(WIP)

Outline

You and your group have been assigned the task of taking over and running a manufacturing facility for 3 years!

Your overall goal is to get the factory to the point where it is producing enough units annually to warrant keeping the line running indefinitely; the long-term success of each member of your group depends (to varying degrees) on the factory staying open.

In addition to the group's overall goal, you are each provided with a personal incentive which may or may not conflict with the incentives of the others and of the whole. Each of you—in order to maximize your own likelihood of success—must hold the incentives of the others in tension with the incentives of the individual to increase the probability of a successful the outcome for the whole.

  1. Motivation
  2. Long-Term Goals
  3. Game Concepts
  4. Game Play
  5. Solo Mode & Alternative Role Assignments for Reduced Player Counts
  6. Expansions

Motivation

The goal of this game is to teach people how to think about and navigate systems by intentionally set up competing incentives for the whole and the individuals who make up the whole, and outline that in the highest performance system, sometimes none of the components will be operating at maximum capacity. Revealing to folks that overall efficiency is more about how the parts fit together, creating slack, balancing competing incentives, and choosing the right moment to strike. Demonstrating also that individual success is also a lot more tightly correlated to the overall success of the group.

Systems thinking is at the heart of this game, and while the terminology may not be employed and the concepts are obfuscated by oversimplifications and trivial mechanics, the goal is to get people thinking about trade-offs and balancing their own individual interest with the interest of others and the interest of the whole, as that is the only way for them to increase the likelihood of their own success.

Long-Term Goals

From the beginning I've designed the game with the constraint that a physical version would be possible and convenient to manufacture. The long-term goal is to produce an IRL tabletop version of the game.

I am also designing the game with future enhancement in mind and the possibility of adding expansions (see: Expansions) that would introduce other "real world" complicating factors.

Artistically I would also really love to see what can be done with a physical representation of the game. While I have some artistic ability, I am actually a lot more interested in seeing how other—more talented—artists would present the game in its physical manifestation, so I would like to find a (few?) illustrator(s) who could bring even stronger clarity and life to the game.

Game Concepts

Roles

The 3 roles—which are randomly assigned to each player at the beginning of the game—are Manager, Engineer and Operator. For each game there will always be only 1 Manager, at least 1 Engineer and at least 2 Operators. The exact number of Engineers and Operators depends on the number of players, but there will always be at least 1 more Operators than there are Engineers (accommodates 4-10 players).

The Manger is responsible for coordinating overall operations, approving requests from Engineers, setting income levels and has the final say on time/resource allocation. The Engineers are responsible for refining process, and the discovery, installation and repair of equipment. The Operators are responsible for execution of process, handling mishaps and advocating for improvements.

Incentives

Each player is given their own incentive tracker in addition to a wealth tracker. Each player's incentive tracker affects both the overall game play and their personal likelihood of success at the conclusion of the game, while their wealth tracker only impacts their personal likelihood of success at game's end.

Manager

The Manager's goal is to operate each of the 3 years profitably. Each year a profit is not turned negatively impacts the Manager's individual probability of success.

The manager is in charge of setting income, approvals for Engineering tasks, and approvals of Engineering promotions.

Engineer

The Engineers are motivated to increase their "level" or receive promotions. Each Engineer starts out as an Engineer I, and can be promoted to Engineer II and Senior Engineer by successfully executing certain tasks associated with their role. With each promotion the Engineers' abilities are enhanced, and their probability of success is improved at the end of the game.

Engineers are eligible to receive promotions at the end of the year if specific equipment they installed that year remains on the board through the end of the year. When an engineer installs a piece of equipment, they place their ID card under the piece of equipment they installed to keep track of what work they did. At the end of the year when the engineer receives a promotion, they pull their ID card and cannot be promoted twice for the same equipment.

An engineer can only assign their ID card to one piece of equipment they install in a given year, if they install a second piece of equipment while their first is in play, they cannot move their ID card. If equipment with an engineer's ID card is replaced in a given year, the Engineer will not receive a promotion and cannot re-play their ID card. (This rule structure is subject to change and it's possible that engineers could also have a portion of their income determined by their level?)

All engineering promotions are subject to manager approval and the manager can choose to deny a promotion.

Operator

The Operators are given the incentive to avoid injury; if 3 injuries are sustained on the job, the Operator is forced to retire early and is effectively eliminated from play. But for each injury that is sustained leading up to elimination, it also increases the injured Operator's personal expenses and their productivity within the factory. Injuries are sustained when a mishap occurs and process is not sufficiently refined to prevent an injury.

Timeline

Income & Wealth

Equipment & Process

Mishaps

Units & Inventory

Cash Position & Profits

Cost of Goods & Demand

"Success" (Winning)

Game Play

Setup

Board

First, place a black process refinement marker on the 3rd slot of the 5 open slots. Place the black annual tracker arrow and red start of year arrow at the 2nd marker on the Cash Position section, and the black units sold arrow and red inventory arrows on the Units section. Finally, black markers on the 1st quarter position and the 1st month position.

Cards

Pull out the 3 grey "starter" equipment cards from the equipment deck (24 total cards: 3 starter, and 7 red/blue/green); these will be placed in equipment slots 1, 2 and 3. Then shuffle the remaining equipment cards—the remaining cards are the equipment draw pile. Additionally, shuffle the mishap cards (48 total cards)—this will make up the mishap draw pile.

Players

Next, shuffle the role cards (refer to the Roles section above for the role breakdown for each player count configuration) and randomly distribute to all of the players in the group. The Manager is given 3 black markers, 3 red markers (to be used for recording the profitability of each year) and the 3 Income tracking arrows. The Engineer(s) is(are) given a single black marker which is placed on the "Level I" position to start, and the Operators are given 3 red markers to use on their injury tracker which starts with all slots empty. All players are given their wealth tracking arrow.

There are 9 ID cards in total and all but the manager must select an ID card for use in the game. The manager instead receives the double sided "Approve"/"Deny" card. In addition to their ID cards, operators are given a Union Membership card that is used to indicate their intent to strike.

The Engineer(s) must also draw from the equipment deck; the number of cards each Engineer draws depends on the number of total Engineers.

Annually

Trackers (Start)

At the beginning of each year both the quarter tracker and month tracker should be set to their first position, and the previous year Cash Position marker (red) should be shifted to the current Cash Position marker's (black) position.

Set Income

The Manager has the responsibility of setting the income for each of the roles (including their own).

Trackers (End)

At the end of the year, the Manager has to set their profitability tracker for that year. If the current Cash Position tracker is at or below the previous year cash position marker, a red token is placed on the Manager's profitability tracker; if the current tracker is above the previous year marker, then a black token is placed.

Quarterly

Equipment Discovery

During the quarter, each Engineer is allowed to draw 1 equipment card for each level on their role card, in exchange for their time (limit one per month). They can only hold 3 cards in their hand at one time, and must pick to either discard the drawn card or one from their hand if drawing would result in holding more than 3 cards.

Drawing equipment cards is the the only portion of an Engineer's time management that is not subject to approval, thus their in-game promotions are designed to model higher levels of autonomy.

Mishap Events

During the quarter, mishap cards must be drawn corresponding to the number of Operators in the game. Only one mishap card can be drawn in a single month, but for games where 1-2 mishap cards are drawn for each quarter, the Operators collectively decide which month(s) to draw them in, each quarter.

If the mishap breaks any equipment, the affected equipment must be flipped over to indicate repair is necessary at the beginning of the next month.

Trackers

At the end of each quarter, the quarter time tracker is moved forward. If it is the 4th quarter, then the quarter tracker is moved back to first position and a new year begins.

Monthly

Cost of Goods

At the beginning of each month, the Cost of Goods die is rolled; this value affects both the production cost of each Unit and determines the impact on individual wealth of each player. Each player takes their monthly income, subtracts the Cost of Goods amount to determine their "take home" after expenses, and increases or decreases their wealth by the result.

Maintenance

Operators have the responsibility of checking the setting the "maintenance due" marker on each piece of equipment for which maintenance is due. If a piece of equipment is marked "monthly maintenance" then it will be set each month, if "quarterly" each quarter and if "annually" each year.

Process & Equipment

Next the Engineers are given the opportunity to negotiate for the installation of new equipment and/or process improvements for the factory. The Manager can "approve" or "deny" their request (Engineers have to include maintenance and repairs of existing equipment is into their allocations, unless that equipment is being replaced). If the request is denied, all Operator time is devoted to building within the existing system. If the request is approved, then the Operators and Engineers allocate time based on what is outlined on the equipment cards in play, or being installed—whatever of the Operators' time is left over is assigned to producing Units.

If during the resource allocation process, maintenance is left undone on any equipment that remains in operation, the black and white die is rolled to determine whether the equipment breaks; any roll 4-6 indicates the machine has broken, and will cost 2x to repair, as well as remove the machine's production multiplier and shift the process refinement tracker back one.

The broken equipment gets flipped over until it is repaired, and should maintain its "maintenance due" marker to indicate that 2x cost for repair.

Operators Strike

If for any reason the Operators are discontented with some aspect of the planning or direction of the plant (for which they are always entitled to and encouraged to offer their input), they are provided the ability to "strike" and refuse to participate in the building of units for a month at a time. In order for operators to strike, they have to get a majority vote from their peers (i.e if 2 players are operators, both players would need to agree to strike. If 3 players are operators, only 2 need to agree to the strike). In months where they strike, operators forego their income for that month, and the Cost of Goods die still reduces their wealth, but no mishap will be drawn for that month, no process improvement can take place, and no units will be produced.

Expenses & Unit Production

Capital Expenditure

To calculate the CapEx the group needs to add all investments in new equipment, and then move the Current Cash Position arrow down by the resulting amount.

Units Produced

The number of units must be calculated based on the current process, equipment and time allocation for that month, and the Manager shifts the inventory tracker by the number of units produced that round.

Operating Expense

To calculate the OpEx, the cost of goods multiplied by produced unit count (calculated in previous step), income paid to Manager, Engineer(s) and Operators, and inventory costs must be added together and also subtracted from the Current Cash Position.

Demand & Revenue

Finally, it is the Manager's responsibility to roll the demand die to determine the amount each unit can be sold for relative to inventory and total units sold. When the number of units to be sold is determined, the Manager shifts the inventory marker down by that number, and the total units sold number up by that number, as well as the current cash position tracker up by the amount of revenue generated.

Trackers

At the end of each month, the tracker is moved forward. If it is the end of the 3rd month, the quarter tracker is moved forward and the monthly tracker is moved to the first position and a new quarter and month begins.

Solo Mode & Alternative Role Assignments for Reduced Player Counts

Solo can be fun too...

3 player: one player is responsible for both operators.

2 player: one player is the manager and the engineer, the other is both operators.

Expansions

Equity

expansion pack could allow you to play with a `StockPrice` tracker and introduce event cards for board issuing more stock, or stock splits and allow for players to purchase shares or receive shares as incentives from management. dividend percentages, buybacks, etc.

Leverage

expansion pack could introduce the concept of debt and borrowing for players individually and the company

Property

expansion pack could be used for players and the company to own assets like houses and facilities

Supply

expansion pack could enhance the `CostOfGoods` factor

Tax

expansion pack could introduce income and cap gains taxes for individuals and the company