How it works — Business Battle
What is business battle?
The players are organised as companies and they have to come up with a business idea. Players sell their product or service to other players who will become a market. The goal is to outperform other companies in the room.
Game is structured into stages and the process is managed by a facilitator. Stages change quickly during the game to hold the dynamics and to keep up the pace. Do not worry about mistakes and unconventional solutions that do not apply in real life.
Have fun and take time to analyse the situations later, then comes the learning too.
Game Story
What do you need for this game?
Bizplay gaming platform
In the platform each player and company has a bank account with starting money. During the selling process players use the gaming platform to do bank transfers.
The main benefit for the facilitator is the game control panel, where you can change stages and monitor the progress of the game. In addition, the gaming platform also provides a report that gives a financial overview of all companies.
Devices
Playing with a personal device makes the game smoother, as players can quickly make bank transfers.
If each player does not have it's own personal smartphone, do not worry, the team can also play with either a laptop or tablet.
Idea cards
Play with a game set!
If you don’t have a chance to use a gaming platform or devices, then you can play Business battle with a game set. In the game set there are idea cards, sales report sheets and enough play money for players.
Get a Game Set
Room & Layout
The size of the room should be chosen based on the size of the group. Business battle can be played in various group sizes 15-100 players. Make sure the room is not either too small or too large for the group. A usual classroom can be used if the number of players is 15–30.
The teams sit behind tables. We suggest 3-6 persons per one table as it's the optimal team size.
As we want to make people move and interact to create a marketplace in this game, make sure you have enough free space between the tables or separate empty marketplace area for players to gather.
A good and stable internet connection is also required, as the gaming platform updates data in real time between all devices.
Optional: If you have a projector then show the players the report from the game platform. Or use white board to visualise the results of the sales stages.
Game Stages
Read through the stages carefully to make sure you understand them.
Game story & Rules
First attempt at sales
Analysis of first sales
Improved product & pricing
Final analysis of sales
The introduction consists of several activities: game story, game rules, forming teams, finding a business idea, creating a strategy and entering the game platform.
Game Story
Tell the players the story of the game.
“You are starting entrepreneurs, who enter the market with some crazy ideas. In the market there are other entrepreneurs, who also have innovative and potential ideas, for example some of them might sell DNA converters and some of them might sell mirrors that show the future. Your goal is to outperform other entrepreneurs in the market, where every player has 200 units of the money, but companies have only 0 units. Winner is the company that has earned the most by the end of the game.”
Game Rules
The rules of Business Battle are:
- The staring capital of all companies is 0!
- Buying your team's product is not allowed!
- The individual and team money must be kept separately!
- Product-for-product exchanges do not count!
Forming Teams
Form at least 4 teams, which each have 3–6 members. Name the teams by the names of the companies in the game platform, such as Team 1, Team 2 and so on.
Finding a business idea
Deal one idea card for each team. And let the team choose one idea from the card. That idea becomes their business idea.
Optional: If you have more time, you can let players generate business ideas themselves. For example, you can use a brainstorming method for this. Do not give them too much time for this, 5-7 minutes is enough.
Forming Teams
Form at least 4 teams, which each have 3–6 members. Name the teams by the names of the companies in the game platform, such as Team 1, Team 2 and so on.
Strategy
The next task is to come up with a strategy, how to sell a product or service.
- How much does the product or service cost?
- How do we sell our product or service?
- What are our sales arguments?
- Who do we sell to?
The players should keep in mind that besides selling their own product/service, they are in the customer role too. So the market is made up of the players and they start selling products/services to each other.
Opening the game platform
Share players access to the Bizplay gaming platform.
- Open game.bizplay.ee
- Enter the game code
- Pick a team (alpha, beta, etc)
- Add players
Now the real sales work begins. The players start moving around the room, interacting, and making deals. Facilitator role is to observe. If it seems that players are passive in the first place, the facilitator role is to supportively activate players and to help players get the experience of coming out of their comfort zone.
The analysis consists of several activities: analysis, market changes, and new strategy.
Analysis
Next players finish all the pending transactions and track that has all the money received. Facilitator makes a summary of the first sale stage. Helping questions:
- How much did the company earn?
- What, how much and at what price were sold?
Optional: If you have a projector then show the players the report from the game platform. Or use white board to visualise the results of the sales stages.
Market Changes
Tell the players that all individuals will get more money and the market will change. You can add more money to players on the gaming platform.
Strategy
Now, the players have to change their strategy based on previous experience. The teams can change everything about their idea – both the price and the product or service itself.
Now the real sales work begins. The players start moving around the room, interacting, and making deals. Facilitator role is to observe. If it seems that players are passive in the first place, the facilitator role is to supportively activate players and to help players get the experience of coming out of their comfort zone.
Next players finish all the pending transactions and track that has all the money received. Facilitator makes a summary of the second sale stage and the whole game. Helping questions:
- How much did the company earn?
- What, how much and at what price were sold?
Optional: If you have a projector then show the players the report from the game platform. Or use white board to visualise the results of the sales stages.
Well done!
Now you have finished the reading part. In case you want to understand the game even better, watch some additional videos.
How to prepare for the game?
Watch a video about what kind of preparations a teacher should do to ensure a fun and successful game with students!
How does the roleplay work?
Watch a video about how the roleplay works and you see a quick walkthrough of the game.
Facilitator - How to use the Bizplay gaming platform?
Watch a video about what kind of functions are in the Bizplay gaming platform for facilitators.
Player - How to use the Bizplay gaming platform?
Watch a video about what kind of functions are in the Bizplay gaming platform for players.
You're ready to start!
Now that you’ve read the instructions and watched videos, it’s time to try it out yourself!
Setting up a game takes just a few minutes, so click below to start.