Storytelling with Ransom Notes
Are you looking for a fun and insightful way to spark creativity, conversation and collaboration across your team? Introducing RANSOM NOTES, from Very Special Games. Ransom Notes challenges up to six players to quickly create responses to provocative prompts using only magnetic word tiles. The inspiration to use this game came from a recent poll I put on LinkedIn about the use of board games in meetings and workshops. While some respondents said "YES" to the use of games, most were in "NO" or "USE WITH CAUTION" category. With that in mind, I thought I would test this game with my team before unleashing it in a workshop. The results were amazing. At first, my team were hesitant about the potential for the game. But after only three rounds of playing, everyone of them gave it a thumbs up. The conclusion was that in just under 10 minutes, we learned so much about each other's creative hidden talents. The game resulted in laughs, oohs, side-eyed stares, and more than a few of gasps of awe. We played the first two rounds of the game by the rules provided. Every player had a pile of magnetic word tiles and a metal canvas to organize their message. We used the game prompts to create responses to "How would you survive the zombie apocalypse?" and "Write the plot for a Hallmark movie." The third prompt, we went freestyle. I asked everyone at the table to explain what we, as facilitators, do for a living. My favorite response is pictured in this post. I am now committed to getting more games and using this as a communications warm-up in my next workshop. What is your experience with using games in workshops?