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Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Loser Ball
Relationship Mapping

Loser Ball

Loser Ball is a relationship mapping exercise that helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25), Small group (4-8)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Network Design This relationship mapping exercise strengthens Network Design, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. And rather than being upset that they couldn't catch it, the rest of the circle cheers wildly as if failing to catch the ball was the best thing they've ever seen.
  2. The more spectacularly someone fails at catching the ball, the more excited the group should be.
  3. The ball is thrown to a person, preferably by naming that person ("here John") or some other way to focus the group on the catcher.
  4. CollaborationCollaboratively create agendas in real-time.
Live facilitator

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.

Prompts to use +

CollaborationCollaboratively create agendas in real-time.

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: Loser Ball. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: CollaborationCollaboratively create agendas in real-time.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Improv Encyclopedia; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (2 sources observed, including Improv Encyclopedia, SessionLab.)
  • 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.

Pairs well with