Winning

4 shiney stars

This game is a great way to teach kids the importance of working as a team and cooperating.  

The goal is for each team to finish with a positive score. 

Divide your group into six teams.  

The game has 10 rounds.  For each round, groups must choose a color - either "Red" or "Blue" without knowing what the other groups have chosen.  

The group then wins (or loses) points based on what the other groups chose.  

6 x Blue: Lose 2 points

5 x Blue: Win 2 points
1 x Red: Lose 10 points

4 x Blue: Win 4 points
2 x Red: Lose 8 points

3 x Blue: Win 6 points
3 x Red: Lose 1 point 

2 x Blue: Win 8 points
4 x Red: Lose 4 points

1 x Blue: Win 10 points
5 x Red: Lose 2 points

6 x Red: Win 2 points

So for example, if 1 group choose Blue, they get 8 points, and the 4 groups that chose Red lose 4 points.

There is no talking allowed between groups except during  negotiation periods (after rounds 2, 4, 6 and 8).  There are also bonus rounds (5, 7 and 10) where there are more points up for grabs!

Use the following score sheet

 

 

Tick one

Points

Red

Blue

Won

Lost

Round 1

 

 

 

 

Round 2


 

 

 

 

5 minutes negotiation

Round 3

 

 

 

 

Round 4


 

 

 

 

5 minute negotiation

Round 5
(double payout)

 

 

 

 

Round 6


 

 

 

 

5 minute negotiation

Round 7
(Triple payout)

 

 

 

 

Round 8


 

 

 

 

5 minute negotiation

Round 9


 

 

 

 

Round 10
(10 x payout)

 

 

 

 

 

Total (Winnings minus losings)

   

 

Submitted by: Group Games



Features
  • Free / Low Cost
  • No equipment needed
  • Sharing, Get to know you
  • Night
Objectives
  • Ice breaker
  • Team Building Teamwork
Space
  • Indoor
  • Large area
  • Small area
Age
  • Teens (Age 12-15)
  • Teens (Age 16-18)
  • Young Adults

Group Size
  • Medium (10-29 people)
  • Large groups (30+)

Duration
  • Longer (30-60 mins)
  • Medium (11-29 mins)
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Comments

Great idea but surely the points system is totally flawed - theres no incentive to ever go red?! The only time red ever gets points is when all go red so its net zero anyway...
- Jim (15 Mar 2013)

The scoring makes no sense to me. Teams always win points when they choose blue. Teams always lose points when they choose red with one exception; all red. Once kids figure that out, all teams will keep choosing blue because its no risk.
- Kevin (17 Mar 2013)

Thanks Jim and Kevin for your feedback. I've added a point at the top to emphasize this - the objective is for each team to finish with a positive score; nothing more, but human nature being what it is, people will naturally turn it into a competition. And you'll find that the only real way to ensure both teams get a positive score is if they work together. If they begin to double-cross each other, they both lose.

A way of helping focus on the "positive score" objective would be to give a prize to whichever team is positive at the end of the game (not necessarily the 'winning team').
- Admin (17 Mar 2013)

We changed the scoring a bit to make it more interesting. It's a nice idea to say everyone should end positive, and they all get a prize, but in my experience, either its boring to the kids because there's no incentive to do anything but pick red, or you have to incentivize winning *more*, in which case you're right back where you started. Really great game though, 5 stars!
- Jon (17 Apr 2013)

Just played this today with my advisory and it went perfectly. The kids kept negotiating that everyone should choose red, so that they would all get points, but then groups kept failing to hold to that pact. I stated the goal of the game at the beginning and pointedly restated it twice during gameplay.

At the end, I went ahead and asked who had a positive score and gave the three groups with positive scores a chance to state their score... and then I dropped the bombshell that there were NO winners (because the goal was that EVERY team end with a positive score). The realization on their faces that individual team scores were pointless and that their unnecessary greed caused them to lose the game was fantastic and exactly the point.
- Karen (10 May 2013)

Does the participants should be informed about the scoring system?
- Atiqah (15 Apr 2014)

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