How can you build up some thing valuable over a year?
Conclude the debriefing session. End with this broad question: How can you apply your insights back in your
workplace? Encourage the players to select one or two 5-minute value-enhancement strategies for immediate
application.
Variations
Not enough time? Jump right into the 5-minute value-enhancement brainstorming. Replace the debriefing with a
questionnaire for the players to complete at their own convenience.
Can't assemble a panel of judges? You act as the judge. Or ask some of the participants (preferably the
latecomers) to work as observers during the game and judges at the end of the game.
TIME WASTERS
Many of us go through life in a mindless fashion, wasting valuable time. This game encourage you to discover the
factors that contribute to wasted time in the workplace. It also helps you to figure out which time wasters you
share with the others and which ones are unique to you.
Purpose
To identify major time wasters in the workplace and arrange them in order of their impact
Time
30 - 45 minutes
Players
6 to 30
Supplies
• Paper and pencil
• Flipchart and felt-tipped markers
Flow of the Game
Brief the players. Explain that several factors encourage (and sometimes force) people to waste time in the
workplace. Ask the players to name a common time waster. Comment on this example. Point out that identifying
major time wasters in the workplace is the first step in removing them and reducing their impact.
Begin with individual brainstorming. Ask the players to spend a couple of minutes to reflect on the major time
wasters in the workplace and to independently write down a list.
Steve thinks about time wasters in his office. After a few moments, he writes down these ideas:
• Telephone calls
• Saying "yes" to too many people
• Waiting to see the boss
• Meetings without agenda
• Interruptions
Form teams. Organize the players into three or more teams, each with 2 to 7 players.
Andy, the facilitator, asked the players to form themselves into four teams of five members each. Steve joins a
team with Diane, Ronnis, Deb, and Peter. The team members briefly introduce themselves to one another.
Assign teamwork. Ask the teams to spend the next 5 minutes recording a list of time wasters in the workplace.
Encourage the team members to use the ideas they had generated earlier.

Deb acts as the team's reporter. While other team members call out different time wasters, Deb writes them
down, adding her own ideas from time to time. In 5 minutes, the team generates a total of 17 ideas.
Ask the teams to narrow down their lists. Instruct each team to select the five main time wasters.
After some discussion and debate, Steve's team narrows down its list of time wasters to these five items:
1. Too many reports to write
2. Meetings without agenda
3. Delays in getting budget approval
4. Meaningless committee meetings
5. Open-door policy
Prepare a common list. Ask the teams to take turns calling out one of the main time wasters on their list. Record
this time waster on the flipchart. Encourage the teams to avoid repeating the items already on the list. Continue
this procedure until the common list has 10 to 12 time wasters.
Here is the final list:
1.People coming to meetings without doing their homework
2. Waiting to see the manager
3. Too many reports to write
4. Lack of planning
5. Wasting time trying to satisfy customers
6. Inability to say "No"
7. Problems in locating documents
8. Delays in budget approval
9. Wasting time on trivial items
10. Too many committees
Ask the teams to select the worst time waster. Explain that you are looking for an item that everyone will see
as wasting the most time in the workplace. Ask the players to review the items in the common list and select, with
the other members of their team, the worst time waster.
Explain the scoring system. The teams will receive a score equal to the total number of teams that selected the
same time waster. For example, if four teams selected, "Telephone calls" as the worst time waster, then each team
would receive 4 points.
Steve has some trouble understanding the scoring system. Peter explains that they should simply choose the item
that most of the other teams will choose.
Conduct the first round. Tell the teams to select the worst time waster from the common list on the flipchart.
Circulate among the teams, gently speeding up the slower teams. Write down each team's choice on a piece of
paper.
Peter suggests that the major culprit is "Lack of planning" and everything else in the list is a result of this factor.
Diane disagrees with this claim. Deb suggests that they should choose "Too many reports to write" because she
thinks most other teams will choose it. Steve and Ronnis agree to this suggestion.
Award points and rank the worst time waster. Announce each team's selection. Draw a line through the time
waster in the flip chart list that was selected by most teams during this round. Place the number "1" in front of this
item to identify it as the top-ranked time waster.
Three teams chose "Wasting time trying to satisfy customers" as the worst time waster. These teams received 3
points each. Only Steve's team chose the item about writing reports, so they received 1 point. The facilitator
draws a line through "Wasting time trying to satisfy customers," and marks it with a "I."
Continue the game. Ask the teams to review the list and to identify the next-worst time waster. The teams may
select (or re-select) any item from the flip chart list, as long as it does not have a line through it. After collecting
the choices from each team, repeat the scoring and ranking procedure. Continue until the teams have identified
the top 5 time wasters.
During the second round, Steve's team decides to stay with "Too many reports to write." This item is selected by
all the teams, so they all receive 4 points each.

Break ties. If there is a tie for the worst time waster, award scores as before — but do not rank or draw a line
through any of the items. Give the teams 1 minute to prepare a presentation to persuade the other teams to select
the same item. Then give each team 30 seconds to make its presentation. After the presentations, ask the teams to
select a time waster. Award scores and rank the item receiving the most choices. If there is still a tie, draw a line
through all the tied items, and give them the same rank.
During the third round, the four teams select four different items. Andy, the facilitator, gives 1 point to each team
and explains the tie-breaking procedure. Speaking on behalf of his team, Peter explains how the lack of planning
is the root of all time wastage. He also points out that this factor incorporates all other time wasters. Perhaps as
a result of this presentation, two other teams switch to this item during the next round.
Conclude the game. Continue with the game until the top 5 time wasters are identified. Announce the conclusion
of the game and ask the teams to add up their scores. Identify and congratulate the winning team.
After two more rounds, these are the top five time wasters:
I. Wasting time trying to satisfy customers
II. Too many reports to write
III. Lack of planning
IV. Delays in budget approval
V. Inability to say "No"
Steve's team has a total score of 13 points and wins the game.
Award points for the original lists. Ask the teams to retrieve their original lists and compare the time wasters on
their list with the final top 5 list. The original list gets five points if it has the top-ranked time waster, 4 points if it
has the second-ranked time waster, and so on. Ask the teams to add up the score for their original list. Identify the
team with the highest score total and congratulate its members for having created the best original list.
Steve and his teammates check their original list and discover that it has the second and fourth items from the
final top 5 list. This gives the list a total of 6 points. Gary's team has the best original list, with 12 points.
Debrief the players. Ask the players to compare the items on their original individual lists with the final top 5
list. Encourage the players to discuss how their personal perceptions differ from those of the others.
Variations
Not enough time? Eliminate the initial step of individual brainstorming. Eliminate the final step of comparing
the teams' original five items with the final top five time wasters. Create a shorter flip chart list. Instead of 10
time wasters, settle for seven. Specify a time limit for each round. Instead of asking the teams to select item at a
time, ask them to select the top three.
Not enough players? With fewer than six players, play an individual version of the game: Conduct the game as
usual, but with individuals (instead of teams) generating and selecting the time wasters.
Too many players? Divide the players into smaller groups. Then divide each subgroup into teams and play the
game in a parallel fashion.
WHO SAID THAT?
Purpose:
To help the participants share background information.
Time:
10 to 20 minutes
Supplies:
• Blank index cards.
• A flipchart with four or five questions that suit the participants and your topic.
Example: Here are the five questions that we used in a workshop on learning to use the World-Wide Web:
1. What is your primary reason for coming to this workshop?
2. What is a major worry that you have about this workshop?
3. How would you rate your current knowledge of the Internet?
4. What type of computer do you use?

5. What do you think a Web page is?
Participants:
3 to 7. If you have more participants, divide them into roughly equal-sized groups, and have these groups play in
a parallel fashion.
Flow of the game:
1. Display the list of questions.
2. Ask the participants to take one of their cards, and write the number "1" and their answer to the first question. They should
repeat the process with each of the other questions, writing one answer per card. Ask the participants to place their answer
cards face down in the middle of the table.
3. Ask one participant to shuffle the answer cards and deal them out, face down, one card at a time.
4. Announce that the activity will last for 10 more minutes. Start a timer.
5. Ask the first participant to take one of the cards and read it aloud. If asked, this participant may read the card again, but may not
show the card to anyone. (This is to prevent participants from recognizing the handwriting on the card.)
6. All the participants (except the reader) now guess who wrote the card, and write down their guess. (The person who actually
wrote the card should write down his or her own name, assuming that he or she is not the reader.)
7. After everyone has finished writing, they reveal their guesses. The person who wrote the card identifies himself or herself.
Those who guessed correctly score a point. The card is then placed face up in the middle of the table.
8. The second participant now selects one of his or her cards and reads it aloud. The same procedure is repeated.
9. If a card has the last remaining answer to a particular question, the person merely reads it and places it in the middle of the
table. (There is no point in guessing, since everyone knows who wrote that card, through a process of elimination.) Play
continues with the next person.
10. Stop the game at the end of 10 minutes. Declare the person with the most correct guesses to be the winner.
11. To bring things to a close, ask the participants to read the answers on the remaining cards and ask the writers to identify
themselves.
ZOOM: A Creativity Game
1. Divide the participants into two or more teams of three to seven members each.
2. Ask each team to identify an opportunity or a problem. Ask them to convert this opportunity or problem into a
question, using the format suggested by Van Gundy: In what ways might we . . . ?
Give an example to illustrate the task. Here's one that I use:
In what ways might we sell books to professionals on the internet?
3. Ask the team to transform this question into four higher levels of abstraction, one level at a time. Give an
example such as this:
Original question: In what ways might we sell books to professionals on the Internet?
Question at the next higher level: In what ways might we sell books on the Internet?
Question at the next higher level: In what ways might we sell things on the Internet?
Question at the next higher level: In what ways might we sell things?
Question at the next higher level: In what ways might we persuade and influence the others?
4. Distribute five index cards and a rubber band to each team. Ask the teams to write their five questions, one on
each card. Then ask them to put the question cards on top of each other, with the question sides on top. The most
abstract question should be visible on the top card and the other questions should be hidden below. The most
specific question (the original question) should be at the bottom of this packet of question cards.
5. Ask the teams to place a rubber band around the packet of question cards, give the packet to another team and
receive a packet from yet another team. (No two teams may exchange their packets with one another.)
6. Ask the teams to read the question on the top card and spend 3 minutes brainstorming alternative responses.
The team should record its answers on a flip chart or a piece of paper.
7. After 3 minutes, ask the teams to remove the top card and to read the question on the next card. As before,
team members should brainstorm alternative responses for this question for the next 3 minutes, building on the
earlier responses.
8. At the end of 3 minutes, ask the teams to read and respond to the question on the next card. Repeat this
procedure two more times to end with responses to the most specific form of the question.

9. Ask the teams to return their packet of question cards along with the lists of brainstormed responses to the
appropriate teams. The teams should review the responses, select the most useful ideas, and integrate them into an
action plan.
(ZOOM is one of the games from Thiagi's forthcoming book, More Creativity Games. You will find a model for
the creativity process and several games for profiting from opportunities and solving problems in Thiagi's earlier
book, Creativity Games.)
TRIPLETS: An Organization
A triplet is a set of three words that are linked by a common fourth word. Here's an example:
MAKER - TENNIS - STICK
What word links these three words? The linking word should appear before or after each of the three words to
form well-known compound words or phrases.
The correct answer for this triplet is MATCH as in match maker, tennis match, and match stick.
Here are 17 more triplets for you to solve. After you have solved all of them, read the first letters of the link
words to identify the name of an organization that you should be interested in.
We will reveal the solution to the puzzle on the first of every month and give you a new puzzle. If you can't wait
for the solution, call Sheila at (812) 332-1478.
1. EATER - RAG - SEA
2. BLACK - BRANCH - OIL
3. BAND - BULLET - STAMP
4. BEE - SERIAL - PAIN
5. AGENT - TRADE - SERVICE
6. RED - AIR - DOG
7. AGENT - BOWL - JUICE
8. BLANK - NUMBER - SPORTS
9. DRUM - JOY - LIP
10. BUG - FLOWER - ROOM
11. GRAVE - JUNK - STICK
12. CRIER - DOWN - GHOST
13. BAND - LINE - EGG
14. AVERAGING - NET - TAX
15. BAG - CONDITIONER - FORCE
16. CERTIFICATE - CHRISTMAS - WRAP
17. AGE - PUMPING – WAFFLE
Solution
WEED 1. EATER - RAG - SEA
OLIVE 2. BLACK - BRANCH - OIL
RUBBER 3. BAND - BULLET - STAMP
KILLER 4. BEE - SERIAL - PAIN
SECRET 5. AGENT - TRADE - SERVICE
HOT 6. RED - AIR - DOG
ORANGE 7. AGENT - BOWL - JUICE
PAGE 8. BLANK - NUMBER - SPORTS
STICK 9. DRUM - JOY - LIP
CHUNKS: A Quote About Games
A chunks puzzle takes a phrase and divides it into equal-sized chunks. The chunks are then scrambled (or alphabetized). For example,
Hello world.

might be broken down into
[HEL] [LD.] [LO ]
[WOR]
Here is a larger chunks puzzle. This is a quote about games (and no, it hasn't appeared on our quotes page ;-). We will reveal the solution
to this puzzle on August first and give you a new puzzle. If you can't wait for the solution, call Sheila at (812) 332-1478.
A Quote About Games
[-NO] [D L] [IN-]
[NG!] [O A] [O W]
[OSI] [PLA] [T T]
[VOI] [Y T]
Hint: A dash (two hyphens: "--") appears in the middle of this quote.
Solution
The correct order of the chunks is
[PLA][Y T][O W][IN-][-NO][T T][O A][VOI][D L][OSI][NG!]
Which translates as Play to win--not to avoid losing!
TRIPLETS: Random Correspondents
words to identify the names of two people selected at random from those who recently sent us e-mail.
for the solution, call Sheila at (812) 332-1478.
1. SNOW - SUMMER - INTERVIEW
2. COUPLE - JOB - NUMBER
3. TENNIS - GREASE - ROOM
4. RED - LOVE - OPENER
5. FRAME - PLUS - VITAMIN
6. RED - LINE - TURTLE

7. SMOKE - PLAY - COMPUTER
8. COMPANY - FIRE - TERM
9. CLUB - MARE - SILENT
10. HOUSE - BERET - EVER
1. BED - CHILD - MAY
2. TIME - WASH - WEED
3. MIDDLE - STONE - NEW
4. AGE - YEAR - BRAND
5. NAP - BURGLAR - FISH
6. AVERAGING - NET - TAX
7. DRUM - JOY - LIP
8. BOX - BRAKE - POLISH
9. CRISIS - LEVEL - SOLAR
10. CHAIR - WRESTLING - FIRE
11. CHRISTMAS - ELEPHANT - SNOW
Solution
JOB 1. SNOW - SUMMER - INTERVIEW
ODD 2. COUPLE - JOB - NUMBER
ELBOW 3. TENNIS - GREASE - ROOM
LETTER 4. RED - LOVE - OPENER
A 5. FRAME - PLUS - VITAMIN
NECK 6. RED - LINE - TURTLE
SCREEN 7. SMOKE - PLAY - COMPUTER
INSURANCE 8. COMPANY - FIRE - TERM
NIGHT 9. CLUB - MARE - SILENT
GREEN 10. HOUSE - BERET - EVER
FLOWER 1. BED - CHILD - MAY
RAG 2. TIME - WASH - WEED
AGE 3. MIDDLE - STONE - NEW
NEW 4. AGE - YEAR - BRAND
CAT 5. NAP - BURGLAR - FISH
INCOME 6. AVERAGING - NET - TAX
STICK 7. DRUM - JOY - LIP
SHOE 8. BOX - BRAKE - POLISH
ENERGY 9. CRISIS - LEVEL - SOLAR
ARM 10. CHAIR - WRESTLING - FIRE
WHITE 11. CHRISTMAS - ELEPHANT - SNOW
TRIPLETS: Personality Test
words for an amazingly accurate listing of your personality traits.
for the solution, call us at (812) 332-1478.
1. SMOKE - COMPUTER - PLAY
2. GUN - SLOT - TIME
3. BURGLAR - CLOCK - FIRE

4. WEED - WASH - TIME
5. CRIER - DOWN - GHOST
6. PAN - MIX - CHEESE
7. HERRING - CROSS - TAPE
8. EVIL - GLASSES - WITNESS
9. ORANGE - INSURANCE - SECRET
10. BABY - SHOW - DOUBLE
11. TREASURE - BARRIER - EASTER
12. ACTIVE - MAIL - VOTE
13. BODY - CHANNEL - MUFFIN
14. LEADER - WESTERN - LABOR
15. DOUGH - CHEST - CRACKER
16. ROADS - DOUBLE - STITCH
17. PUBLIC - SECOND - POLL
18. TAG - DROPPING - MAIDEN
19. DEATH - FORGE - GIRL
20. MAIL - AMERICAN - LANE
21. SILENT - MARE - CLUB
22. FREE - MAGAZINE - CAPSULE
23. RED - BOTTLE - BLOT
24. NUMBER - JOB - COUPLE
25. BAD - LETTER - LEAK
26. FIRE - WRESTLING - CHAIR
27. BASKET - DETERGENT - DIRTY
Solution
SCREEN 1. SMOKE - COMPUTER - PLAY
MACHINE 2. GUN - SLOT - TIME
ALARM 3. BURGLAR - CLOCK - FIRE
RAG 4. WEED - WASH - TIME
TOWN 5. CRIER - DOWN - GHOST
CAKE 6. PAN - MIX - CHEESE
RED 7. HERRING - CROSS - TAPE
EYE 8. EVIL - GLASSES - WITNESS
AGENT 9. ORANGE - INSURANCE - SECRET
TALK 10. BABY - SHOW - DOUBLE
ISLAND 11. TREASURE - BARRIER - EASTER
VOICE 12. ACTIVE - MAIL - VOTE
ENGLISH 13. BODY - CHANNEL - MUFFIN
UNION 14. LEADER - WESTERN - LABOR
NUT 15. DOUGH - CHEST - CRACKER
CROSS 16. ROADS - DOUBLE - STITCH
OPINION 17. PUBLIC - SECOND - POLL
NAME 18. TAG - DROPPING - MAIDEN
VALLEY 19. DEATH - FORGE - GIRL
EXPRESS 20. MAIL - AMERICAN - LANE
NIGHT 21. SILENT - MARE - CLUB
TIME 22. FREE - MAGAZINE - CAPSULE
INK 23. RED - BOTTLE - BLOT
ODD 24. NUMBER - JOB - COUPLE
NEWS 25. BAD - LETTER - LEAK
ARM 26. FIRE - WRESTLING - CHAIR
LAUNDRY 27. BASKET - DETERGENT - DIRTY

Your personality traits: Smart, creative, unconventional.
All the Quotes (So Far) About Games
Here are all the quotes we ran previously:
A good game traps you into being yourself.
If you don't lose a few games, you're not taking enough risks.
Playing a game is like making love: Fun in the right context. And some people don't like it.
Reality is a crutch for people who cannot cope with simulation games.
In a simulation game, you don't see a new process. You see an old process with new eyes.
People learn more from a short experiential activity than from a long lecture.
Advice to simulation game participant: Feel comfortable about feeling uncomfortable.
Stop student abuse now: Replace lectures with instructional games.
Lectures tell you what to do. Training games make you do it.
Roleplaying: Walking in another person's moccassins.
The game is never lost till won. -- George Crabbe
Take serious things playfully and playful things seriously.
Hear it . . . and forget. Play it . . . and understand.
It's not whether you win or lose--but how you play the game.
You need two years of playing to recover from each year of schooling.
Children need games to increase their understanding.
Adults need games to decrease their misunderstanding.
Games don't develop character; they just reveal it.
Life is a game that does not have practice rounds.
If you must play, you cannot play. --James P. Carse
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing to play. --
James P. Carse
No one can play a game alone. One cannot be human by oneself. -- James P. Carse
Playful intellectual inquiry . . . [provides] our best access to reality. -- Lawrence B. Slobodkin
Quotes About Games
A good simulation game answers your questions. A better simulation game questions your answers.
If you don't lose from time to time, you are not learning from the champs.
Practice safe training: Use simulation games.
Simulation game: The best mind-altering drug.
It's not whether you win or lose--unless you happen to be the loser.
TIPS AND TECHIQUES FOR
FACILITATORS
Workshops by Thiagi
Here are some tips, tricks, and techniques for facilitators.
I will keep adding to this set of tips frequently. Keep checking this section. The latest tips are always on the top.
• Paperless Facilitation

• Trust Department
• Politically-Correct Confusion
• Beyond Simulation - Into Dissimulation
• It Takes Two
• Any Questions?
• Combat the PLB
• Debrief Yourself
• Does Not Talk?
• Does Your Game Provide Artful Instruction?
• The Game Belongs to the Players
• How Do You Feel?
• ID Cards
• Instant Game Cards
• Interactive Posters
• KNOTS: A Politically-Correct Version
• The Most Effective Use Of Instructional Games
• Play It Again, Sam!
• Play It Again, Sam! (Part 2)
• Simulate A Simulation Game
• Talks Too Much?
• Video Arcade
• When Your Simulation Game Bombs
• Whistle While You Work
Simulate A Simulation Game
• You don't have enough time.
• The participants are overdosing on too many experiential activities.
• The airline lost your luggage with all the simulation artifacts.
• It's raining when you want to conduct an outdoors simulation.
These are some of the reasons that stop you from using a simulation game.
You can reap the benefits of a simulation game--without actually playing it! Just tell your participants a story
about the play of the simulation game.
Example: A group of participants learn to play a simple card game by reading a set of rules. After 3 minutes,
they discard the rule sheets, play the game silently, and keep scores. After another 3 minutes, the winning
partners at each table move to the next table and start a new round of silent play. Few minutes later, your
opponents pick up the cards that you won. You ignore this, think that they probably made a mistake. They grab
the next set of cards that belong to you. You stand up and scream. You point to the ace and gesture wildly to
indicate that your partner played it and, therefore, the trick belongs to you. Your opponents simply stare at you
with a confused look.
At some dramatic decision point in your story, ask your participants what they think happened and what they
would do in that situation. Then give the explanation:.
In this simulation game, the players get into trouble because they are playing by different rules. For example, in
Table 1, aces are the highest cards. In Table 2, they are the lowest. Most players initially assume that the
opponents are either stupid or dishonest.
Continue with your story, from the point of view of the players. Stop the story at critical junctures for audience
input.
When your story comes to an end, conduct the usual debriefing discussion.
That's all to the technique of simulated simulations.
The Most Effective Use Of Instructional Games

The people who learn the most from an instructional game are its designers!
This is because game designers have to analyze the topic, convert the concepts into game materials, and create
rules that reflect real-world models. In the process, the game designers learn a lot.
Here are some guidelines for exploiting this fact:
• Describe a framegame and ask the participants to create the necessary game materials.
• Give the participants a training game with a few question cards and ask them to create more. Later,
exchange the question cards among different teams and have them play the game.
• Provide a template for a simulation game and ask the participants to design their own game.
• Give the participants a generic game board and have them create the game cards.
• Play a popular trivia game (example: TRIVIAL PURSUIT or OUTBURST) and ask the participants to
generate suitable cards (related to the training topic) for use with the game.
• Identify a popular TV game (example: FAMILY FEUD or JEOPARDY) and ask the participants to
design the questions for these games.
The Game Belongs To The Players
Never forget this principle.
While playing an instructional game, the players may modify your rules. As long as these changes don't affect the
instructional outcomes, don't get uptight. Leave them alone to play and to learn.
I actually encourage the players to mess with the rules if they want to. Sometimes when the players design a
better way to play the game, I revise the rules for future play.
Players make excellent co-designers of your games.
Video Arcade
I create several computer games dealing with the content of my workshop. I use the Computer Game Shells
software package to design these games.
(You don't have to design your own computer game if you can locate some suitable item that is related to your
workshop objectives.)
I set up a couple of computers with these games in the back of the room. I tell the participants that they can play
these games during the breaks and in the evenings.
All the games contain a Hall of Fame screen that lists the high scorers and their scores. This is a powerful
incentive to motivate most players.
Interactive Posters
I learned from Libyan Cassone the importance of adorning the walls of the classroom with posters. This is a well-
known accelerative-learning strategy.
The passivity of the posters used to bother me slightly. I now mix some interactive posters along with the others
that affirm and challenge and reassure the learners.
These interactive posters are enlargement of instructional puzzles. They include TRIPLETS, CROSSWORD
PUZZLES, CRYPTOGRAMS, CHUNKS, and a variety of other formats. All poster puzzles deal with content
that is related to the topic of the workshop.
I get my posters enlarged at the local Kinko's. I tie a string with a pen to each poster. I fill in a few items in each
poster to encourage the others.
During coffee breaks, there are more participants clustered around these puzzle posters than around the coffee
pot.
Play It Again, Sam!
Most facilitators worry about repeating the same simulation game with the same group. They believe that the
participants will get bored and complain.

More often than not, this is a projection of the facilitator's own boredom and anxieties. If you think about it, there
are lots of instructional advantages in replaying a simulation game.
This is how I do it:
• I conduct a simulation game.
• I debrief the participants to analyze the decisions, strategies, and other factors.
• I repeat the simulation game, asking the participants to do apply their new skills and knowledge to surpass
their previous performance.
I'd rather repeat a 15-minute simulation twice than play a 30-minute simulation once.
Play It Again, Sam! (Part 2)
Most facilitators worry about using similar training games with the same group. They believe that the participants
will get bored and complain. They especially don't want to use the same framegame (instructional games with the
same procedure but with different content) more than once.
Usually, this anxiety is a projection of the facilitator's own boredom. If you think about it, nobody gets bored
playing SCRABBLE or CHESS or QUAKE or BRIDGE more than once. Actually, the more you play, the more
you get addicted to the game.
There's a special advantage to reusing the same framegame to teach different content. The participants don't have
to learn the rules and the mechanics of the game again. They can focus on the content.
Recently, I used the framegame GROUP GROPE five times in a row in a strategic planning retreat.
• During the first round, the participants identified major needs of the customers.
• During the second round, they predicted what the future is going to look like in their industry.
• During the third round, they anticipated what their competition is up to.
• During the fourth round, they worked out corporate strategies for the next 5 years.
• During the fifth round, they identified the drivers and restrainers that would influence the implementation
of the new strategy.
The efficiency of the group improved from one round to the next as they became more fluent with the flow of the
framegame.
Try a piece of do-it-yourself experiential learning: Use the same framegame twice in your next workshop.
ID Cards
Arrange a deck of playing cards with the four aces on top, followed by the four 2's, then the four 3's, and so on.
At the start of the workshop, count the number of participants and remove that many cards from the top of the
deck. Shuffle this packet and give a card to each participant. (If late-comers straggle in, give each of them a card
from the top of the left-over cards in the deck.)
Ask the participants to show their cards to each other and explain that these cards are their ID cards.
• When you want the participants to pair up, ask them to find another participant with the card of the same
value and the same color (example: 3D and 3H).
• To assemble 4-person teams, ask the participants to find others with cards of the same value (example:
5C, 5S, 5D,and 5H).
• To divide the participants into four teams, ask them to find the others with cards of the same suit. You will
end up with a team of hearts, a team of spades, a team of diamonds, and a team of clubs.
• Instead of asking for volunteers, randomly call out the name of a card (example: "Seven of Diamonds!")
and ask this person to do whatever you would have asked the volunteer to do.
For the use of cards in an interactive lecture, see INTELLIGENT INTERRUPTIONS (on page 48 of Interactive
Lectures). For the use of cards arranging the participants into cooperative learning teams and rearranging them
into contest groups, see page 24 of LEARNING TEAM.
Playing cards make a versatile randomizing device.

Combat the PLB
When should you use an experiential activity and when should you not use it? The empirical evidence in this area
is inconsistent and contradictory. But all participants agree that you should use an experiential activity after
lunch.
After the lunch break, all participants suffer from a syndrome called the Post-Lunch Blahs (PLB). They have an
urgent desire to take a nap. This is the time for using an icebreaker or an energizer. Actually, this is a better time
for an icebreaker than the beginning of the workshop.
Short, fast-paced activities that involve physical activities are especially suited for combatting the PLB. For
example, check out KNOTS (later in this section) or FOOD CHAIN (in the Games section).
KNOTS: A Politically-Correct Version
You have probably used the energizer KNOTS: Each participant holds one hand each of two other participant.
When everyone has done so, a human knot is formed. The object of the exercise is to untangle the knot, without
letting go of the hands that you are holding.
Some people are worried about potential complaints of sexual harassment in conducting KNOTS. Bill Matthews
recently introduced me to an elegant variation. Instead of holding hands, people hold the ends of short ropes! Cut
jump ropes in half and use a piece of rope of each participant. Slightly twist the collection of ropes and hold them
in the middle. Ask each participant to grab hold of an end of a rope in each hand. Let go of the rope. Ask the
participants to untangle themselves by stepping under and over different pieces of ropes without letting go of the
ends.
Guarantee: Nobody ever nods off during this activity.
Instant Game Cards
Some time ago, my friend Anne Harman asked me if there is a way to rapidly produce game cards.
Many games use cards with questions, information, or instructions. It takes a lot of time and money to
commercially print these cards. During the initial testing of a game, you don't want to invest this much money.
On the other hand, handwritten cards look shabby and typewritten cards take a long time to produce.
Our solution is to use a word processor to typeset the cards and print them on sheets of laser business cards. We
use Avery Laser Business Cards (#5371), and most word processors (like WordPerfect or Microsoft Word for
Windows) have ready-made templates to rapidly align your cards and to print them. After you have printed the
sheets you can tear them apart along the micro-perfed lines. Each sheet yields 10 standard size (2" x 31/2") cards.
Each box produces 250 cards.
Whistle While You Work!
Sometimes, you desperately need to get the participants’ attention in the middle of an activity. Usually the
participants are so busy talking to each other, solving problems, making decisions, or working out strategies that
they totally ignore you. You need to announce important rules or procedures and you are worried that people will
miss your announcement and blame you later.
This is a problem for all facilitators. In situations like this, you have to be assertive.
Long time ago, friends of mine who were teaching hearing-impaired children taught me a foolproof strategy: You
turn the lights off. Total darkness gets everyone’s attention. Then you turn the lights back on and make your
announcement. This strategy works with hearing participants also. Obviously, it will not work if daylight streams
in through the windows.
I have experimented with different noisemakers (gongs, xylophones, bells, chimes, buzzers, banging on the wall,
drums, sirens, and screams). They work effectively, but some of them irritate the participants. And some attract
all the dogs and police officers in the neighborhood.

My favorite noise-maker-and-attention-getter is the train whistle. It is a wooden whistle usually sold in craft
shops and county fairs (or you can order them from Workshops by Thiagi). The sound is pleasant and nostalgic. It
attracts participants’ attention.
At the beginning of a group activity, I stress the importance of paying attention to my announcements. I then
introduce the participants to the sound of the train whistle and ask them to please stop whatever they are doing
and listen to me when the whistle sounds. I also request the participants to politely shut others up whenever they
hear the whistle.
The train whistle is a great tool when you train people.
Does Your Game Provide Artful Instruction?
At the 1997 Anaheim ISPI Conference, our friend Steve Yelon made an invited Master’s Presentation on creative
instruction and artful training.
A checklist that Steve used for identifying artful instruction can be readily applied to training games. I have used
this checklist to evaluate and analyze my games and other people’s games. Using these results, I have made the
games more creative.
Is your game memorable? This is the first item on Steve’s checklist. Does your game include novelty, surprise,
incongruity, cleverness, and meaningfulness?
Is your game inspirational? Do the players go "Oh!" because it elevates their spirit and emotion? Do the players
go "Aha!" because it provides insights? Doe the players go "Ah!" because it appeals to their aesthetic sense?
Is your game elegant? Is the design refined yet ingeniously simple?
Most of my games score high on one or two of the checklist items. I am now designing an ultimate game that will
score high on all three items. And then, I’ll retire and live off the royalties.
How Do You Feel?
The debriefing model that I use begins with this question:
How do you feel about the activity and the results?
The purpose of this question is to give an opportunity for the participants to get their feelings and emotions off
their chest and get ready for the intellectual analysis in the latter phases of debriefing. Skipping the step can be
hazardous: The participants can be so preoccupied with their own internal conversations about their feelings that
they do not mindfully participate in the external conversation. Also, their responses to other questions (such as
What happened during the activity? or What did you learn from the activity?) are likely to involve emotional
outbursts or griping comments.
Many facilitators avoid or skip any discussion about feelings and emotions during the debriefing. Usually, they
project their reluctance to the participants and explain that this particular group does not like to discuss touchy-
feely issues because they are engineers (or accountants or managers or whatever). If you really believe in tapping
into emotional intelligence and combining it with the other forms of intelligence, you probably would not skip
this phase of debriefing.
But this does not mean that you should overemphasize the discussion of feelings. Explain that your aim is just to
give people an opportunity to briefly vent their frustrations or share their elations and move on to the other phases
of debriefing. Treat the statements as bits of information and not as personal attacks. Don't get defensive.
Discourage the participants from attempting in depth psychoanalysis of different feelings.
If you are still uncomfortable asking How do you feel?, change your question to What are your reactions to the
activity?
Talks Too Much?
When someone dominates a discussion, the other participants hold back their ideas. Team members get bored.
Instead of coming up with solutions that incorporate a wealth of diverse opinions, the team ends up with a
mediocre decision.
Here are some suggestions for dealing with participants who talk too much:

• Avoid discouraging the excessive talker. Instead, encourage the others to participate more.
• Go around the group, giving each participant a turn to talk.
• Divide the group into pairs for preliminary sharing of ideas. Then ask each pair to give a summary report
of their discussion.
• Impose air-time limits on participants. Give the participants equal number of poker chips, each worth 30
seconds of talking time.
• Interrupt the person with a question directed to someone else.
• Acknowledge the comment and involve others: "Al, that was an interesting insight. Barbara, what are your
views on this issue?"
• Before the meeting or during a break, enlist the help of the excessive talker in encouraging the silent
participants to open up.
• At the start of the meeting, establish equal participation by all members as a team goal. Encourage the
participants to help monitor and manage personal participation.
Does Not Talk?
I am not sure who presents a tougher challenge to the facilitator: the participant who talks too much or the one
who talks too little. It is easy to ignore the silent ones than the excessive talkers. Remember, however, that you
pay now or pay later. Silence does not always mean consent. It may mean that the uncommunicative participant is
plotting future sabotage.
Encouraging the silent types to talk will help ensure a much more inclusive solution and speed up the
implementation. Also it will set a model for equal participation from everyone.
Here are some suggestions for dealing with participants who don't participate:
• Reduce the anxiety level by using an alternative format. For example, break the large group into dyads for
preliminary sharing of ideas. Then ask each pair to give a summary report of their discussion.
• Ask the participants to write their concerns, comments, suggestions, or whatever on index cards. Then ask
the team to cluster these cards and organize them into themes.
• Direct questions to the silent participant. Ask questions related to the silent participant's areas of expertise
and interest.
• Ask the silent participant to react to someone else's statement.
• Ask everyone to take turns to make a 1-minute presentation.
• Reinforce comments from the taciturn participant (without appearing to be patronizing).
• Before the meeting or during a break, talk to the silent participant. Emphasize the importance of her or his
participation and collaboratively work out strategies to increasing the level of participation.
• Before the meeting or during a break, assign the role of identifying and drawing out the reluctant
participant to a one or two team members.
• Call on the silent participant by name. Frequently use the name of this participant.
When Your Simulation Game Bombs
What if your simulation game fails miserably? What if the participants behave in an unusual fashion and produce
unexpected results?
Don't worry! Remember that a simulation game does not succeed or fail. It just gives data for debriefing. You
have interesting data to be discussed during debriefing. Confess that you were flabbergasted by the results and
ask for possible explanations. Say something like,
Usually, when I conduct this dollar auction, the top bid is around $6. Your top bid was only 70 cents.
What do you think made this difference?
During the discussion, discuss the principles that are supposed to control the outcomes of the simulation.
Encourage participants to re-design the simulation game to make it more predictable. For example, invite them to
change the auction rules to guarantee a top bid of $10.

These speculations and manipulations will provide as many insights to the participants as if the simulation has
worked like it should have.
Debrief Yourself
After a simulation game, it is important to debrief the participants. After everybody has gone home, it is equally
important to debrief yourself.
Suggested questions:
• What did I do especially well?
• How did the outcomes of today's run differ from the outcomes of the previous ones?
• What minor change should I try next time?
• What unusual comment was made during the debriefing?
• What was unique about this group?
Based on your reflections, make suitable adjustments to the simulation game.
Any Questions?
Most participants' brains seem to stop functioning when you invite them to ask questions. They all become
suddenly bashful and avoid eye contact.
Possible causes: fear of asking a foolish question or appearing to be the only confused person in the room.
Suggested solution: Give everyone an index card. Ask participants to write a question which a confused person
may ask. Then ask participants to turn the card with the written side down and pass it to someone else.
Participants continue passing the cards in random fashion until you yell "Stop!" after about 15 seconds. Make
sure everyone has a card. Now select a participant at random and ask her to read the question on the card. Suggest
that the participant may pretend to read the card -- but actually ask his or her own question. Give a brief answer
and continue by selecting another participant.
Trust Department
A novice facilitator panics easily. When something doesn't appear to work, he or she concludes that the sky is
falling. Within seconds, this facilitator rushes with an alternative, only to get caught in a vicious circle.
An experienced facilitator refuses to panic. When something doesn't appear to work, he or she concludes that it is
still cooking. This facilitator waits patiently until things fall in place and the activity flows smoothly.
Two pieces of advice to help you leap from the novice to the expert state:
• Trust the team. Most teams are self-correcting systems. For example, they will bring the disruptive
members under control without your having to throw a temper tantrum.
• Trust the process. Focus on the overall results and not on the temporary glitches. Sooner or later, the bad
things will be swamped by the good things.
Remember the upside-down strategy: Don't do something, just stand there. And keep your mouth shut!
Politically-Correct Confusion
I'm facing a new type of problem in team meetings: Some of the participants talk in a convoluted, politically-
correct fashion that leaves the others confused (and paranoid). Instead of blurting out, "Why can't you come to the
meeting on time?", the politically-correct participant says, "I don't want to stereotype from few examples of your
behavior, but you seem to have a tendency to operate under an apparently different perception of chronological
values as they relate to agreed-upon sharing sessions among team members".
Here are some suggestions for dealing with this type of problem:
• Compliment the participant for his or her sensitivity and ask for a clarification of the comment.
• Ask other participants if they understood the comment. Do this without appearing to ridicule the person
who made the politically-correct comment.
• Avoid making fun of the participant's communication style.
• Discourage the other participants from responding sarcastically to the politically-correct comment.

• At the beginning of the meeting, reassure the participants that all comments will be held in strict
confidence and they should feel free to speak their mind.
• At the beginning of the meeting, discuss strategies for achieving a balance between insensitivity and
clarity.
Beyond Simulation - Into Dissimulation
I recently conducted my games workshop in Olds, Alberta. Donna Baker, one of the participants from Calgary
shared this dramatic news item with us:
During the morning assembly, the principal of a Calgary high school announced the sad news that six students
were killed in a drunk-driving accident. Everyone was shocked. The classmates of the missing students were
grief-stricken. Friends of these students were emotionally upset.
Later in the day, the principal announced over the school's public address system that his report was not true. He
made it up to force the students to think seriously about the consequences of drunk driving. The missing students
turned up to attend their classes, dressed in black to remind their classmates that with drunk driving, death is just
around the corner.
The principal's action caused a major uproar among the students and their parents. Several people praised the
principal for his dramatic lesson. An equal number of people blamed him for lying and playing with the students'
emotions. There was a major uproar about whether or not the principal's actions were justifiable.
In the meantime, the students were jolted out of their apathy and learned an unforgettable lesson.
The principal's approach goes beyond simulation into dissimulation. The key element of dissimulation is that the
participants are not aware that they are participating in a simulation or a roleplay. This type of activity has a
powerful impact and effectively transfers to the real world. It fits Steve Yelon's definition of artful instruction.
But dissimulation raises some nagging questions. Are the students ever likely to trust the principal? Did the
principal model a honest and authentic mode of communication?
For more details about these questions, read page 283 of Roger Schwartz's The Skilled Facilitator: Practical
Wisdom for Developing Effective Groups. Basically, Schwartz thinks that it is inappropriate to use an exercise
when it withholds information or relies on deception. For an in-depth discussion of the ethical implications of this
approach (especially in sociological research), read Sisela Bok's Lying. For a gut-wrenching fictional treatment of
this issue, read Orson Scott Card's Hugo- and Nebula-award winning SF novel, Ender's Game.
Dissimulation is widely practiced in corporate training and measurement activities. For example, mystery
shoppers measure the levels of customer service provided by employees. These employees don't know who is a
genuine customer and who is a specially-trained evaluator, pretending to be a customer.
Police sting operations and infiltration take this strategy to elaborate heights. Many of these activities are
questionable and some (labeled entrapment) are illegal.
My advice to facilitators is to examine aspects of dissimulation in their training exercises, carefully consider their
pro's and con's, seek the advice of objective others about their justification, and then make an informed decision.
It Takes Two
Here's an idea for reducing disruptive behaviors — and minimizing their impact during team meetings: Work
with a co-facilitator.
One of you can focus on the participants while the other focuses on the content. When you are focusing on
the participants, you can move close to somebody who is reading a newspaper or proofreading a report or
carrying on a side conversation. You can intervene at appropriate times to call on some reluctant
participant for his or her comment. You can take a problem participant aside to clarify some instructions
or request more cooperation.
Here's another idea for reducing disruptive behaviors — and minimizing their impact: Ask each participant to
work with a buddy.

Divide the participants into pairs. Make each participant responsible for his or her partner's behavior. The
partners coach each other to ensure appropriate behaviors. For an elaboration of this buddy system, see
SECRET COACHES in our games section.
Paperless Facilitation
Imagine asking your team members to write their ideas on large-sized cards. You collect these cards and slap
them on the wall. They stick to the wall! Team members study the cards and move them around. They cluster the
items into logical groups. The cards stay stuck to the walls.
No, these cards are not made of sticky note paper. Nor are they magnetized. They are a part of a low-tech, high-
touch system called the Paperless Boarding System.
To use the system, you buy one of several different kits. My kit comes up with a roll-up whiteboard made of a
flexible, ultra-strong polished vinyl that can be written on (with overhead projector pens or dry-erase markers).
The kit also includes rectangular strips of different colors and sizes. These strips have static cling backing that
sticks directly to the whiteboard surface and to each other. (They also adhere to standard whiteboards, glass
windows, or to any smooth non-porous surface.)
The paperless boarding system provides you with a versatile, flexible tool. You can now do things on the vertical
wall that you were able to do only on a horizontal surface. I have used the system to collect and organize ideas
from the group and to team-base wordsmithing. It works much better than index cards, flipcharts, stick notes, and
masking tape.
For more information about this new and useful product line, call 1-888-256-9385 or visit their website
www.facili.com

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