Brainwriting 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.
Updated
Brainwriting Game
1. Agree on a challenge. Four or more people agree on a creative problem. The book compares the game to Chinese Whispers, which is called Telephone in the US: you whisper a phrase to the next person, and by the time it gets back to you it bears no resemblance to the start. "The girl with the red hair is wearing a custard-colored dress" turns into "A large meteor has just landed on my caravan." Here the same drift is the point.
2. Write ideas for two minutes, then pass to the left. Everyone writes their ideas on a sheet of paper, leaving room underneath. After two minutes, everyone passes their sheet to the player on their left.
3. Build on the ideas in front of you. On the sheet you receive, write down new ideas triggered by the ones already there. Keep passing every two minutes until each sheet is back with the player who started it, chock full of ideas.
4. Read out the sheets and vote. Everyone takes turns reading out the ideas on their sheet. Then everyone votes. Each player has 6 points to award: 3 for their favorite idea, 2 for their second favorite and 1 for their third.
5. The winner. The player who came up with the idea that received the most votes. The game ends with a hug, and the book says that in this game love is more important than winning.
Set up your group below. The timer runs the passes, and the tally counts the votes.
How to play
- Agree on a challenge. Four or more of you, one creative problem.
- Write for two minutes. Everyone writes ideas on their own sheet of paper, leaving room underneath.
- Pass to the left. When the timer ends, everyone passes their sheet to the player on their left. On the sheet you receive, write new ideas triggered by the ones already there.
- Keep passing. Do this every two minutes, until each sheet is back with the player who started it.
- Read out and vote. Take turns reading out your sheet. Each player gives 3 points to their favorite idea, 2 to their second favorite and 1 to their third.
- Count the votes. The player whose idea got the most points wins.
Brainwriting, and the book’s name for it
Brainwriting is brainstorming on paper: instead of calling ideas out, everyone writes them down, and the sheets move round the group. The book does not use that word. It describes the game as a variation on Chinese Whispers (Telephone, in the US). It is also a kind of round robin brainstorming, because every sheet visits every player.
How this page works
The book’s game is played on paper, because passing the sheets is the point. This page is the facilitator. It runs the two-minute timer for each pass, tells you when to pass and counts the votes. Everyone needs a sheet of paper and a pen, and you can play on one shared screen or in a call.
Why it works
The Idea Commune chapter is about working with other people to come up with ideas, and ideas get bigger when people build on each other. The book compares the game to Chinese Whispers, where a phrase changes as it passes from person to person until it bears no resemblance to where it started. Here the change is the point. Each person who reads a sheet takes the ideas somewhere new, and by the time the sheet is back with its owner it has gone far past anything one person would have written.
The book’s last line on it is that love is more important than winning. The vote is there to find the best idea, not to produce a loser.
Where this comes from
This is the All Together Now board game from the Idea Commune chapter. The rules are the book’s. Nothing you type leaves your browser and nothing is stored.
Questions
How many people do we need? Four or more. The book says the more the merrier, and the timer here supports up to 12.
How many passes are there? One for each player, so every sheet is passed all the way round.
Can I vote for my own idea? The book does not say. We suggest voting for other people’s ideas, but agree that in your group.