If your business was a board game, what would it be?

One of the great Christmas traditions is playing board games with your family. Fishing out the dusty boxes that only see the light of day once a year. That moment of disappointment (again) when you realise some vital piece is missing. And the slow, dawning recollection of not only why you don’t play games very often, but also why you left home and live miles away from your blood relations…

Only joking. Kind of.

This year why not spice things up a bit. While you are waiting for your turn at Monopoly, or wondering why the only Scrabble words you can put down are profanities, ask yourself this question: 

If my business was a board game, it would be………………………………..

Send us your answers and we’ll send a sprout to the best.

Here are a few prompts to get you going, based on games we have been playing over lockdown:

SNAKES AND LADDERS. Just when you think you’re ready to get to the next level, someone finds a major bug and you have to go back and fix it.

KER-PLUNK. Great excitement as it comes out of the box…real tension as everybody tests different things…but ultimately disappointing as everything falls to the bottom earlier than expected.

BATTLESHIPS. A business with two warring founders, where all the time is spent taking poorly aimed pot shots at each other, and ends only when every asset has been annihilated.

TWISTER. A fun, all-action business requiring intensity, flexibility, and a tolerance of being in close proximity to sweaty colleagues.

MONOPOLY. An old school business that has been around for ever. Drifting to an eventual conclusion that no one cares about and would pay real money to escape from.

RAVINE. Every day is a desperate struggle for survival. Every night brings fresh terror. There’s a bone pile in the corner and no one has seen Trevor for days...

GALAXY TRUCKER. A ramshackle business quickly thrown together. Beautiful only to the myopic, it does an effective job but worryingly, bits fall off every round.

CARCASSONNE. Simple. Methodical. Tactical. Only ever makes one small move, but builds steadily. May take over the world providing someone else doesn’t get their first.

GO. A business of such strategic complexity that no one has a chance of understanding it. Neither competitors nor you.

And what about UP AND TO THE RIGHT? These were our efforts:

Nick: CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY. A collaborative endeavour, best played in large numbers, with inspirational and challenging content and a sprinkling of comedy.

Marcus: MOUSETRAP. Putting things together piece by piece as you try to win the day and get the cheese. But things don’t always go as planned, forcing you to put everything back together differently so it's slightly more stable.

Andy: CLUEDO. We scamper from business to business, trying to save unsuspecting founders from being undone by flaming business models, revolving propositions and sharp contracts.

Have a great Christmas and New Year. See you in 2021.

UP AND TO THE RIGHT.