The Shipwrecked Game
The Shipwrecked Game is a group exercise to develop problem-solving and leadership skills, practice negotiation, and promote collaboration. This is a great activity inspired by classic shipwrecked stories.
This exercise helps people inspire collaboration and creative problem-solving skills.
This seemingly simple game becomes complex when you consider the gravity of the situation. Teams often devolve into chaos when they can’t come to a consensus about the importance of each item in a survival setting.
Successful teams will choose a leader and plan their procurement process carefully. They will also have to negotiate with other teams to get objects they want.
Your plane has just crashed on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific. You have just a few minutes to salvage some items from the wreckage before the whole plane burns down. What items will your team choose?
Set up a play area with a number of survival items such as different types of food, water, weapons, knives, tarp, flares, matches, etc. You don’t have to actually buy these items; you can take printouts of pictures on index cards as well.
Place all of them at one end in the “wreckage” area. Ensure that the quantity of each item is limited such that teams will be forced to barter and collaborate.
Divide participants into two teams (or more if you have a lot of participants).
The teams have 25 minutes to get items for survival from the wreckage. They also have to rank the items in order of importance.
Since some items are vital, but limited (such as water), teams will have to collaborate and barter.
Momento of Reflection
- Explore what aspect of the exercise put each of the leaders under pressure
- What leadership lessons can be drawn from this exercise?
- Ask them what they might do differently if they were to repeat the exercise
The topics of this publication: interactions, negotiation, argumentation, strategy, cooperation, make agreements, leadership, teamwork, adaptation
