Memory Card Game

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Locate and match all ten hidden value pairs collaboratively through shared recall and clear communication.

Use it when: Use when a team needs an active, low-stakes task to examine collaboration habits or establish working agreements.

Skip it when: Skip when the group cannot navigate room movement safely, or when teams need deep analytical work rather than a physical memory puzzle.

Group arrangement: Whole group (up to 8) or split into parallel teams of 4 to 8 participants

Timing: Matches the 10 to 15 minute range in the source record.

Materials and tools

• 20 opaque index cards or cardstock tiles per team (10 matching pairs of value words)
• Floor tape or rope to mark a staging boundary line 4 meters from the cards
• Timer or stopwatch

Before participants arrive

1. Prepare one 20-card deck for each team using the 10 provided value pairs.
2. Set up a boundary line across the room.
3. Out of view of participants, lay each deck face down on the floor in a 4-by-5 grid, at least 4 meters beyond the boundary line.
4. Ensure wide clearance between multiple team grids if running parallel teams.

Say this to open

Behind this line is your team base. Four meters ahead is a grid of 20 face-down cards containing ten matching pairs of team traits. Your collective goal is to find all ten pairs. Only one runner may cross the line at a time. That person flips two cards, shows or announces them to the group, and either leaves them face up if they match, or turns them face down before returning. Once they return across the line, the next runner goes. You may strategize freely from behind the line.

How to run it

1. Explain rules and brief teams 3 minutes

   Assemble participants behind the boundary line. Announce the rules using the opening script. Answer clarifying questions. Give teams one minute to confer on communication or memory strategies before the clock starts.

2. Run card-matching relay 7 minutes

   Signal the start. One participant per team crosses the line, reveals two cards, and calls out the words so their team can hear. If the cards match, they stay face up; if not, the runner turns them face down. The runner returns behind the boundary and tags or signals the next teammate. Play ends when a team finds all ten pairs, or when seven minutes expire.

3. Pair review of core values 2 minutes

   Have teams gather by their revealed cards. Ask participants to turn to a partner and pick one matched word that felt most important to how they operated during the run.

4. Facilitated debrief 3 minutes

   Gather the whole room. Call on three or four participants to answer one selected debrief question, focusing on how information was tracked and shared.

Debrief questions

• What system did your team use to remember cards that were already flipped?
• How did the runner and the base group coordinate while the cards were visible?
• Which value word on the floor best describes what kept your team effective today?

Finished output: All ten pairs of value cards successfully uncovered and arranged face up on the floor.

Remote

Open a shared virtual whiteboard containing 20 numbered sticky notes arranged in a 4-by-5 grid, each covering a value word. Assign a turn order. On their turn, a participant names two numbered squares to be moved aside by the facilitator. If the words match, the notes remain off. If they do not match, the notes are moved back. The team confers in main audio throughout.

Hybrid

Keep the physical grid in the room under a dedicated camera. Remote participants take turns via voice directing an in-person runner which two grid coordinates to flip (for example, Row 2, Column 3). The runner announces and shows the cards to the camera.

Access and participation choices

• Participants who prefer not to run or walk across the room can serve as the team strategist, card recorder, or caller from behind the boundary line.
• Anyone may pass on their physical turn and pass the nomination to the next player without explanation.

If the session gets stuck

Multiple players run out to the cards at the same time in their excitement.

Pause the clock. Remind the group that only one person may be in the grid zone at any time, and reset any card flipped out of turn.

Teammates shout conflicting directions, confusing the runner.

Remind the team they can take a 15-second strategy pause to agree on who directs the runner before the next trip.

Terms used here

• Grid coordinate: Identifying a card by its row and column position, such as Row 1, Card 3.