Having kids, I tend to play a lot of board games. A lot.
And not different board games, mind you. The same board game over and over and over and over and, well, you get the picture. Kids like repetition. I get it.
Add to that the lovely damp weather of the Pacific Northwest, and you can easily guess where a great deal of my time is spent.
But here’s the thing: there are time when–even for the kids–the board game becomes a bored game. And what happens then is very interesting indeed.
They begin to improvise. They take the same components and recombine them in different ways. They add new rules that govern the movement of the characters. They introduce new characters. They let some of the old characters go. They change management techniques to ensure favorable outcomes. They recombine and reassess and create entirely new offerings.
All with the same pieces. All with the same board. Kids do this. Kids.
Let’s take a classic, Chutes & Ladders, and some of the “modes” in which we play:
- Traditional
- Chutes up, ladders down
- Start at the top
- Start at the top, chutes up, ladders down
- Using other toys as the game pieces
Now, that is not exhaustive, by any means. But I think you see where I’m going.
Thinking along those lines, why can’t we do this with work? Why can’t we use this concept as a management technique?
Why can’t we think creatively about how we apply the (seemingly) same-old same-old in new ways that not only bring a breath of fresh air to a stagnant environment but also introduce some new ways of getting the job done?
For example, did you know that if you play chutes-up-ladders-down, that you are assured of winning at a much earlier time? (Top row is no longer fraught with the peril of multiple chutes.)
Using that same old board that has been around forever, an entirely new path is created.
Interesting.
More than a living 
Pingback: Video Games Hideout » Blog Archive » Same board, different game
Hi, I enjoyed reading this… very timely too. I’ve recently set up a Wiki-website dedicated to offering information about games, gaming and ‘winning’ strategies. We are looking for people with expert knowledge to help us boost the content of the site. Having read your postings I wondered if you would be able to help us. Please take a look at our site (still very much in its infancy), and if you would like to edit or add a section (even an extract from one of your blog-entries) we would be delighted. Of course, you are welcome to add links back to your blog. You can also create an “Author’s” page with further links if you like.
Regards,
Harrison
http://www.win-ipedia.org
Two new studies show why some people are more attractive for members of the opposite sex than others.
The University of Florida, Florida State University found that physically attractive people almost instantly attract the attention of the interlocutor, sobesednitsy with them, literally, it is difficult to make eye. This conclusion was reached by a series of psychological experiments, which were determined by the people who believe in sending the first seconds after the acquaintance. Here, a curious feature: single, unmarried experimental preferred to look at the guys, beauty opposite sex, and family, people most often by representatives of their sex.
The authors believe that this feature developed a behavior as a result of the evolution: a man trying to find a decent pair to acquire offspring. If this is resolved, he wondered potential rivals. Detailed information about this magazine will be published Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
In turn, a joint study of the Rockefeller University, Rockefeller University and Duke University, Duke University in North Carolina revealed that women are perceived differently by men smell. During experiments studied the perception of women one of the ingredients of male pheromone-androstenona smell, which is contained in urine or sweat.
The results were startling: women are part of this repugnant odor, and the other part is very attractive, resembling the smell of vanilla, and the third group have not felt any smell. The authors argue that the reason is that the differences in the receptor responsible for the olfactory system, from different people are different.
It has long been proven that mammals (including human) odor is one way of attracting the attention of representatives of the opposite sex. A detailed article about the journal Nature will publish.
@Scertneotheve: That is, without a doubt, the most eloquent and long-winded piece of spam I have ever received in my nearly 20 years on “teh Internets.”
You win, my friend. You win.