Mintie Game

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Demonstrate active listening and verbal restraint during spontaneous pair conversations.

Use it when: Use as an energetic, lighthearted warmup to open a meeting or examine conversational autopilot.

Skip it when: Skip during high-stress meetings, formal negotiations, or when participants dislike conversational traps.

Group arrangement: Rapidly rotating pairs in an open room; if an odd number is present, one trio forms or one person serves as floating referee

Timing: Playmeo recommends 2 to 5 minutes of conversation; expanded to 10 minutes to cover setup, two timed rounds, and debrief

Materials and tools

• 5 wrapped candies (such as mints) or 5 small counters per participant
• Scratch paper and pens (for remote or hybrid participants)
• 1 countdown timer visible to the facilitator

Before participants arrive

1. Count out five wrapped sweets or counters for each participant.
2. Clear chairs or create open floor space so people can move freely.

Say this to open

Each person holds five tokens. We will run two short rounds of mingling totaling five minutes of active play. Your goal is to talk with as many people as possible and collect tokens. To take a token, you must provoke your partner into saying the exact word 'yes'. If you say 'yes', you surrender one token to them. For example, if someone asks 'Did you drive here today?' and you say 'Yes', you hand over a token. If you answer 'I took the train', you keep your token. If you run out of tokens, stay in the game and try to win some back. Let us begin.

How to run it

1. Distribute materials and explain rules 2 minutes

   Hand five tokens or candies to each person. Read the opening script. Instruct participants to stand and quickly turn to someone nearby to establish their first conversation partner. If an odd number of people are present, form one trio or invite one volunteer to act as floating referee for the first round.

2. Run first mingling round 3 minutes

   Start the timer for 3 minutes. Participants converse in pairs, asking questions and trying to prompt the forbidden word. When a token is surrendered, the pair may continue talking or split immediately to find new partners. Encourage rapid rotations across the room.

3. Pause and run second mingling round 2 minutes

   Pause the room. Remind players that words like 'correct', 'certainly', 'yeah', or head nods do not trigger a token penalty, but the exact word 'yes' does. Start a final 2-minute round and instruct everyone to find partners they have not spoken to yet.

4. Count tokens and debrief 3 minutes

   Call time. Ask participants to count their remaining tokens. Note who collected the largest stash. Facilitate a brief debrief using two of the debrief questions, taking responses from three or four volunteers.

Debrief questions

• What questions or conversational setups worked best to trap someone into saying 'yes'?
• How did your listening change when an automatic response carried an immediate penalty?
• What does this game reveal about habitual responses in casual workplace dialogue?

Finished output: A final token count per person and whole-group observations on automatic conversational patterns.

Remote

Split participants into one-on-one breakout rooms for two rounds matching the in-person pacing (one 3-minute round and one 2-minute round, shuffling pairs between rounds). Each participant tracks their own score on scratch paper starting at 5 points. If a player says 'yes' over audio or in chat, they deduct 1 point from their tally and tell their partner to add 1 point. If the count is odd, assign one breakout room as a trio where any member can prompt either partner.

Hybrid

Run two parallel tracks to prevent audio crossover. In-person participants mingle on the physical floor with tokens. Remote participants rotate through one-on-one video breakouts and track points on scratch paper. Reconvene the full group together for the final step debrief, taking two comments from the room and two comments from remote chat.

Access and participation choices

• Non-food tokens such as poker chips, buttons, or paper clips are provided for anyone with dietary preferences or tactile needs.
• Participants with mobility limitations may remain seated at designated conversation stations while partners circulate to them.
• Anyone preferring not to converse may opt out of spoken play and act as the room timekeeper or token referee.

If the session gets stuck

Participants refuse to answer questions or stay silent to protect their tokens.

Enforce a mutual contribution rule: each player must reply with a full sentence and ask a question in return before changing partners.

A participant loses all tokens within the first minute and steps out.

Remind them that having zero tokens does not disqualify anyone; they can still question others and rebuild their stash.

Terms used here

• Mintie: A traditional Australian chewy mint candy, often used as the physical counter in this icebreaker.