← Strategy & Decisions
Trade-off Tournament
BracketRemote or in person
Competing priorities pair off until one is left standing.
Eight things a team says it values, forced into a knockout bracket. Half a minute of arguing before each vote. By the semi-finals the room is making genuinely difficult trade-offs out loud, and the final is usually the two things the organisation has never admitted are in tension.
Run this when…
The situations it was built for. If none of these is the room you have, it is probably the wrong activity.
- A strategy day
- A product prioritisation session
- A leadership team that says yes to everything
How it runs
Options pair off, the room votes, rounds narrow until one survives.
- 1You start a session and put the code on the big screen.
- 2Everyone joins on their phone — no app, no sign-up, just the code.
- 3You drive the pace from the host screen; the room answers as they go.
- 4Ending the session builds the report, with every answer in it.
Running it well
Only the host sees these. Participants never do.
- The final match-up is the finding. Write it down and take it into the next planning session.
- Let them argue before each vote. A bracket where the room only taps is a slow poll with extra steps.
Run it yourself
Free for thirty days, no card. Add it, share the code, and your room is playing in about fifteen seconds.
Start freeAlready have an account? Sign in
At a glance
- Players
- 6–300
- Runs for
- 10–18 min
- Where
- Remote or in person
- Big screen
- Required
- Teams
- Individual only
- Best for
- Thinking together
What it builds
decision makingnegotiationstrategy