{"id":633,"date":"2023-04-06T07:49:51","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T07:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/?page_id=633"},"modified":"2023-04-12T11:39:08","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T11:39:08","slug":"magic-maze","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/magic-maze\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic Maze for agile teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are working in a siloed team or in a siloed organisation you can use Magic Maze<\/strong> to expose some common antipatterns and let players test how structure of the organisation, team composition and and people mindset can influence the work.<\/p>\n

The Game<\/h3>\n

Magic Maze<\/a> is a cooperative real time<\/strong> (i.e. not turn based) game where all players are working together to control a team, composed by Elf, Warrior, Dwarf and Mage (coloured pawns). Purpose of the team is stealing objects in a mall (??) and escape.<\/p>\n

The game is really fast paced and has a very interesting idea to disconnect the players from the characters on the board, making the game really well scalable.<\/p>\n

Components are very simple and of good quality.
\nHere the link where you can find the rules of the game (link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Note. There are many discussions on BGG on how to use the vortex.
\nIn my version I really prefer the version of the “wormhole” where you enter in a vortex, of the same colour of te pawn, to exit in another vortex, elsewhere, of the same colour. However the game has been originally designed differently.
\nThe original vortex is simpler to use than the wormhole.
\nIn the serious version of the game this is not really important, this is part of the fun.<\/p>\n

Goal of the serious session<\/h3>\n

I have modified this game to\u00a0expose some antipatterns in organisation and team structure, and also in how people\u00a0defend their unique and specific role<\/em>\u00a0within their teams<\/strong>.
\nDuring the game you will play essentially the same basic scenario of the original game (presented in rule book as \u201cScenario #1\u201d), but with some variations that mimic typical \u201csilos\u201d. You can deal with these scenarios and you can compare with the best situation (played in the first round) and with your real life.<\/p>\n

The game is designed for a team of 9 persons<\/strong>: 8 player and an observer.
\nThe observer has an important role because this is a really fast paced game and the team has not enough time to also monitor what is happening. The observer must<\/p>\n

    \n
  • track the time to reach the first and the last Object area<\/li>\n
  • track the time to escape after the last object is reached?<\/li>\n
  • track the number of switches of the timer,<\/li>\n
  • monitor and share behaviours<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Variation on the original game<\/h3>\n

    You don’t need extra material, so everything is in the box.<\/p>\n

    Some tweaks to the original rules must be applied:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • In this game each player can use one hand only<\/li>\n
    • The sand timer can be used in different ways (recharge, paused)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Note: Keep in mind each player can perform only 7 actions<\/strong>: 4 Directions (arrows), New Room (lens), Up\/Down (stairs), Jump (vortex)..<\/p>\n

      We are using what is described as\u00a0scenario 1<\/strong>\u00a0in the rules, so you need the\u00a0room tiles 1\u20139<\/strong>: we want to challenge players in the same situations tweaking behaviours and enhance differences.
      \nAll rounds will use the same set of room tiles, starting from tile 1a.<\/p>\n

      Structure of the session<\/h3>\n

      The session is structured in different cases\/rounds (we cannot use here the word \u201cscenario\u201d), when the team play the game. Each round lasts 10\/15 minutes and will have some debrief\/discussion at the end.
      \nAdd some time for a final wrap up on how you can apply learning from the game in real job.<\/p>\n

      Here you can find the description of many different cases in an ideal order; as a facilitator you can decide how to organise your session.
      \nMy only tip is to keep the order listed here because this is also related to their complexity. However you can decide to skip some cases.
      \nFYI: 9 rounds of 15 minutes are more than 2 hours<\/p>\n

      Each round has a title that introduce the situation we want to explore.
      \nMy suggestion is not to mention that title before playing the round, eventually make a question like \u201cWhat kind of situation we have found here?\u201d during the debrief.<\/p>\n

      \n

      Below each round has its own description where, in italic<\/em>, I have highlighted the differences with the previous.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
      Round<\/td>\nTitle<\/td>\nNotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      1<\/td>\nCross Functional
      \nTeam<\/td>\n      		All players can perform any action except Jump.
      \nSand Timer can be turned before ending (recharge) through the Timer spots.
      \nPlayers can talk during the game.
      \nVortex are not working.
      \nActions cards not required.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      2<\/td>\nSiloed Organisation<\/td>\nAll players can perform any action except Jump but must act on a sigle room
      \n<\/em><\/em>tile assigned with round-robin before starting the round<\/em><\/em>.
      \nSand Timer can be turned before ending (recharge) through the Timer spots.
      \nPlayers can talk during the game.
      \nVortex are not working.
      \nActions cards not required.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      3<\/td>\nPeer collaboration<\/td>\nAll players can perform any action except Jump, however a player can continue to perform <\/em>
      \nthe same action, but to do another action (or to act with another pawn) they have to wait <\/em>
      \nfor other players to play.<\/em>
      \nSand Timer can be turned before ending (recharge) through the Timer spots.
      \nPlayers can talk during the game.
      \nVortexes are not working.
      \nActions cards and sand timer not required.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      4<\/strong><\/td>\nDispersed Remote
      \nTeam<\/td>\n      		All players can perform any action except Jump, however a player can continue to perform
      \nthe same action, but to do another action (or to act on another pawn) they have to wait
      \nfor other players to play.
      \nPlayers cannot talk during the game and sand timer is used as per the original game.<\/em>
      \nVortexes are not working.
      \nActions cards not required.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      5<\/td>\nMultiskilled Team<\/td>\nAll players can perform any action (also Jump)<\/em>, however a player can continue to perform
      \nthe same action, but to do another action (or to act on another pawn) they have to wait
      \nfor other players to play.
      \nPlayers cannot talk during the game and sand timer is used as per the original game.
      \nVortexes are now working.<\/em>
      \nActions cards not required.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      6<\/strong><\/td>\nSiloed team
      \n(Scenario 1)<\/span><\/td>\n      		Players receive action cards as per the original game.<\/em>
      \nPlayers cannot talk during the game and sand timer is used as per the original game.
      \nVortexes are working.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      7<\/td>\nPartner team
      \n(Scenario 3~)<\/span><\/td>\n      		Players receive action cards as per the original game but these are hidden (each player
      \ncan see its own only).<\/em>
      \nPlayers cannot talk during the game and sand timer is used as per the original game.
      \nWhen sand timer switches it is paused, actions card are reshuffled and re-distributed <\/em>
      \nto players, after that the sand timer restarts.<\/em>
      \nVortexes are working.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      8<\/td>\nPlanned work
      \n(Scenario 8)<\/span><\/td>\n      		Players receive action cards as per the original game.
      \nPlayers cannot talk during the game and sand timer is used as per the original game.
      \nVortexes are working.
      \nThe next room tile is visible on top of the pile (pile room tiles face up).<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      9<\/td>\nSwitching priorities
      \n(Scenario 11)<\/span><\/td>\n      		Players receive action cards as per the original game.
      \nPlayers cannot talk during the game and sand timer is used as per the original game.
      \nWhen the sand timer switches, it is paused, two of the placed tiles (without pawns) are
      \nremoved <\/em>and two new are taken from the pile (hidden).<\/em>
      \nVortexes are working.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      10<\/td>\nP-Managed team
      \n(Scenario 9)<\/span><\/td>\n      		Players receive action cards as per the original game.
      \nPlayers cannot talk at all, ONLY the Observer can control the sand timer , <\/em>
      \nconsuming any of the sand time spaces in the visible rooms. Only Observer can talk.<\/em>
      \nVortexes are working.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      11<\/td>\nUnique Expertise
      \n(Scenario 4~)<\/span><\/td>\n      		Switch room tiles of 3,4,5 with 13,14,21. The Orange walls can be passed<\/em>
      \nonly by dwarf (orange).<\/em>
      \nPlayers receive action cards as per the original game.
      \nPlayers cannot talk during the game and sand timer is used as per the original game.
      \nVortexes are working.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      12<\/td>\nBlocked Work
      \n(Scenario 6)<\/span><\/td>\n      		Switch room tiles of 3,4,5 with 16,18,19. No new tiles can be showed till all cameras will
      \nbe blocked by the Warrior (Yellow)<\/em>.<\/em>
      \nPlayers receive action cards as per the original game.
      \nPlayers cannot talk during the game and sand timer is used as per the original game.
      \nVortexes are working.
      \nNote: you can integrate also 11th<\/strong> rule or consider the orange wall as common wall.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      13<\/td>\nUnblocking
      \nSwarming
      \n(Scenario 6~)<\/span><\/td>\n      		Switch room tiles of 3,4,5 with 16,18,19. No new tiles can be showed till all cameras will be
      \nblocked by any player<\/em>.<\/em>
      \nPlayers receive action cards as per the original game.
      \nPlayers cannot talk during the game and sand timer is used as per the original game.
      \nVortexes are working.
      \nNote: you can integrate 11<\/strong> rule or consider the orange wall as common wall.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

       <\/p>\n

      A possible evolution of the game is create action cards for 12 players.
      \nIdeally each of the cards has 2 possible actions
      \nThis will increase possibilities, just need to check how 12 people can play in a so limited area.
      \nBut this can teach something about large agile teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      If you are working in a siloed team or in a siloed organisation you can use Magic Maze to expose some common antipatterns and let players test how structure of the organisation, team composition and and people mindset can influence the work. The Game Magic Maze is a cooperative real time (i.e. not turn based) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":635,"href":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/633\/revisions\/635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.de-sanctis.com\/agilegamefactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}