GAME #46: You Bet Your Life
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Game Categories:
Opener Energizer Communication
Team-building Review Topical
❖ Purpose: To use a variation of a familiar game to break the ice in a session.
❖ Time Required: 30 minutes.
❖ Size of Group: 12 to 15.
❖ Materials Required: Poker chips with “secret” words written on them, prepared in advance by the trainer. ❖ The Exercise in Action: Linda Williams, a senior education and development specialist with First Trust Corp. in Denver, uses this opener modeled on the old Groucho Marx TV show, You Bet Your Life. As participants enter the room, she gives each a poker chip with a “secret” word written on it and asks them not to share it with anyone. Once the whole group has gathered, she explains that the object of the activity is to meet as many people as possible. The incentive to do that is a prize awarded to the person who collects the most secret words. To collect a word, a participant must say the word in normal conversation with the person who holds it. When the word is said, the owner of the secret word fesses up and shows the other person the poker chip with the word on it. Each person keeps track of his or her score. Williams chooses words with a high probability of being part of a “getting to know you” conversation. The secret words remain active throughout the activity so that participants can run up a large score. Other guidelines include: • In group discussions, the poker chips should be shown only to the individual who says the secret word.
Variations on the word do count.
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Williams dons a pair of Groucho glasses and carries a stuffed duck with a word tucked in its mouth as props to explain the original You Bet Your Life TV show.
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