Brain 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.
Updated
Brain Flash Game
1. Decide on a problem. The book’s example is "How do we improve customer service?"
2. Throw two dice to pick a picture. The first die counts along the bottom of the board and the second counts up the side. The book’s example throws a 5 and a 3, which is the square five along and three up:
- Dice 5 and 3
juggling skittles
- Dice 5 and 3
3. Let the picture spark a comparison. The skittles suggest acrobats, so the problem becomes a simile: "Customer service is like juggling skittles because it means being quick and agile." That leads to ideas for helping staff respond very quickly, such as giving them incentives based on speed of response.
4. Try a different simile. The same picture could have led somewhere else: "Great customer service is like being an acrobat because it depends on having amazing coordination between departments." That would lead to ideas for improving coordination instead.
5. Pick the best idea. In the book’s version, the player with the best idea in each round gets a point, and the winner is the one with the most points after five rounds.
Now try it on a problem of your own below.
How to play
- Decide on a problem. For example, “How do we improve customer service?”
- Throw the dice. The first die counts along the bottom of the board and the second counts up the side. That square holds a picture.
- Compare your problem to the picture. Complete the sentence: “It is like … because …”. Then write the ideas the comparison sparks.
- Pick your best idea. You play five rounds. The book gives a point for the best idea in each round. Playing alone, you keep your best idea from each round.
Why it works
The Brain Flash chapter says that visual stimuli help generate new ideas. The book’s explanation is that pictures tap the creative side of the brain without being inhibited by the side that uses language to process thought. We treat that as a way of talking, not as anatomy. The practical point is the same: if you ask your mind to find connections between a problem and a picture, you can end up with insights you would not have found by thinking about the problem directly.
The picture does not have to relate to the problem, and that is the point. The comparison is forced, and forcing it is what produces the ideas. In the book’s example, a picture of juggling skittles became a simile about acrobats and speed. The same picture could just as well have become a simile about coordination, and that would have led to different ideas.
The pictures
The board has 36 pictures, from a rocket to a conch shell. They are the book’s own illustrations. We left out two for a workplace site, so there are 34 here. If your dice land on a missing square, the game throws again, and no picture comes up twice in one game.
Where this comes from
This is the Brain Flash board game from the Brain Flash chapter, played on screen. The rules, the example and the pictures are the book’s. Nothing you type leaves your browser and nothing is stored.
Questions
What if the picture does not suggest anything? Say what it is for, what it is made of, or what it does. A candle burns down. A rope holds things together. Any of those can become a simile.
Is there a right simile? No. Several can come from the same picture, and each leads to different ideas.
Can I use my own problem? That is the idea. Use anything you want ideas for.