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Over the years Z/Yen has developed a number of fun games that help to convey
commercial messages. These games have been tailored to serious away day
strategic planning exercises as well as cocktail parties:
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WarmGame, a Prisoners’ Dilemma game on
climate change that was developed along with the
London Accord;
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OligopoLuedo, a “merger mystery” which
develops M&A skills;
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Smugglers' Choice, which teaches competitive
game theory;
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Bourses, a family of five investment games
that teach the importance of sentiment along with strategy.
In total, Z/Yen’s various games have been played
several hundred times. Bourse Games are often called “Boating Bourses” as
nearly two hundred have taken place on the Thames Sailing Barge,
S.B. Lady Daphne. Players take
the part of City investment managers trying to maximise their portfolios in a
tight, competitive market. Typically, players are grouped into teams of
between three and eight. After an initial instruction sheet, Boating
Bourses consist of four rounds of play where:
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players receive a news sheet telling them
about interesting events in the world and five exciting investment
opportunities;
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players debate the why’s and wherefore’s of
investment and submit an investment allocation, as well as taking punts on a
few trivia questions for extra points;
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runners take team forms for processing by the
Boating Bourse’s exchange trading systems with the results posted on the Big
Board;
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runners return with investment management
team positions, market capitalisation of the five companies, specific team
results, and the next round of news.
Bourses are spiced up with some team poaching,
pertinent prizes and a healthy influx of dubious rumours. Winning teams
sometimes increase portfolios by over 1,000% in an afternoon – an acceptable
return even in today’s e-conomy. Share ramping, insider trading and other
hearty, but sadly now illegal, practices can be encouraged during the game.
As the games are based on deep research and sound principles, players obtain
good justification for the outcome and analysis of their game play in the
closing presentation.
Bourses work best with groups of 12 to 45. Dry land bourses have run
successfully for over 100 (e.g., with Scottish Enterprise and The Royal Society
of Edinburgh), for awaydays and conferences (the Asset and Liability Managers
Association or the BioIndustry Association Finance Directors) and even “by Royal
Appointment” (for the Prince of Wales at St James’s Palace with the Marine
Stewardship Council and the World Wildlife Fund). Each round takes about fifteen
to twenty minutes, with a ten to twenty minute break between rounds, thus the
game is easily incorporated, with prizes, into a two hour corporate
entertainment event. Bourses also work nicely into tea and coffee breaks
as a light-hearted interlude during a longer, more serious, training or
team-building day. Z/Yen provides the runners, the trading systems, the
financial analysts and the prizes. The following Boating Bourses have been
developed and played a number of times, and often combined with serious business
presentations from Z/Yen backing up technology development or strategic planning
messages:
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the Technology Bourse, based on real
investment outcomes in high technology with companies such as Pigmalia, the
wonder paint, and Isaiah, the government initiative;
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the BioIndustry Bourse, which explores one
technology sector in detail with firms such as Immune-to-Sell, Clone Rangers
or Stench ‘RNT’ Us and their intriguing problems;
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the Legal Bourse, based on actual senior
partners’ evaluations of their greatest threats, firms floating on the
exchange such as e-law.com and litigation-R-US;
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the Facilities Management (FM) Bourse, based
on Z/Yen’s research into the FM market, that cut and thrust world of
mergers, acquisitions and outsourcing contracts;
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the Cashing in on Catches Bourse, based on
Z/Yen’s economic model of the impact of certification standards for
sustainable fishing. Fluffy fish boobie prize aside, the game’s
messages helped support a high-profile event on a global, environmental
topic.
Z/Yen is interested in exploring new game ideas
and will develop customised games.
More information:
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Mark Yeandle, Mike Young and Ian Harris, "Warm
Game: A Game For All Seasons", The London Accord: Making Investment Work
For The Climate, City of London Corporation (2007).
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Michael Mainelli and Robert Pay, "Merry-time
Law" (the legal bourse), Professional Marketing, pages
16-17, Professional Marketing International (Winter 2000).
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ExtZy
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