BLOCKS & CHIPS: A COMPUTER-ASSISTED, GENOTYPICAL ENTREPRENEURIAL GAME Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 9, 1982 273 BLOCKS & CHIPS: A COMPUTER-ASSISTED, GENOTYPICAL ENTREPRENEURIAL GAME Precha Thavikulwat, University of North Dakota ABSTRACT This paper demonstrates the possibility of developing genotypical games that are fun to play, that are easy to run, that enable students to practice skills, and that are suitable for use as a medium of research. Blocks & Chips is such a game. The game is essentially an extended role-play. Players engage in entrepreneurial activities, and are assisted by interactive computer programs that simulate the game, that track the flow of funds, and that keep books. Players are both consumers and producers. As consumers, they purchase chips, the bases of scores. As producers, they participate in one or more of five industries (mining, chip manufacturing, block manufacturing, construction, and banking) essential to the game. Goods are represented by drawn pieces of paper of various sizes. Manufacturing is accomplished by gluing certain pieces of paper to other pieces of paper. The buying and selling of goods are done face-to-face. Feelings arising from unrestricted face-to-face interactions make the game genotypically real. INTRODUCTION An educational game may be used to familiarize students with a particular process, or it may be used to give students practice in manipulating the process. A game designed for the first purpose ought to be phenotypically real; one designed for the second purpose must be genotypically real. Blocks & Chips is a game designed to give students practice in entrepreneurship. The game requires face-to-face interactions, it is computer assisted, and it is genotypically real. For students to develop skills in entrepreneurship, the students must do what entrepreneurs do, and they must feel what entrepreneurs feel while doing it. Entrepreneurs develop partnerships, negotiate deals, construct proformas, and arrange financing [ 3 1 . In Blocks & Chips, the students do the same. Entrepreneurs work with the feelings that arise from face-to-face interactions. In Blocks & Chips, the students experience similar feelings because face-to-face interactions are required in almost everything they do. The computer assists by simulating the game, by clearing checks and executing banking transactions, and by keeping financial records. The students do not play with the computer; they play with the assistance of the computer. The game is genotypically real. STRUCTURE AND PROCESS The game consists of five industries: mining, chip manufacturing, block manufacturing, construction, and banking. Goods are represented by drawn pieces of paper of various sizes. The manufacturing process consists simply of gluing certain pieces of paper to certain others to form a finished product. A chip is made by gluing one basic unit on to a chip frame. A block is made by gluing two basic units on to a block frame. And a building is made by gluing blocks on to a building frame. All products and how they fit together are illustrated in Figure 1. The object of the game is to acquire chips. Scoring is individualized: each player’s success is measured by the Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 9, 1982 274 number of chips he or she personally acquires and surrenders to the instructor. To get chips, each player must buy them from a chip manufacturing firm; to buy chips, each must have a source of income; and to secure a source of income, each must be an owner or an employee of an operating firm. Hence, each player produces as well as consumes. Such is the game, and such is life. All firms purchase primary materials (basic units, chip frames, block frames, and building frames) from the instructor; firms purchase secondary materials (basic units and blocks) and buildings from each other. These commercial transactions are structured as shown in Table 1. Mining firms buy basic units from the instructor, and sell them to chip manufacturing firms and to block manufacturing firms. Chip manufacturing firms buy basic units from mining firms, buy chip frames from the instructor, manufacture chips, and sell the chips to individual players. Block manufacturing firms buy basic units from mining firms, buy block frames from the instructor, manufacture blocks, and sell the blocks to construction firms. Finally, construction firms buy blocks from block manufacturing finns, buy building frames from the instructor, construct buildings, and sell the buildings to all firms. The media of exchange are checks, the only form of money used in the game. Funds, upon which checks are drawn, come from grants by the instructor, and from bank loans. Checks are deposited and cleared electronically: the depositor enters checks received on an interactive computer terminal and receives a printout confirming receipt. Banking conditions are also set electronically: the instructor sets conditions for banking firms, who, in turn, set conditions for the individual players and firms that are their customers. Two computer programs1, CUSTOMER and BANKER, do the work. 1 All programs are interactive, and written for direct entry by players. They are written in IBM’s VSPC Fortran. None of the programs exceed 1,500 lines of coding, nor require more than 60,000 bytes of storage. To help players understand the dynamics of the game, the entire system of the game is simulated by a computer program, BLIPS. By running program BLIPS interactively and iteratively, students can determine what cannot, because of the economics, happen in the game, and the economic consequences of that which can. They will see the effect of conditions and decisions, of prices, of quantities, of leverage, of salaries, of taxes, and more, on the financial status of firms and individuals in every industry. Yet, because the game is genotypically real, and because BLIPS is only a simulation of that reality, BLIPS cannot establish that a particular set of decisions is best. It can show that certain sets are bad and that good sets must fall within certain ranges. Oftentimes, that is good enough. Companies create proformas, keep books, and make financial reports by running, correspondingly, three interactive programs: PROFORMA, JOURNAL, and REPORT. The three programs are linked so that values entered through program PROFORMA and program JOURNAL will appear together side-by-side on the same pages of output upon running program REPORT. The three programs perform the record-keeping and reporting functions that computers commonly perform in the real, real world, RULES AND PROCEDURES A few rules are necessary to ensure that all players are moderately active, and that reasonable order is maintained. First, all companies should be required to make use of a depreciating building. This rule creates demand activating the block manufacturing and construction companies. Second, credit towards grades given for chips acquired by players and surrendered to the instructor should conform to an exponentially declining schedule2 of diminishing return. This rule dampens 2 For example, one point might be given for the first chip surrendered each period, one-half point for the second, one- quarter point for the third, and so forth. The sum of points in this series converges rapidly to two. TABLE 1 COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS SELLER BUYER Mining Finns Chip Mfg. Firms Block Mfg. Firms Construction Firms Banking Firms Individuals INSTRUCTOR basic units chip frames block frame building frames MINING FIRMS basic units basic units CHIP MFG. FIRMS chips BLOCK MFG. FIRMS blocks CONSTRUCTION FIRMS buildings buildings buildings buildings buildings Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 9, 1982 275 demand so that chip manufacturing companies will not become hyperactive. Third, the instructor should limit sales of primary materials so as to minimize speculative buying, thereby preventing catastrophes. These three rules suffice to keep the players active, and the game orderly. To start the game, the instructor can assign students to teams and teams to industries. But a better procedure, one that allows students more control over their destinies, is to permit students to form their own teams and bid for licenses in each industry. This procedure usually results in teams of different sizes, and can fairly result in industries of different concentrations, depending upon the bids the instructor chooses to accept. To ensure that students have several opportunities to practice entrepreneurial skills, the instructor should, once or twice in the course of the game, require students to dispose of their holdings and reestablish themselves in another industry. So that students can appreciate the difference taxes make, the instructor should introduce taxation sometime in the middle of the game. The bookkeeping program, JOURNAL, is capable of accounting for taxes on personal income, taxes on corporate income, and taxes on capital gains. Hence, the game can be played with few rules and required procedures. In fact, the game works best that way, because keeping such contrivances to a minimum allows economical, psychological, and sociological realities to stand out clearly. CONCLUSION A good education trains students for reality [21. In apprenticeships and internships, students are trained for reality by reality. In Blocks & Chips, they are trained by a game that is genotypically real: the dynamics of the game are real. The game is essentially an extended role-play, useful for the same research and pedagogical purposes for which role-playing has been useful [1, 4, 5]. And because Blocks & Chips extends over a much longer interval of time than is feasible with regular role-playing, Blocks & Chips allows for research and training in matters too subtle to be grasped within the short lifetime of regular role-playing. Blocks & Chips owes much to the computer. The game can be played without the computer, and in its initial version, was played without one. But the computer has eliminated a stifling volume of paper and clerical work to make the game fun to play and easy to run. Blocks & Chips demonstrates the possibility of using the computer to make genotypical games feasible. Perhaps a whole range of genotypical games assisted and supported by computer might be developed. Researchers would then have available a new media of research, and teachers, a set of new pedagogical tools. REFERENCES [1] Borgatta, Edgar F., “Analysis of Social Interaction: Actual, Role Playing, and Projective,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1955, 51, pp. 349- 405. [2] Lewin, Kurt, “Education for Reality,” in A Dynamic Theory of Personality: Selected Papers of Kurt Lewin, translated by D. K. Adams and Karl E. Zener (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1935). [3] Liles, Patrick R., New Business Ventures and the Entrepreneur (Homewood, Illinois: Irwin, 1974). [4] Maier, Norman R. F., The Role-Play Technique: A Handbook for Management and Leadership Practice (La Jolla, California: University Associates, 1975) [5] Solem, Allen R., “Role Playing in Management Education,” in Management of the Urban Crisis by Stanley E. Seashore and Robert J. McNeill (The Free Press, 1971), pp. 443-461. Table of Contents Volume 9, 1982 The Value of Conjoint Analysis in Enhancing Experiential Learning The Effect of Participation in a Collective Bargaining Simulation on the Expectations and Attitudes of Union and Management Representatives Conflict Resolution in Experiential Learning The Use of Simulation to Test Theories of Bargaining in a Business Context The Nominal Group Technique: A Vehicle for Improving Case Method Courses A Framework for Developing a Business Policy Case Produce Your Own Video Cases for Classroom Use: A Demonstration An Experiential Effect from Charismatic Encounters Nine Topic Oriented Mini Simulations: Descriptions, Purposes, and Observations A Hospital Simulator (HOSPSIM) A Report of the Model and Results Expected from Field Testing An Evaluation of SLIM (A System Laboratory for Information Management) An Experiential Exercise Introducing Students to the Role Ambiguity Faced by Salespersons The Advertising Research Project as an Innovative Experiential Learning Technique The Small Group Research Project: An Experiential Learning Approach for Undergraduate Marketing Research Students The Relationship of Cognitive Style Maps to the Preference for Experiential Learning of Undergraduate Students The Learning Style Inventory Debate Revisited: An Empirical Assessment fo the Construct Validity Issue Related to Experiential Learning Theory Conducting a Classroom to Facilitate Career Goal Attainment Corporation Executives' Ratings of Policy Learning Techniques The Generation and Application of Evaluation Criteria for Management Policy and Strategy Simulation Games Experiential Opportunities with Microcomputers Leading Students to Learning: The Teacher's Obligation An Experiment in Teaching Principles Courses: The Mini Debate Formula Developing Creative Thinking Through Experiential Learning Heuristic and Systematic Evaluation of Policy: Exercise in Decision Making A Case Study Approach for the Litigation Decision: Employing Decision Analysis to Determine When a Business Should Settle or Go to Court Learning Negotiation Skills Through Simulation Union vs. Management: A Simulation of Collective Bargaining in Action Inside the Black Box: An Analysis of Underlying Demand Functions in Contemporary Business Simulations A Review of Channel Exercises and the Description of a New Alternative SIMCON I: A computer Based Simulation Model for Evaluating Physical Distribution Strategies Involving Order Consolidation Toward Competency-Based Management Education: The Interpersonal/Communications cluster The Value of Pre-Teaching in Role Playing Some Effects of Positive Personal Reinforcement upon Socializing Students in an Experiential Learning Course Who Gains and Who Does Not from Experiential learning Toward the Ultimate Experiential Exercise, the Student View Simulating Professional Writing Experiences in the Classroom The Johari Window as a Measure of Personal Development Windows Into Management: A Participative Aid to Learning Get Your Faculty Involved A Pedagogical Approach to Business Gaming for the Commuter Student Super Service for Computer Game Administrators Expand the Role of Simulation with Creative Scenarios The Delivery, Administration, and Evaluation of an Executive Development Program Using a Total Enterprise Business Game An Application of Experiential Learning in International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment International Management: Building Bridges Analysis of a Business Simulation Exercise: Organizational Survival and Success The FALRIS Organizational Scavenger Hunt Trainee V. Trainee Subordinates' Evaluation of Experiential Learning Longitudinal Analysis of an Innovative Teaching Intervention Student Perceptions of Effective Teacher Behaviors Revisited Realism and Learning: The Evolution of a Management Game A Merger and Acquisition Simulation A Stock Market Investor Simulation Experiential Learning in Consumer Behavior: Perceptual and Attitude Change Exercises The Recycling Industry Problems of Women in Management: A Role Playing Exercise for a Course in Contemporary Organizational Problems Experimental Three Weekend Course: Empirical Results A Process for the Analysis and Development of Course Content and Instructional Methodology for Large Class Sections Problems Associated with the Assessment of Experiential learning Using the Multiple Choice Test Combining Lecture and Simulation Teaching Methodologies Qualitative Determinants of Team Performance in a Simulation Game The Effects of Different Team Sizes on Business Game Performance Comparison of Problem-Solving Technologies: A Free Simulation Approach Consistency in Business Games A computer Simulation of Personnel Selection Decisions Giving Praise Exercise Job Enrichment A Look at the Spoken and Written Word in Organizations A Pattern of Group Communication A New Generation in Business Simulation Adapting Mainframe Business Simulations to Min Computers File Access is the Essential Prerequisite to Time-Flexible and Interactive Computer Simulation A Microcomputer Simulation for Teaching Retail Location Strategy Blocks & Chips: A computer-Assisted, Geno-Typical Entrepreneurial Game Development of a Self-Paced Course in Business Statistics The Involvement of Student Bodies in the Teaching of Advanced Technical Concepts Systems Learning Sequence: An Experiential Course Module for Management Information Systems An Experiential Approach to Developing Managerial Competencies Communication Research, Inc. An Experiential Learning Activity Developed as a Practicum for a Course in Organizational Communication