The Most Effective Use Of Instructional Games

The people who learn the most from an instructional game are its designers!

This is because game designers have to analyze the topic, convert the concepts into game materials, and create rules that reflect real-world models. In the process, the game designers learn a lot.

Here are some guidelines for exploiting this fact:

Describe a framegame and ask the participants to create the necessary game materials.
Give the participants a training game with a few question cards and ask them to create more. Later, exchange the question cards among different teams and have them play the game.
Provide a template for a simulation game and ask the participants to design their own game.
Give the participants a generic game board and have them create the game cards.
Play a popular trivia game (example: TRIVIAL PURSUIT or OUTBURST) and ask the participants to generate suitable cards (related to the training topic) for use with the game.
Identify a popular TV game (example: FAMILY FEUD or JEOPARDY) and ask the participants to design the questions for these games.

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