Agile Battleships

CategoryGame
PublishedJan 13th, 2018

Summary

Players will play a game of battleships with each other. Some players will experience restrictions to how responsive they can be, allowing us to explore the effects.

Materials

Battleships game set (4-12 players -> 2 sets, 6-18 players -> 3 sets, etc.)
80 blue pegs per set (Use the excess white pegs, and spray them blue!)

Preparation

Divide the participants into an even number of Navies (groups of 1 - 3 players).
Tables and chairs
It is best that team play opposite each other
Flip chart / whiteboard for the score board

OVERVIEW

This game was created by James Scrimshire

Goal

This game is designed to allow participants to experience and reflect on different on the importance of “Responding to change over following a plan”. They will feel the effects of different-sized feedback loops, from the big bang to the empirical.

Learning objectives

Responsiveness is vital to success
Generally speaking, the tighter we make the learning feedback loop, the more successful we can be
Too fast a feedback loop (in this game being able to change strategy at will) is often worse than a small batch. This is because having a pause to consider what we’re going to focus on next and designing a short term strategy for it ensures that there actually is a strategy. Additionally, there is a lot of overhead (waste) in making a decision every turn when hunting for the next ship.
The time taken to plan the 40 shots in this game is almost entirely waste

STRATEGY

MODE: Small groups of 1-6 players

HANDOUT:

Battleships sets with instruction inserts

FACILITATION:

Decide: how many team you want. This can be anywhere from 4 upward, depending on the group size and the amount of battleships kits you have.
Instruct: Ask players to form into teams and sit appropriately.
Handout: Give each team a battle ships kit
Inquire: Check players are familiar with the game, and explain the rules if needed
Instruct: Ask the teams to place their 5 ships onto the upper grid
Handout: Give each team a bag of 40 blue pegs
Instruct: Ask the teams to design their battle strategies by placing the 40 blue pegs onto the lower grid

TIMEBOX: 5-10 mins

THE BATTLE

MODE: Small groups of 1-6 players

FACILITATION:

Handout: Allow each team to choose a mission parameter at random
Instruct: Read your missing parameters, and keep them secret!
Support: Visit each team, and endure they understand the parameters
IMPORTANT: If playing with more than 4 teams: ensure each opposing teams have different mission parameters.
Instruct: Begin the battle

TIMEBOX: 15-20 mins

DEBRIEF

MODE: All

PREP:

Make this scoring chart while the game is playing:

Hits	Sinks
1	3