Business strategy game

Abstract

Present invention, BiggieBills, is an interactive business strategy multi-player game played among 4 to 8 teams using plurality of cards. It can be played Face to Face or Online. The teams play Growth Cards to progress from Stage 1 to 4 while managing possible Challenge Cards played by opposing teams, managing the random changes in Industry Rules every Business Cycle, and attempt to earn Bonus Cards. The unique value propositions are: a) dynamic real-time experience; b) knowledge from the field of strategic management for the managers (students); c) the debrief provides the core learning as a follow-up to the game; and d) customization of the game is possible by altering industry conditions to suit client needs. BiggieBills has a three-pronged approach: a) corporate training; b) education (undergraduate, graduate, executive); and c) entertainment. It may be redesigned to teach subjects such as entrepreneurship, economics, innovation management and general business.

Claims

1. A game played by a plurality of teams, with one or more players in each of the plurality of teams, and each of the plurality of teams doing a business trying to gain a top position in an industry by progressing through a plurality of stages of growth of the business in the industry, the game comprising: a centerboard comprising a plurality of defined areas thereon including: a first indicia thereon defining a first area indicating a first placement of a plurality of growth cards, a second indicia thereon defining a second area indicating a second placement of a plurality of challenge cards, a third indicia thereon defining a third area indicating a third placement of a plurality of industry rules cards and a fourth indicia thereon defining a fourth area indicating a fourth placement of a plurality of bonus cards; a plurality of team boards, one team board for each team, each of the plurality of team boards comprising a team board indicia thereon defining a plurality of spaces representing the plurality of growth cards in a plurality of growth stages, each of the plurality of spaces further comprising a box for keeping track of the plurality of growth cards that have been played, staved active and unchallenged by marking the box with a first mark, and for keeping track of the plurality of growth cards that have been played and/or challenged by a corresponding challenge card by marking the box with a second mark; the plurality of growth cards comprising: a plurality of process growth cards, each of the plurality of process growth cards comprising a process growth related indicia thereon, each of the process growth related indicia comprising a monetary cost indicia thereon defining a monetary cost for one of the plurality of teams to play one of the plurality of process growth cards, a monetary payoff indicia thereon indicating a monetary payoff amount one of the plurality of teams receives if one of the plurality of process growth cards remains unchallenged, and a monetary loss indicia thereon indicating a monetary loss one of the plurality of teams must absorb if one of the plurality of process growth cards is challenged, a plurality of system growth cards, each of the plurality of system growth cards comprising a system growth related indicia thereon, each of the system growth related indicia comprising a monetary cost indicia thereon defining a monetary cost for one of the plurality of teams to play one of the plurality of system growth cards, defining a monetary payoff indicia thereon indicating a monetary payoff amount one of the plurality of teams receives if one of the plurality of system growth cards remains unchallenged, and a monetary loss indicia thereon indicating a monetary loss one of the plurality of teams must absorb if one of the plurality of system growth cards is challenged; a plurality of strategy growth cards, each of the plurality of strategy growth cards comprising a strategy growth related indicia thereon, each of a strategy growth related indicia comprising a monetary cost indicia thereon defining the monetary cost for one of the plurality of teams to play one of the plurality of strategy growth cards, defining a monetary payoff indicia thereon indicating a monetary payoff amount one of the plurality of teams receives if one of the plurality of strategy growth cards remains unchallenged, and a monetary loss indicia thereon indicating a monetary loss one of the plurality of teams must absorb if one of the plurality of strategy growth cards is challenged, the plurality of challenge cards comprising: a plurality of process challenge cards, each of the plurality of process challenge cards comprising a process challenge related indicia thereon comprising a monetary payoff indicia thereon indicating a monetary payoff amount one of the plurality of teams receives if one of the plurality of process challenge cards is played, a plurality of system challenge cards, each of the plurality of system challenge cards comprising a system challenge related indicia thereon comprising a monetary payoff indicia thereon indicating a monetary payoff amount one of the plurality of teams receives if one of the plurality of system challenge cards is played; a plurality of strategy challenge cards, each of the plurality of strategy challenge cards comprising a strategy challenge related indicia thereon comprising a monetary payoff indicia thereon indicating a monetary payoff amount one of the plurality of teams receives if one of the plurality of strategy challenge cards is played; a plurality of industry rules cards comprising: a first plurality of industry rules change cards, each of the first plurality of industry rules change cards comprising an industry rule change related indicia thereon listing a plurality of specific type of growth cards, and indicating a monetary amount to be gained by one of the plurality of teams if any of the plurality of specific type of growth cards listed thereon have been played by one of the plurality of teams, remains active and unchallenged, a second plurality of industry rule change cards, each second plurality of industry rules change cards comprising an industry rule change related indicia thereon listing a plurality of second specific type of growth cards, and indicating a monetary amount to be absorbed by one of the plurality of teams if any of the plurality of specific type of growth cards listed thereon are not as yet played by one of the plurality of teams, the plurality of bonus cards comprising: a plurality of challenge blocking bonus cards, each of the plurality of challenge blocking bonus cards including first bonus related indicia allowing one of the plurality of teams to block a given challenge when a certain growth card played by one of the plurality of teams is challenged by a corresponding challenge card of another team keeping the certain growth card as an active growth card; a plurality of flexible challenge bonus cards, each flexible challenge bonus card including a second bonus related indicia allowing one of the plurality of teams to challenge the active growth card of a specific stage played by another team; and a system for game score keeping comprising a bank balance for each of the plurality of teams, each bank balance having an amount of money therein.

2. The game of claim 1, wherein the plurality of strategy growth cards comprise a plurality of general strategy growth cards and a plurality of corporate strategy growth cards.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

(1) FIG. 1: Six Unique Growth Cards of Stage 1.

(2) FIG. 2: Six Unique Growth Cards of Stage 2.

(3) FIG. 3: Six Unique Growth Cards of Stage 3.

(4) FIG. 4: Six Unique Growth Cards of Stage 4.

(5) FIG. 5: Six Unique Challenge Cards of Stage 1 corresponding to Growth Cards.

(6) FIG. 6: Six Unique Challenge Cards of Stage 2 corresponding to Growth Cards.

(7) FIG. 7: Six Unique Challenge Cards of Stage 3 corresponding to Growth Cards.

(8) FIG. 8: Six Unique Challenge Cards of Stage 4 corresponding to Growth Cards.

(9) FIG. 9: Flexible Challenge Bonus Cards for Stage 1 and 2 as well as Stage 3 and 4.

(10) FIG. 10: Bonus Cards that allow for Block a Challenge Card.

(11) FIG. 11: Industry Rules Change Cards (Rules 1 through 6).

(12) FIG. 12: Industry Rules Change Cards (Rules 7 through 12).

(13) FIG. 13: Industry Rules Change Cards (Rules 13 through 18).

(14) FIG. 14: Industry Rules Change Cards (Rules 19 through 24).

(15) FIG. 15: Backside of the Growth Cards.

(16) FIG. 16: Backside of the Challenge Cards.

(17) FIG. 17: Backside of the Bonus Cards.

(18) FIG. 18: Backside of the Industry Conditions (Industry Rules Change) Cards.

(19) FIG. 19: Game Board with Spaces for Growth Card Deck and Industry Card Deck.

(20) FIG. 20: Game Board with Spaces for Challenge Card Deck and Bonus Card Deck.

(21) FIG. 21: Game Board For Team 1 Activity.

(22) FIG. 22: Game Board For Team 2 Activity.

(23) FIG. 23: Game Board For Team 3 Activity.

(24) FIG. 24: Game Board For Team 4 Activity.

(25) FIG. 25: Game Board For Team 5 Activity.

(26) FIG. 26: Game Board For Team 6 Activity.

(27) FIG. 27: Game Board For Team 7 Activity.

(28) FIG. 28: Game Board For Team 8 Activity.

(29) FIG. 29: Activity Entering Instructions.

(30) FIG. 30: Introduction to e-Banking Details.

(31) FIG. 31: View of the Opening Panel e-Banking.

(32) FIG. 32: View of the Second Panel e-Banking.

(33) FIG. 33: View of the e-Banking Score moving from Turn 1.1 to 1.2.

(34) FIG. 34: View of the e-Banking Score moving from Business Cycle 1 to 2 and 2 to 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(35) Present invention, BiggieBills, facilitates an environment for corporate training, in class experiential teaching, or online experience to provide training in concepts drawn from the field of strategy management. The game has a plurality of cards and a plurality of boards that allows either four or eight teams (consisting of up to four team members in each team) to play an interactive, real-time feedback, dynamic and interactive board game (either face to face or online).

(36) BiggieBills game has One Center Board and 4 (or 8) Team Boards (please see FIGS. 19 and 20). Additionally, four different types of cards are part of BiggieBills; Growth Cards, Challenge Cards; Industry Rules Cards, and Bonus Cards.

(37) SETTING UP THE GAME AT THE INITIAL PHASE: At this juncture four steps are followed. 1) Each team starts with $200 Million in their respective e-Bank accounts. e-Bank account access may be provided during the game via a website, and the bank is managed by the moderator of the game. 2) Set the Center Board in a location accessible to all teams, and place Growth Card; Challenge Card; Industry Rules Card and Bonus Card decks face down on the Center Board. 3) Each team is randomly dealt 6 Growth Cards and 4 Challenge Cards by the game moderator. These 10 cards form each team's starting hand, and are kept secret from other teams so as to not reveal each team's portfolio of cards to others, and finally 4) No Industry Rules Cards or Bonus Cards are dealt at this time to any team.

(38) PLAYING A TURN: Throughout the game, teams attempt to progress through four Stages which represent the growth of their business entity. BiggieBills is played over a series of turns, in which each team will have an opportunity to select and play a card or multiple cards as per Industry Rules for that Business Cycle on the team board (please see FIG. 29 and FIGS. 21-28 for managing the Team Board). During their turn, each team may perform several actions as listed in the following sections.

(39) PLAYING A GROWTH CARD: All teams must begin the game by playing a Stage 1 Growth Card. After successfully completing a Stage 1 Growth Card a team can then play a Growth Card from any stage as long as they have successfully completed at least one Growth Card from a previous stage. Having successfully completed a higher stage Growth Card, a team can go back to playing a lower stage Growth Card at any time in the game. A team can play a Growth Card by paying the cost of that Growth Card as listed on the card. When a team plays a Growth Card, it must draw another Growth Card from the Growth Card Deck on the Center Board. The details of each Growth Card are found in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4.

(40) PLAYING A CHALLENGE CARD: A team can play a Challenge Card as a first challenger if that team has the Challenge Card specific to an active Growth Card and is eligible by having completed a Growth Card of the same stage. When a team plays a Challenge Card, it must draw another Challenge Card from the Challenge Card Deck on the Center Board. If a team chooses to challenge a Growth Card played by another team it will lose its chance to play a Growth Card for that turn (unless of course industry rules allow to play two cards). Unsuccessful Challenge Cards: A Challenge Card is null and void if a Block the Challenge Card (Bonus Card) is played by the team that is being challenged (please see FIGS. 9 and 10 for details on Bonus Cards). In such an event, the Growth Card remains active and the challenging Team pays the penalty listed on the Challenge Card to the team that played the Block the Challenge Bonus Card. The details of each Challenge Card are found FIGS. 5, 6, 7, and 8.

(41) EXCHANGE CARDS: If a team is unable to play a Growth or Challenges Card, it may choose to play a Bonus Card or exchange two cards from its possession by drawing two cards from the Center Board. The exchange of cards will cost the team $5 million and the process of exchange will be considered as the team's turn. If this action is selected, no other cards except for a Bonus Card can be played during the team's turn. A team may exchange any combination of Growth or Challenges Cards.

(42) SKIP A TURN AND REMAIN INACTIVE: If a team selects this action, a penalty (a fine) of $10 million for being inactive is incurred.

(43) PLAYING A BONUS CARD: There are two types of Bonus Cards: Flexible Challenge and Block a Challenge Bonus Card. The Flexible Challenge Bonus Card is used to challenge an active Growth Card that was played by another team and does not count towards the single card per turn limit. This means that if a team possesses a Flexible Challenge Bonus Card and the team must wait to play it during a turn, the team can still play another Growth Card or a Challenge Card in addition to this Flexible Challenge Bonus Card. A team may play the Flexible Challenge Bonus Card as a turn. If Industry Rules allow Two-card Play during a turn then a team can play two bonus cards along with two Growth/Challenge Cards. The Block a Challenge Bonus Card is used to Block a Challenge Card against only one challenge. This card can be used immediately and out of turn only by the team that is being challenged. No other team other than the team being challenged can use this bonus card. In such an event, the Growth Card remains active and the challenging team pays the penalty listed on the Challenge Card to the team that played the Block the Challenge Bonus Card.

(44) DRAWING CARDS: After playing either a Growth Card or a Challenge Card as its turn, the team draws a replacement card from the respective deck on the Centerboard. Any played Bonus Cards are not replaced by drawing Bonus Cards, these have to be earned.

(45) BUSINESS CYCLES: A Business Cycle consists of two turns for each team. For each new business cycle the game moderator highlights a new order of play for the teams via the e-bank function. At the beginning of each business cycle, the moderator will randomly choose an Industry Rule Card. The changes in the rules due to the chosen Industry Rule Card are announced and will remain are in effect for only one Business Cycle. At the beginning of each business cycle, teams will have a few minutes to trade cards with other teams. Teams may trade any number of cards for any number of the other team's cards, however no money can be exchanged between teams. When one business cycle ends any Growth Cards that are active on the game board for all teams are automatically considered to have been successfully completed. Teams in their next turn will collect the payoff related to these completed Growth Cards. No team in the new business cycle can challenge a Growth Card from the previous business cycle.

(46) STAGES of BIGGIEBILLS: In order to progress from one stage to another, teams must have successfully completed one Growth Card in a lower stage prior to playing a Growth Card in a higher stage. A team may play Growth Cards of lower Stages even after successfully completing a Growth Card of a higher Stage. To earn a Bonus Card, a team need not play its Growth Cards in any one stage in successive order. Instead, the cards can be played intermittently as described above in the description of stages.

(47) MANAGING DUPLICATE CARDS: Possession of Duplicate Growth Cards is likely in the game. A team may hold on to the duplicate card to deny another team a chance to compete with this particular Growth Card or trade it or exchange it from the Center Board Deck of Growth Cards. Similarly Teams may possess duplicate Challenge Cards. Essentially, the duplicate Challenge cards of the same type are useful (and not rendered useless) when appropriate to challenge any other teams. A team may choose to trade it or exchange it from the Center Board Deck of Challenge Cards or retain it so that other teams are prevented to use it.

(48) ACQUIRING A COMPETITOR: A team who has progressed to Stage 4 has the possibility of acquiring another team through a Growth Card called Acquire a Competitor. Note that just like any other Growth Card, this card can be used successfully only once. Once the Acquire a Competitor Growth Card has been played, it is treated like any other Growth Card. Any other team may use a Challenge Card to stop this acquisition, if eligible to do so. If the Challenge Card is used then the acquiring team can use Block the Challenge Bonus Card, if they have one. This block Bonus card can be used to block only one challenge. If no challenges are issued, the acquiring team will receive the payout and complete acquisition of the target team on their next turn. If successfully played, the playing team acquires the target team, and the target team is out of the game (Target team loses). The acquiring team receives 25% of the target team's e-Bank cash and all the Growth Cards, Challenge Cards, and Bonus Cards.

(49) WINNING THE GAME: There are 4 ways a team is declared the winner of BiggieBills; a) When any one team accumulates a total of One Billion Dollars, the game ends and that team wins the game. If all team players agree, the target dollar amount can be changed (e.g. Two Billion Dollars). However, such a target may extend the time of play; OR b) When only one team remains (all other teams have declared bankruptcy), the game ends. The surviving team is the winner, even if the surviving team has not reached One Billion Dollars; OR c) in the rare event when two teams reach the goal of One Billion Dollars simultaneously, the team with the most money is declared the winner. In the event the two teams have the same amount of money, the team with the highest number of completed Growth Cards wins; OR d) when playing with time limits, the team with the most money wins at the end of the set time. If two teams have the same amount of money, the team with the highest number of completed Growth Cards wins.

(50) Uses Thereof:

(51) The use as described earlier is focused on corporate training as well as preparing undergraduate and graduate students with respect to the concepts related to strategic management. More detailed uses are listed below.

(52) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Mission, Vision, Goals and Values of a Corporation.

(53) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Decision Making Skills imparted to Managers.

(54) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Assessment and Management of External Environment.

(55) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Competitive Environment including steps towards Competitive Intelligence.

(56) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Value and Impact of Merger and Acquisitions.

(57) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Cost and Benefits of Risk Taking.

(58) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Managing Resources and Capabilities of a Firm and building of Core Competencies.

(59) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Value of Strategic Alliances and Collaboration.

(60) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Dealing with Unexpected Environmental Changes both Positive and Negative.

(61) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Tracking the Behavior of a Firm's Closet Competitors.

(62) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Cash Flow Management.

(63) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Porter's Five Forces of Industry Analysis Framework

(64) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Meaning and Differences among BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Functional Strategy, Business Level Strategy and Corporate Level Strategy.

(65) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Relative Strategic Position.

(66) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Focus on Corporate Governance and Structure.

(67) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Benefits and Costs of First Mover Versus Late Mover.

(68) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Strategy Implementation as a follow up to Strategy Formulation.

(69) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Static Strategy Versus Dynamic Strategy.

(70) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Management of Growth through understanding of Organizational Processes and Systems.

(71) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Concept of Path Dependency towards Strategic Decision Making.

(72) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Concept of Value Chain Analysis.

(73) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Customized approach to adopt teaching in other business related subjects such as innovation management, corporate entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, global strategy, economics, and Marketing.

(74) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: General skills of Observation and Problem Solving.

(75) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Focus, Concentration and Memory Skills.

(76) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Reflection skills.

(77) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Negotiation Skills.

(78) BiggieBills can also deliver Concepts concerning: Team building and Icebreaker exercise.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

(79) All patents, application and publications referred to in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.