Thingamabob Game – Discussion and Writing Questions

Rules of the Thingamabob Game:

- 7 companies competing against each other, producing thingamabobs

- each starts with $1000 capital, can produce thingamabobs for $1 each, sell them for $2 each.
($1 profit for each)
- 5 rounds, where companies produce goods using capital and environmental resources; each
company can decide to make as many or as few as their capital allows, though keep in mind you
have shareholders and banks that are pressuring you to continue to increase profits.
- winning companies can be rewarded with CHOCOLATE! (real world chocolate, not game
chocolate!)
- Top 2 groups get most, 3rd and 4th place get a bit less, 5th, 6th, and 7th get nothing.
- However, if you collectively use too much of the earth’s resources, environmental disaster will
occur. (scientists believe that producing somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 thingamabobs
would use up too much of the earth’s resources, leading to disaster. They’re not sure exactly
how much though (though Dan is sure…)
- If you collectively go over the tipping point, NO ONE gets chocolate because the earth is a dead
lifeless, chocolate-less ball of emptiness and despair.

Discussion Question:

- Why did / didn’t you destroy the environment?

Writing Questions:

Use these questions as guidance to write a short reflection on the game, to hand in for marks.

- Briefly describe the game and what happened. Include what pressures your group felt. (3
marks)

- In what ways does this game resemble what happens in real life? What was unrealistic about
the game? (5 marks)

- Is the game “rigged”? What rules could you create and add that would help prevent
environmental disaster? (5 marks)

- Was this a useful activity? Why or why not? (2 marks)

Total: (15 marks)