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Playing Lean Q&A

 

Playing Lean 2

Watch the gameplay video

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The best place to start understanding the rules of the game is to check out the gameplay video!

Just sit back and enjoy!

What are the main improvements compared to Playing Lean 1?

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Bigger main board and customer tiles. We have seen that sessions with Playing Lean often take place at big conference room tables. The bigger board will be more appropriate, while the bigger customer tiles will be easier to handle than the smaller ones from Playing Lean 1.

Smaller and handier game box. Many coaches and consultants bring their Playing Lean games for workshops. The new box is square and smaller overall, making it easier to pack in all sorts of luggage.

New company building mechanics. We love the new company building mechanics. In Playing Lean 2, you build your company piece by piece. You can't upgrade whenever you want to. Instead players have to compete for the improvements in auctions at the beginning of each round. This brings a new competitive dynamic into play, and even more varied games for repeat players.

The new scenario. Based on Alexander Osterwalder's Value Proposition Design, the new scenario brings an interesting and innovative industry to Playing Lean: The Hospitality Industry.

Do you need any knowledge of the Lean Startup methodology to play the game?

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If you are a player, you don't need to have any prior knowledge of the Lean Startup. You are there to learn by playing the game. If you don't know anything about Lean Startup, you will learn a lot. If you know something, you will learn something extra.

But if you are a facilitator and you're holding the workshop, it is good to have more insight into what you are facilitating. If a facilitator wants to achieve teaching others Lean Startup, he/she should himself/herself understand the concepts.

This is why we also offer the Playing Lean Facilitator training online. We'll teach you how to introduce Lean Startup before starting the game, make attendees focus on learning from the game as well as playing it, and lead the retrospective that follows the play-through.

How many players can play the game?

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Playing Lean is designed for 12 players (4 teams of 3). This is best for the learning experience. It can be stretched to 16 (4 teams of 4).

But for example, if you only have 4 players (which is the minimum we propose), it would then be best to have 2 teams of 2, rather than 4 people playing on their own because in teams you have the element of cooperation.

How long does it take to play the game?

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Our experience is that it takes similar time to finish as Playing Lean 1, but requires a bit more time on the preparation side. It also places slightly higher cognitive load on the facilitator, due to introduction of the auction phase.

We have found that sometimes games can last shorter, depending on how well the players use their special powers. That happens only if the players stumble upon green customers with low requirements in the first round. If they also happen to win engineering upgrade in the first round at the low cost (e.g. one employee) they can build 5 features scarily fast.

We haven't had that happen with 'first-timers', only with people that have played Playing Lean 1 many times (e.g. other facilitators).

Where can I buy the online version of Playing Lean?

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The online version of Playing Lean is only available to our Facilitators who have gone through the Playing Lean Facilitator Training.

By attending the training, you get to join the Facilitator Club, an online community on Slack where facilitators can discuss workshops, opportunities and everything Lean Startup.

Club members get nice perks such as discount on games and extensions, access to ready-to-use templates for both versions of Playing Lean, access to workshop materials (presentations, templates, visuals, etc.), marketing materials (product descriptions, flyers, brochures, etc.) and more.

How does the new added feature of an auction enhance the quality of the game and how does it add to the learning?

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Think of the auction as a competition for talent. The number of employees is one aspect directly represented in the game, but what are their skills? Getting hold of different kinds of talent is very much a competition between the teams.

Playing Lean 1

Watch the gameplay video

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The best place to start understanding the rules of the game is to check out the gameplay video!

Just sit back and enjoy!

What do you do when you run out of the cubes during the game?

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The number of pieces is not meant to be a constraint in the game. There are simply just too few cubes in the box. To mend this, simply use three cubes as counters on the Company Building area, moving them to the right as you build it up.

Are the bricks that the players places on the Company Building section allowed to stay there for the rest of the game? Is it ok to move them if I need more features in the product? Can they be moved within a turn?

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The cubes stay where they were put for the rest of the game, and can not be moved. That goes for Company Building. For the Product you can remove features and build new features elsewhere, but not simply move the cubes from one line to another (from circles to triangles, for instance).

Is it ok to have employees doing nothing?

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It's OK to have them do nothing. Many players also choose to put them on (blind) green selling to try to increase their employee count.

Is 90 minutes realistic for game play including explaining the game and debrief?

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No. 90 minutes is for "pure play". 150 minutes is more like it for rules explanation and debrief.

Ask the creators

Don't be shy!

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If you have a question that wasn't answered in our FAQ, feel free to contact us at hello@playinglean.com.

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