---
title: "Create a Game"
description: "Small groups design a simple, playable game modeling a real workplace challenge, then cross-playtest their prototypes with another group."
last_updated: "2026-09-07"
canonical: "https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/create-a-game/"
---

# Create a Game

Small groups design a simple, playable game modeling a real workplace challenge, then cross-playtest their prototypes with another group.

**Time:** 45 minutes. Relationship Makers Handbook suggests 30 to 60 or 60 to 180 minutes. This 45-minute UWT version focuses on rapid prototyping and a short playtest.
**People:** 8 to 24. Teams of 4 to 6 people. Teams pair up to test each other's games. If an odd number of teams forms (such as 3 teams of 4 to 5), two teams pair up while the third team pairs with the facilitator and any open-room observers, or one paired group runs a three-way round-robin where each team plays one game and hosts one game.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Model complex organizational dynamics into an interactive game system to expose real incentives, constraints, and friction points.
**Use it when:** Use when a team needs to examine systemic bottlenecks, conflicting incentives, or workflow friction by experiencing them through active simulation.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the group lacks a shared operational context or needs immediate linear consensus rather than systemic exploration.

## Materials and tools

- 1 flip chart pad or sheet of butcher paper per group of 4 to 6
- 4 assorted markers per group
- 1 pad of sticky notes per group
- 1 small bag of counters, tokens, dice, or colored cubes per group
- 1 timer for the facilitator
- Digital whiteboard with pre-drawn playfields, virtual sticky notes, and online dice links (for remote sessions)

## Before participants arrive

1. Place flip chart paper, markers, sticky notes, and counter tokens on each group table.
2. Post the target operational challenge clearly on the main display.
3. If running online, set up identical template boards in separate breakout whiteboard spaces.

## Say this to open

Real work has rules, resources, trade-offs, and friction. Today you will model our shared organizational challenge as a simple tabletop game. Your goal is to design a prototype that another group can learn and play in under ten minutes.

## How to run it

### 1. Frame the challenge (5 minutes)

Read the opening script. Announce the operational challenge the games will simulate, such as handling cross-department handoffs under tight deadlines. Distribute the Game Design Worksheet to each team of 4 to 6 people and review the design questions.

### 2. Build the prototype (20 minutes)

Have team members brainstorm favorite games. Each team collectively selects one classic model to adapt (such as Monopoly, Battleship, or Poker). The team sketches a board on flip chart paper, assigns player roles, writes three to five core turn rules, and runs a quick internal dry-run turn.

### 3. Cross-playtest prototypes (10 minutes)

Pair teams together. Team A teaches and runs their game for Team B for 5 minutes. At the chime, swap: Team B teaches and runs their game for Team A for 5 minutes. If an odd team exists, the facilitator and any designated observers play that team's game for 5 minutes, then test their own prototype scenario with them for 5 minutes.

### 4. Debrief system dynamics (10 minutes)

Call the room back together. Ask the debrief questions to examine what the mechanics revealed about workplace habits. Take three to four brief contributions from across the room.


## Debrief questions

- Which real-world constraint was easiest to turn into a game rule, and which was hardest to capture?
- When you played the other team's game, did winning require realistic teamwork or did it reward exploiting the rules?

**Finished output:** A playable game board and written rule sheet capturing the dynamics and constraints of a shared challenge.

## Remote

Run in breakout rooms using an online digital whiteboard. Supply board templates, virtual cards, and dice links. For playtesting, swap team members across breakout rooms or invite guest teams to the host team's board URL.

## Hybrid

Keep remote and in-person participants in separate design teams. During the playtest step, pair remote teams together online and in-person teams together in the room. If an uneven split requires a cross-table game, aim a laptop camera at the physical board and assign one in-person team member to move physical pieces on behalf of remote players.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may choose roles such as visual sketching, rule writing, hosting guests, or playtesting.
- Anyone may choose to observe games quietly without taking a competitive player turn.

## If the session gets stuck

**Teams spend too much time debating complex rule details and do not build a board.**

Prompt teams at minute 10 of prototype building to cap their game at three specific actions per turn and one unambiguous victory condition.

**A hosting team spends their entire 5-minute playtest explaining backstory instead of letting guests play.**

Remind hosts to hand over the rule card immediately and let players take their first turn within 60 seconds.


## Terms used here

- Game mechanic: The specific rules, turn sequences, and resource constraints that govern how players interact in a game.
- Playtest: Testing a working game draft with fresh players to identify confusing rules or balance issues.

## Participant material: Game Design Worksheet

GAME DESIGN WORKSHEET

1. Target Challenge: What specific operational situation or problem are you modeling?
2. Familiar Model: Which classic game does this adapt (such as Monopoly, Chess, Battleship, Poker, or Tag)?
3. Player Roles and Abilities: Who are the players, and what specific powers or actions do they have on their turn?
4. Winning Condition: What does success or winning look like in this game?
5. Luck vs. Strategy: What elements rely on chance (dice, draws) versus deliberate choices?
6. Real Dynamics: What organizational constraints (such as approval delays, budget caps, or siloed handoffs) are built directly into the rules?

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Relationship Makers Handbook (pages 113-115). Teampedia records in the evidence were unpopulated wiki administrative templates.

Retained the original mechanic from Relationship Makers Handbook: turning a real organizational situation into a playable game, drawing on familiar classic models, balancing luck and strategy, and conducting a fast playtest. UWT created a compact 45-minute delivery structure, established clear team pairing and odd-team facilitation rules, integrated a structured Game Design Worksheet, and provided explicit hybrid guidance.

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/create-a-game/