RAPID GAMES DESIGN

A powerful creative workshop for rethinking, collaboration, and innovation.

Dealing with change? Rethinking a system? Building a new team? Re-energising your workforce? Exploring organisational strategy?

Are you and your organisation grappling with complex, messy or abstract systems? Examples include rethinking your future organisation, strategy development, market planning, health systems, power and energy systems, food security, resilience, sustainability, etc.

Rapid Games Design helps people re-examine and engage with complex issues in a single day or less by building different games about them.

Rapid Games Design, created by Prof Bruce Lankford and developed with Joanne Craven, starts with quick exercises to get participants comfortable with building game prototypes. They then work in groups tocreate games representing complex issues. Afterwards, we compare the games. What’s been learned? What can we take forward? What is missing?

It’s not about the games (we usually don’t play them). It’s about what we learn by building the prototype games together. RGD workshops help with building collaboration, scenario planning, whole-systems thinking, visioning and more.

Mini workshop

• 1.5 – 2 hours

• Up to 100 participants

• All games materials provided

The mini workshop is ideal for creative networking and helping large groups form connections. Great for:

• Long-term planning (scenarios work, visioning)

• Kick-starting new project teams

• Summer schools and away days

Full workshop

• 1 day

• 15-50 participants, working in 4-8 teams

• All games materials provided

The 1-day workshop is a deep dive into a single issue. Great for:

• Conferences and seminars

• Classes and training about complex systems

"Rapid Games Design creates a joyful, out-of-the-box space filled with laughter and a sense of excitement. It is a playful and unique method that connects people from diverse backgrounds who embark on a creative journey to explore collectively new perspectives and common goals for more sustainable futures."

Dr. Claudia Heindorf (Universität Göttingen), organiser of the Peatland Futures RGD workshop in May 2024.

Emeritus Prof Bruce Lankford

University of East Anglia

Joanne Craven

Project Director & Facilitator

Focus Games

RGD workshops have tackled:

• ‘Build back better’ – Edinburgh University

• ‘Marketing strategy development’ - Karl Storz SE & Co Germany

• ‘Food security’ – Oxford University

• ‘Catchment resilience' - South Africa

• ‘Climate action’ – Cork University

Get in touch for a ‘no-strings’ conversation about holding your own Rapid Games Design workshop.