Frustration - Free Training Game Training Course Materials
Once they have established what this card is (and shown it to the group), they should try and find a pair for it from the other cards (they won’t be able to).
How to run it
- Spread the altered cards face down on the table so that the back of the cards is showing.
- Ask for a volunteer to come to the front of the room and explain that they are going to play a shortened version of the card game ‘concentration’.
- In this game, the volunteer will turn a card over. Once they have established what this card is (and shown it to the group), they should try and find a pair for it from the other cards (they won’t be able to).
- When they fail, they should return each card back to where they originally found it.
- The volunteer should keep trying with different cards, while you encourage the group to shout words of encouragement and advice.
- Continue the game until the frustration builds and the anger begins to show.
- Once the point is made (and no cards have been paired), bring the game to a close.
- Review the session by asking the volunteer how they felt about the game. Discuss their feelings and what this meant. Ask how the encouragement from everyone around them made them feel, particularly when they were unable to achieve their aim.
Run this exercise live
The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.
What participants need now
Materials:
This is a participant-safe snapshot, not a response form. It sends nothing back to the facilitator.
Prompts to use +
Ask for a volunteer to come to the front of the room and explain that they are going to play a shortened version of the card game ‘concentration’.
In this game, the volunteer will turn a card over. Once they have established what this card is (and shown it to the group), they should try and find a pair for it from the other cards (they won’t be able to).
Continue the game until the frustration builds and the anger begins to show.
Once the point is made (and no cards have been paired), bring the game to a close.
Review the session by asking the volunteer how they felt about the game. Discuss their feelings and what this meant. Ask how the encouragement from everyone around them made them feel, particularly when they were unable to achieve their aim.
Run this with your AI assistant +
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.
Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Frustration - Free Training Game Training Course Materials. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Ask for a volunteer to come to the front of the room and explain that they are going to play a shortened version of the card game ‘concentration’.; In this game, the volunteer will turn a card over. Once they have established what this card is (and shown it to the group), they should try and find a pair for it from the other cards (they won’t be able to).; Continue the game until the frustration builds and the anger begins to show.; Once the point is made (and no cards have been paired), bring the game to a close.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The current corpus has one observed source organization: TrainerBubble. (1 source observed, including TrainerBubble.)
- What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
- No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
- Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.