Creativity Games
Every chapter of the book ends with a board game. These are those games, playable on screen, each with its rules explained and a worked example from the book.
Updated
Each chapter of the book ends with a board game that puts the chapter’s idea to work. These are playable on screen, free, with no account. Every one opens with a worked example from the book and then lets you play it yourself.
The games
- Ch7 The Idea CommuneBrainwriting Game
Four or more people write ideas on paper, pass them left every two minutes and build on what they receive. This page keeps time and counts the votes.
- Ch12 Blast Off!Idea Launch Game
Choose one of your ideas quickly, then spend 30 minutes giving it a name, a mission and a crew. At the end you have a launch plan.
- Ch6 Brain FlashBrain Flash Game
Pick a problem, throw two dice to choose a picture, and compare your problem to it. The comparison sparks ideas you would not have had otherwise.
- Ch8 Far OutUses for a Paperclip
Write down things to do with a paperclip, then see which are on the book's list of common answers. Ideas that are not on the list move you twice as far.
- Ch1 How to PlayPitching Ideas Game
Write a product idea on a card, then climb to the CEO by throwing a die. Some squares give you a shove and some send you back down.
- Ch2 Idea SpaghettiIdea Spaghetti Game
Get a topic and a target number of ideas, then try to beat it in five minutes. You score a point for every idea over the target and lose one for every idea under.
- Ch10 ConnectedInspiral Game
Roll two themes, then spend three minutes on ideas that link them. Each unique idea moves you one space toward the centre of the spiral.
- Ch11 Kill the IdeaKill the Idea Game
Write down your strongest ideas, then let a random finger kill them one at a time. You get three saves, and the idea that survives is the one worth your time.
- Ch3 ScavengersObservation Game
Answer twelve questions about everyday things to test your powers of observation. Each answer moves your marker round a dial, and only one ending leads to the treasure.
- Ch9 Shoe SwapperShoe Swapper Game
Pick a problem, throw two dice to see whose shoes you wear, then come up with ideas from that person's point of view. After three pairs, pick the best idea.
- Ch4 The Answer Is in the QuestionProblem Reframing Game
Write your problem as "How can we ...?", then ask yourself questions about it, one die roll at a time. At the end you rewrite it as a better problem.
- Ch5 Left Brain, Meet Mr RightWheel of Distraction
Frame a creative problem you are stuck on, then spin the wheel and go and do something else. The idea often turns up when you stop looking for it.
There is one game for each of the book’s twelve chapters. The introduction and the new AI chapter do not have one.
How the games work
The games are made to be simple. Most take a few minutes, need only your own head, and can be played on your own. Each one comes from a technique the chapter teaches, so you practice the technique as you play. Nothing you type is sent to us.