Budget trade-off game

Each participant represents a department with its own projects, targets and private information. The group shares a single budget that covers well under half of the requests. Over several rounds, participants negotiate, form alliances and make funding decisions, while events change the value of some projects.

Scoring rewards both departmental results and overall company performance, so participants feel the tension between "my area" and "our company". Information that would help the whole group is often held by one person, and the game shows how much depends on sharing it.

The debrief focuses on how priorities were set: which criteria were used, which voices dominated, and what a fair, transparent prioritisation process would look like for your real budget or roadmap.