10 essential gamestorming tools

Gamestorming
by Evan Van Lissum
evan@theparkinglot.com | +32 (0)477 51 98 26 | follow me

Part 1 about creativity
Part 2 why we gamestorm
Part 3 about games
Part 4 the basics
Part 5 some games we play
Content

Gamestorming 2014Gamestorming 2014 | theparkinglot.com
Once a gamer,
always a gamer.

What is creativity?
The ability to
bring something new
within boundaries
that is useful

What is creativity?

Left
brain
Right
brain

Reality check

Industrial economy
• left brain analysis
• manufacturing
• business processes
• consistent
• repeatable
• predictable
Knowledge economy
• right brain analysis
• innovating
• design processes
• ambiguous
• random
• novel
Source: Sunni Brown

“The whole purpose of education in the
world is to produce university professors.”
(Robinson, 2007)
Watch full TED presentation Ken Robinson

The human brain is a
powerful pattern maker
and a smooth pattern user
but a bad pattern breaker

Challenge
To break through the
barriers of your mind

Problems cannot be solved by thinking
within the framework in which the
problems were created
(Albert Einstein)

At the age of 5,
90% of what we
think is unique.
At 7,
that is 20%
As adults, our ability to
come up with an original
idea has dropped to
2%

All children are artists.
The problem is how to remain an artist
once we grow up.
(Pablo Picasso)

To generate lots of
new ideas in only
1 hour

The average meeting
Source: Cartooncrunch

Tip: Pie chart agenda
How the game is played: Pie Chart Agenda

and we realize
communication is damn hard
Source: Project cartoon

Gamestorming 2014Gamestorming 2014 | theparkinglot.comSource: Dave Gray

Advantages of gamestorming
• Everybody is equal. (CEO vs employee)
• Everybody participates. (introverts vs extraverts)
• The team has a strong feeling of co-creation
I only facilitate.
Neutral position.

More than 80 games

What deﬁnes a game?
GOALS
1. Do not get caught by the ghosts
2. Reach the next level
3. Become the king of the highscores

What deﬁnes a game?
Source: Go Gamestorm

fuzzy goals
Exploration, experimentation, trial-and-error

Game design

Game engineering

essential tools
when facilitating a gamestorm
10

Opening + closing1
Gamestorming 2014 | theparkinglot.com

Creating ﬁre2
Create a compelling challenge.
Start with a good question.
Balance the heat.

Artefacts3
Use whatever you have to make ideas
tangible, portable and sharable.

Artefacts3

Space + time4
Walls are for working and sharing.
Only use tables when necessary

Space + time4
Time is your best friend!
We have about 1 thought per second.
In 5 minutes that is about 300 ideas per person.
People are more creative in 5 minutes than in 1 hour.

Generation5
When opening,
generate as many ideas as possible.
There are no bad ideas.

Gamiﬁcation: Unlock cards5
We use these during our gamestorm sessions.
Every player can give achievement cards to
other players to award them for their
participation.
f.e.: I love that last idea, thanks for the good
feedback, nice shoes,...

Randomization6
Practice randomization, ﬁlling the blank
and forced analogies to breakdown the
patterns that we are all stuck in.

Sketching + model making7
Sketch and craft.
If it can’t be drawn, it can’t be done.

Improvisation8
Bodystorming.
Roleplaying.
Adapt to the situation.

Selection9
Make choices.
Vote, rank, prioritize.

Try something new10
Take risks.
Be creative.

1. Preparation

1. Preparation
Stick every AHA
moment on this wall.

1. Preparation
(Fuzzy) Goal

2. Warm-up
Quick analogy
Shout the ﬁrst word that pops
into your mind.
People standing in a circle.

2. Warm-up
Personal shield
Creatie your personal shield in
10 min. Present it to the group
in 2 minutes.

2. Warm-up
Create your
personal mindmap
We use this in our job interviews.
Works better than the standard
resume.

3. Ideation
Post up
Brainwriting
Carroussel

4. Sorting/ranking
Roman voting
Dot voting
Silent sorting
35
MoSCoW

4. Big Ego solutions
Silent hat:
one person of the group wears
a hat. The person with the hat
has to remain silent. The group
can always decide to change
the hat to another person.
Talking stick:
The person with the stick is the
only one who is allowed to
speak. The other listen and do
not interrupt. Pass the stick
afterwards to another person.

Important
when leading a gamestorm workshop
• Stick to the structures.
• Change/improvise if needed.
• Do not leave space for discussions.
• You are neutral!
• Do not inﬂuence or help.
• If you are unsure, ask the group.
• Good to have an observer with you.

Choose the parents
1. Show the group some pictures of famous
men and women.
2. Let the group decide who they would
choose as parents for their group.
The characteristics of the chosen people
will represent the values of the group.

Create the box
How the game is played: Design the box

Elevator Pitch
How the game is played: Elevator pitch

The negative gamestorm
Source: Flanders DC
Reverse the question
• How can we get visitor stay longer on our website?
• How can we get people click out asap?
solutions: Lots of boring texts, unclear structure, amateuristic pictures...

Harvest the future
How the game is played: Prune the future

Hot or not
We use this to benchmark websites.
Show a website for 5 min to a team.
The people stick post-its of the things they like
about the website in the HOT column.
The things they do not like, in the NOT column.
The group also score the website on 10 points.
Afterwards, we make the hitparade of the
websites.
Used to analyse the competition, or best
practices.

User stories
As a ... (user)
I want to... (goal)
So that I ... (beneﬁt)

Gamestorming 2014Gamestorming 2014 | theparkinglot.comSource: Peter Saddington

Gamestorming
@evanvanlissum
Gamestorming 2014 | theparkinglot.com
I can help you with
- facilitating your gamestorming session
- giving a workshop/lecture about gamestorming
- training your people
https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanvanlissum
evan@theparkinglot.com

Special thanks to Jurgen De Smet and Erik Talboom of Co-learning for teaching me.
www.theparkinglot.com
+32 (0)2 305 49 36 | info@theparkinglot.com | @the_parking_lot

10 essential gamestorming tools

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