Word Roulette

Walked away. A neat servant. To be returned for a reward. Do you recognize this? We used to love playing the Ads Game as kids. Three stacks of words from newspapers were used to ‘build’ random sentences. With every new finding there was more laughter. We can use a similar approach to strengthen our improvisational skills and come up with new ideas and solutions. In this Online Energizer we will spin the Word Roulette together!

Steps:

• • • This Online Energizer can be set up in different ways. First consider whether you want to collect the words (to be used) from the participants, or generate them completely out of the blue. In the latter case you can use an online random word generator like this one. When we clicked 5 times we got: police commissioner, interest reduction, dive plan, personnel administration and 1 word that’s not safe for work. Let’s replace that with “wink”.
    • Of course, it can also be fun to have the words come ‘from’ your meeting. Have everyone pass on 5 words in a private message (via Zoom‘s chat, for example) to the game moderator. The game moderator writes down all words on small pieces of paper, puts them in a jar, and grabs five. Let the Online Energizer Word Roulette begin!
    • What game will we play with the found words? Ask each meeting participant to think of a small problem. Indicate in advance whether this may (should!) be a work or a personal problem.
    • Then all meeting participants are told the 5 words. (If the game moderator wants to make it more complicated, he or she can grab 5 different words for everyone separately. Both options can be interesting. The advantage of giving everyone the same words is that everyone has a similar starting point and you can compare stories with each other.
    • The participants now consider the five words obtained as wise advice for their problem. Just like an oracle with the ancient Greeks, wisdom is often packaged cryptically.
    • Each participant is now given about five minutes to write a story using their words where they fantasize (their way to) a solution to their problem, using each word of course.
    • If the game works well, the most absurd stories will now emerge, which will undoubtedly cause some hilarity.
      Example: There is an impending print paper shortage. Fortunately, there is Police Commissioner Rex who honors the personnel administration with a visit. He gives the secretary a big wink and hurries to the dive plan of the office pool, where he discovers that in the near future a reduction in interest rates is imminent, thus, paper can be hoarded.
    • As you can see, it’s quite similar to infamous Ads Game. Which story evokes the most fun? More importantly, is there anyone who, while writing the story, has an idea to solve the real problem? If so, there truly is a win/win situation!
    • As with all the Stories Games, it’s all about learning to make new connections on the one hand and team building on the other.
      Would you like to play a roulette game led by a real artist, an accomplished improviser, a crafting prodigy – in short – a star in the game. Then book the Online Energizer by Chantal van Heeswijk. She will play with you her the Letter Roulette, famous and infamous from De Parade!
    • Bonus idea: at the moment when everyone is thinking about their words, it may help when game facilitator plays the following songs about writing. Do you know a more fun song? Be sure to let us know!

Songs: