AGILE GAMES

Egg & Shell

AGILE GAMES

Egg & Shell

Experience the power of letting go, and how it feels like to trust and to focus on someone who is relying on you.

  • min # of participants: 8
  • max #: unlimited
  • length: depending on the number of participants, ca. 20-30min (incl. debrief)
  • materials needed: large room

Facilitation

  • form quadruples or groups of five for larger groups, form circles
  • invite volunteers to become the first “egg” and enter the circle, the rest of the group becomes the “shell”
  • members of the shell reach out and hold hands
  • invite Egg to close their eyes
  • the shell takes care of the “egg” which may start to walk (with closed eyes) in any direction at any speed it wants by moving with it, shielding the egg from any possible collision with any obstacle
  • if there is a collision likely, the shell – still holding hands – gently touches the egg indicating that there is an obstacle
  • after two minutes or so, invite groups to change and let someone else volunteer to become the egg

Exercise has the best results when enjoyed in silence.

Debrief

Debrief questions:

  • What was it like as an egg?
  • How did it feel?
  • How was it as a part of the shell?
  • What did it feel like?
  • As a shell, did you observe any differences in the movement of different eggs?

Usually, quite good discussions start which often touch on:

  • Trust and different trust levels/diversity within teams
  • Letting-go
  • Focus & responsibility
  • Ownership
  • Taking care of someone

Source

I picked up that game at play4agile 2019 – I forgot the name of the session host, though (sorry!). If you are aware of the original source, please comment below!

About Tasty Cupcakes

This content was originally published on Tasty Cupcakes, a community-run website founded by Michael McCullough and Don McGreal after they presented a series of games at Agile2008 in Toronto. The site’s tagline was “fuel for invention and learning.” After 15 years at TastyCupcakes.org, the content has found a new permanent home here at Agile Alliance.

The games, techniques, and approaches presented are here to use and explore. All we ask is that you tell others about us and give us some feedback on the games themselves. All of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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