Communicate This and Stick It Here: UWT Puzzle Version

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Reconstruct a complete eighteen-card layout from verbally shared edge constraints without showing hidden puzzle pieces.

Use it when: Use when a team needs to examine how they establish common vocabulary, manage distributed information, and coordinate execution under strict constraints.

Skip it when: Skip when the group has fewer than six people, when spatial logic exercises do not match current goals, or when room geometry prevents distinct planning and placement areas.

Group arrangement: Whole group coordinating together. All 18 cards must be in play: for 6 to 17 people, some participants hold multiple envelopes; for exactly 18 people, each person holds one envelope; for 19 to 24 people, pairs share envelopes until exactly 18 cards are distributed (for example, with 20 people, two pairs hold one envelope each and 16 individuals hold one each).

Timing: Source allows up to 60 minutes for planning plus a 30-second transfer. UWT allocates 5 minutes for briefing, 35 minutes for planning, 2 minutes for safe placement, and 13 minutes for debrief.

Materials and tools

• 18 prepared card strips cut from the participant materials sheet
• 18 opaque envelopes (one card strip per envelope)
• Masking tape or rope to mark the boundary between Planning Area and Grid Area
• One blank 3-row by 6-column grid drawn on paper or taped onto a table
• Flip chart easel, flip chart paper, and markers for guidelines and planning
• Scratch paper and pens for participant notes
• Countdown timer
• Facilitator master solution sheet

Before participants arrive

1. Print and cut out the 18 card strips from participant materials. Place each strip in its own sealed envelope.
2. Use masking tape or rope to divide the room into a large Planning Area (three quarters of the room) and a Grid Area (one quarter).
3. Place the blank 3-row by 6-column grid on a table in the Grid Area.
4. Write the core guidelines from the opening script onto a flip chart sheet and post it in the Planning Area.
5. Place scratch paper and pens in the Planning Area.
6. Keep the facilitator solution sheet hidden from view.

Say this to open

You each have sealed envelopes containing secret puzzle pieces. Do not open them yet. Our objective is to determine how all 18 pieces fit into a 3-row by 6-column grid using verbal description alone. Once opened, only you may see or touch your card. Do not show your card to anyone. Cards must remain upright without rotating. Sides marked OUTSIDE touch the outer boundary of the grid. Adjacent touching sides must have matching symbols. All planning happens in the Planning Area. Once the first person steps into the Grid Area, you have two minutes to place all cards without running.

How to run it

1. Brief and distribute envelopes 5 minutes

   Hand out all 18 sealed envelopes. For 6 to 17 people, give extra envelopes to volunteers so all 18 cards are held. For 19 to 24 people, form pairs to share single envelopes until all 18 envelopes are assigned. Read the opening script, verify everyone understands cards cannot be visually shown, and start the 35-minute planning clock.

2. Plan and deduce layout 35 minutes

   Participants open envelopes and describe edges using speech or scratch paper notes. Nobody may display their card. Participants negotiate card positions, establish shared names for symbols, and map coordinates on the 3-row by 6-column layout. Warn the team when 10 minutes and 2 minutes remain in the planning phase.

3. Transfer and place cards 2 minutes

   The team starts placement. The instant the first person crosses the boundary tape into the Grid Area, start the two-minute placement timer. Participants walk calmly to the grid table and place cards into their deduced slots with TOP facing up. The facilitator monitors for running or showing cards prematurely.

4. Verify layout and debrief 13 minutes

   Compare placed cards to the facilitator solution sheet. Announce how many cards are correctly located and oriented. Lead the debrief discussion. Take up to four observations across the room on vocabulary creation, information sharing, and execution discipline.

Debrief questions

• How did your team establish common names for unfamiliar symbols?
• What strategies helped track confirmed positions before all cards were identified?
• How did the transition from verbal planning to physical execution go, and what would you change next time?

Finished output: An assembled eighteen-card grid on the master table and an agreed set of team communication observations.

Remote

This activity depends on physical concealment of cards and hands-on grid placement. For fully remote delivery, run an edge-matching puzzle by distributing card text strings via private direct messages. A shared virtual whiteboard displays the blank 3x6 grid. A designated scribe moves numbered digital cards solely based on verbal instructions from cardholders, who never screen-share or paste their card text into public chat.

Hybrid

In-person members hold physical envelopes while remote members receive their private card text via direct message. Remote members verbally instruct an in-room proxy to place their card number on the physical grid during the two-minute placement phase.

Access and participation choices

• Participants with low vision can partner with a trusted teammate who reads card text aloud privately.
• Participants with mobility restrictions can direct a proxy to position their card on the physical grid during placement.
• Any participant may opt out of holding cards to serve as timekeeper or planning scribe.

If the session gets stuck

A participant accidentally shows their card to another team member.

Pause the room briefly, remind everyone to keep cards held against their chests, and prompt the team to confirm edges verbally.

The team runs out of planning time before solving the entire grid.

End planning when the timer expires. Have the team place whatever cards they have confirmed within the two-minute placement window, then examine the remaining gaps during debrief.

Terms used here

• OUTSIDE: An edge designation indicating that side must touch the perimeter of the 3-row by 6-column grid.
• Edge-match: A puzzle mechanic where two touching borders of adjacent cards must display the exact same symbol.