Playing with Systems
Three short games that teach what a diagram cannot
Build an intuition for systems behaviour — feedback loops, delay, tipping points — that participants can then recognise in their own organisations.
- Duration
- 60–90 min
- Group size
- 10–30 people
- Setting
- either
- Energy
- lively
- Materials
- An open spaceTokens or sweets for the commons game
Three games, run back to back, in ascending order of discomfort.
Game one — Secret triangles (15 min)
Everyone silently picks two other people in the room, without telling anyone. On “go”, each person must move so that they are always equidistant from their two people. The room heaves, then — usually — settles.
Then: nominate one person to move deliberately to the far corner. Watch the entire room follow. This is what a keystone species is. Nobody had to be told; there was no leader; the whole system moved.
Game two — The balancing game (10 min)
Same rules, but each person must stay directly between their two people. This version rarely settles at all. Run it for two minutes, then stop.
Ask what the difference was. It is one rule. Some systems have an equilibrium and some do not, and you cannot tell which by looking at the people in it.
Game three — The commons (25 min)
Groups of five sit around a bowl of twenty tokens. Every round, each person may take as many as they like. At the end of the round, whatever remains in the bowl doubles, up to a maximum of twenty. Ten rounds. No talking in rounds one to three.
Nearly every group empties the bowl. Play a second time, with talking allowed between rounds. Watch what changes.
Facilitator notes
- Do not explain the concept before the game. The order is: play, notice, name.
- The commons game gets personal. Debrief it in small groups first, then whole group, and steer from “who was greedy” towards “what did the rules make easy”.
- Total time is the whole afternoon block if you debrief properly. Do not try to fit all three into forty-five minutes.
