Top Three

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Compare how competing locally versus cooperating systematically impacts individual and team scoring outcomes.

Use it when: Use when teams need to examine competitive versus cooperative dynamics across departmental or project boundaries.

Skip it when: Skip when participants are navigating active, unresolved interpersonal conflict where zero-sum scoring drills heighten tension.

Group arrangement: Triads consisting of two players and one scorekeeper

Timing: Thiagi GameLetter lists 5 to 10 minutes; UWT specifies 10 minutes to allow adequate debrief time.

Materials and tools

• Two distinct coins or tokens per active player (one low-value, one higher-value, such as a penny and a nickel)
• One score sheet and pencil per triad
• One countdown timer for the facilitator

Before participants arrive

1. Count out coins so each triad receives two pennies and two nickels (or labeled small and large tokens).
2. Place one score sheet and pen at each triad station.
3. Display the scoring payoff rules prominently on a slide or chart.

Say this to open

In your triads, two people are players and one person is the scorekeeper. Players will play a series of rapid rounds for two minutes. Your goal is to score as many points as you can. At the end, we will recognize the top three individual scorers across the entire room.

How to run it

1. Assign roles and distribute tokens 2 minutes

   Form triads of three. Two participants take player roles, and the third acts as scorekeeper. Give each player one penny (low token) and one nickel (high token). Provide the scorekeeper with the score sheet and pen. If one person is left over, assign them as a timekeeper assistant or an extra scorekeeper observer.

2. Explain rules and scoring 2 minutes

   State the round rules: Each round, both players secretly close one coin in their fist and hold it forward. On the count of three, both open their hands simultaneously. Point out the scoring matrix: Both show pennies: each scores 1 point. One shows a nickel and one shows a penny: nickel scores 5 points, penny scores 1 point. Both show nickels: both score 0 points. The scorekeeper adds each round's points to the running tally.

3. Run two-minute tournament 2 minutes

   Start the two-minute timer. Players conduct as many rounds as possible without pausing, while the scorekeeper logs scores after every reveal. Halt play exactly at two minutes. Scorekeepers calculate final individual totals.

4. Announce top scores and debrief 4 minutes

   Ask scorekeepers to call out high scores and identify the top three players across the room. Lead the debrief discussion exploring what strategy yielded the highest totals and what system dynamics emerged.

Debrief questions

• What strategy allowed pairs to achieve the highest total individual scores?
• How did the rule recognizing the top three players across the whole room change the incentive to compete with your partner?
• Where in our daily work do we treat partners as competitors rather than cooperating to raise total performance?

Finished output: A shared analysis of how local rivalry lowers collective output compared to cooperative alternating strategies.

Remote

Use breakout rooms of three. Players use direct private chat to the room scorekeeper or show physical coins/colored cards to their webcam simultaneously on count. Scorekeepers track points in a shared spreadsheet.

Hybrid

Keep in-person triads with physical tokens and remote triads in separate breakout rooms with online tracking. Combine all scores onto a single shared leaderboard before the debrief.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may choose the non-playing scorekeeper role to participate fully without rapid physical hand movements.
• Players can decline to announce their final personal score without penalty.

If the session gets stuck

One triad spends time debating strategy instead of playing rapidly.

Remind them that the game runs strictly on a two-minute countdown and rapid play is required to build points.

Both players keep showing nickels and getting zero points repeatedly.

Let the round finish naturally without intervention; use their zero-score stalemate as a concrete debrief observation.

Terms used here

• Payoff matrix: A table showing what each participant gains or loses based on the choices made by both players.