1 Comment Posted on Strategy Games

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Review

I got a text yesterday to see if I wanted to play a game last night. I was free at 9 PM, and I figured that I would be done by 10:30 or so. This was a gross underestimate. X-wing, it turns out, involves choosing ships, upgrades, and characters before the game even starts. This being my first time, and following my own Strategy For your Strategy blog, I had to read through a huge stack of cards to come up with a strategy as well as learn the rules.

We finally started the game around 10, and it lasted until a little after midnight. It may sound like I didn’t enjoy it, but the funny thing is, I loved all of it! A lot of the fun was figuring out what combination of cards will work together, and then try to implement the strategy while keeping track of what everyone else is trying to do.

In X-wing, you play the side of the Empire, the Rebellion, or the Scum (bounty hunters, etc). You choose ships and go through phases of movement and attacking. The ships move in the way regular ships should move, and if you don’t plan your flight path, you could find yourself crashing into an asteroid.

It has been awhile that I have had a hard time sleeping because my brain was trying to figure out the strategy for a game, but last night, I couldn’t stop. I love this game.

My only issue is the length of play. Now that I know the rules, I think it could be completed in an hour and a half with 20 minutes of prep, but this isn’t going to work for some people.

You can even modify the game to play with kids by removing the upgrade cards. It is fun to play and will teach them spatial reasoning skills and some planning and strategy. Additionally, the sweet space ships make the game awesome to play.

x-wing-review

 

6 Comments Posted on Simple Games

Counting to 21 Strategy

21 is a simple game that you can always win if you go second. The goal of the game is to be the first person to say “21”. The rules are that you can only add 1 or 2 to whatever the other player says.

For example, the first player can say “1” or “2”. If he said “2” the second player can say “3” or “4” and so on.

There is a strictly dominant strategy in this game. You can use backward induction to figure out what to do. Try to figure it out yourself first, but below is the strategy.

  1. You need to get them to say 19 or 20; therefore, if you say 18, you win.
  2. To say 18, you need to get them to say 16, or 17, so if you say 15, you win.
  3. Continuing on, if you say 12 you win
  4. if you say 9, you win,
  5. if you say 6, you win,
  6. if you say 3, you win
  7. So, if you go second, you can guarantee that you will say 3, and win every time.

When playing this with people, the secret is to not let on that you are doing a strategy against them. To win the most times possible, act like you are thinking about what to do on every turn, even though you know what you will say.

If you go first, just hope that they don’t know the dominant strategy and mess up one time. Once that happens, you can get back onto the winning track and win every time.

There are different variations where you lose if you say 21. Can you figure out the dominant strategy in that game?

 

 

2 Comments Posted on Career Strategy

Career Strategy 8: Being a Good Mentor

I recently received an invitation from my alma mater, Brigham Young University asking me to mentor a student in the Economics department. This is a great opportunity to give back and build the next generation of budding economists.

The program coordinator gave the following suggestions when working with a mentee.

  • Be kind and encouraging, but honest– Show confidence in your mentee, but if you sense that he/she is headed in the wrong direction, share your honest opinion.
  • Serve as a guide, not an “answer person”– Share your advice when you think it’s needed, but also guide your student to his/her own answers.  
  • Put yourself in their shoes– Remember how you were when you were in college. How much did you not know? What would have helped you the most?
  • Share your knowledge – Sharing your knowledge and experience will greatly benefit your student.

 

As a mentor, your job is to help the mentee in whatever capacity they need. Sometimes they don’t even know what they need, but you can step in and lead them in the right direction.

Ask yourself these questions to help guide them along the path.

  • What do I wish I would have known at their life stage?
  • How did I become who I am today?
  • What are they doing that is a mistake that they aren’t aware of?
  • How can I make this person extremely desirable in the job market?

Review with them my other Career Strategy posts to get them started, and add your thoughts to them as you go along. Below are the links to the previous strategies.

Career Strategy 1: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Career Strategy 2: Job Search

Career Strategy 3: Getting your First Real Job

Career Strategy 4: How to Get a Job at …

Career Strategy 5: Protecting your personal brand

Career Strategy 6: Effective Interviewing

Career Strategy 7: Up, Over, Out, or Stay

 

What else have you or your mentor done that has been effective?

 

 

 

 

 

5 Comments Posted on Strategy Games

Splendor Strategy

Splendor was the 2014 Golden Geek game of the year. It is very polished, easy to learn, and fun to play.

The strategy is relatively simple, but the execution is difficult. Summary below.

  1. Reserve the cards you want early on
  2. Take 3 chips in early turns
  3. Reserve cards that cost all of the same color
  4. Choose two colors that you will own, and buy them up
  5. Choose two nobles that have overlapping requirements and target them early in the game
  6. Calculate what it will take to win, and win quickly.

First Turn Reservation

In the first turn, look at the playing field and decide what your longer term strategy is. You don’t want to waste chips on expensive cards early on, but you still want to target cards that fit into your final strategy.

Reserve cards in your first or second turn to give yourself the best chance early on.

The idea here is to optimize each of your turns. Some cards are just easier to get, and you want to remove those from other player’s grasps, and place it into yours.

Maximize Chip Draws

You often want to draw 3 chips. It is ok if it takes an extra turn to get something you need if you can get more chips to help you later. The caveat to this is when you are targeting high-value cards. You may want to take two chips to get you closer to your goal.

Early in the game, everything moves a little slowly. Your whole goal is to prepare yourself for the later parts of the game. Gather as many cards as you can by using them to buy other cards. Points still matter, but getting cheaper cards earlier will help you down the line.

The cards that can be purchased with all the same color are a great bet in getting to 15 points. I like to take the 5 point 7/3 cost cards in the color I’m targeting. Additionally, I may even choose to target those colors on purpose. Reserve these cards early, and almost always draw a chip in those colors. Eventually, you’ll buy them and have a significant advantage.

Optimize Purchases

Initially, look at the lay of the land. Are there a lot of cards that need the green gems? Go for green! Collect cards that will give you the most buying power. The playing field will guide you in the choices.

It is very valuable to own 4 or 5 of the same color. This allows you to snatch up cards that are out of reach for the other players. (One defense against this strategy is to just reserve the cards that you know they are looking at, even if you don’t plan to purchase them. Reserving cards you don’t need works better in a two player game. With more players, you won’t have turns to spare.)

Also be aware of scarce resources. If a lot of cards need green, but there aren’t any green out there, snatch any up quickly that come into play.

Target Nobles

An easy way to get the points you need to win is to capture a few nobles. Once again, look at what is available on the field, and look for synergies among nobles. Does one noble need 4 whites and 4 reds and another noble need 3 whites, 3 reds, and 3 browns? Go for the whites and reds, but if it is difficult to get them because of the playing field, consider going for a different noble.

Advanced players walk a line between getting high point cards and capturing nobles. It is ideal if the high cards you are capturing line up with your noble acquisition strategy, but you just have to do whatever it takes to get to 15 points. I have often had to change my strategy late in the game because a color I want is inaccessible. That is OK.

All along the way, keep track of your points and keep an eye on the field. Figure out what cards on the field it will take to win the game. The game moves slowly at first, but then the end will sneak up on you quickly, so make sure you are the one determining the end game.

 

That’s it! I love Splendor because of the ease of play, but there is an art in knowing when to make your move.

What strategies have worked well for you?

 

5 Comments Posted on Career Strategy

Career Strategy 7: Up, Over, Out, or Stay

After I’ve been in a role a few years, I become less and less challenged by the same tasks. Eventually, I have to ask myself some questions to decide what to do.

  • Do I just love my job so much that I don’t need or want to make changes? (Stay)
  • Are there opportunities to expand my role? (Up)
  • Is there another role within my company that would give me the experiences I’m looking for? (Over)
  • Do I need to look outside of the company for the things I’m looking for? (Out)

Stay

This can be a hard conversation with yourself. You may just love your job. Although you don’t want to paint yourself into a corner in your career, there are so many benefits to working in a job that you like. On the other hand, I have known many people who stay in jobs that they hate because it seems too difficult or stressful to look for a change.

Don’t be like that. If you hate your job, get out of it.

Up

Look for opportunities to move up within your company. You should explain to your manager what your goals are and leverage them to get in front of others within your company. If your manager isn’t willing to help you reach your goals, this is a good sign that over or out may be a great move for you.

Contrary to Dilbert, your manager shouldn’t have horns and should help you develop your career.

Also talk to your manager to see what you need to be working on, if you aren’t ready to make the jump to the next level. Be clear that you want feedback to get to the next level, and you should get it.

Over

After talking to your manager, you’ll know if Up isn’t an option. At that point, start looking around in your company for jobs at your same level that would be interesting to you. Target roles that develop the skills your manager just called out as lacking.

Talk to people within your company who are doing those jobs to understand what is required to be successful. Build your relationships throughout your career, so that you aren’t starting from scratch every time. It should be a continuous process that strengthens your skills over time, setting yourself up for the Up move.

Out

If staying sounds horrible, Up and Over aren’t options, it is probably time for you to get out. Don’t leave your company until you have another job lined up, but start following the Job Search strategies.

A great job will bring so much satisfaction to your life. Make sure you are doing it right.

1 Comment Posted on Game night, General Strategies, Strategy Games

What to do if People know your Strategy

You’ve put together a great strategy, and it has worked multiple times. Eventually, people start to figure out what you are doing and try to stop it. What should you do then? Well, a lot of it depends on the type of game, but below are some general strategies. They aren’t in order, so it is a bulleted list, instead of a numbered list.

  • Think through what you would do to combat your strategy, then figure out how to stop that
  • Don’t gloat over your victories
  • Change up your strategy
  • Change games

Beating yourself

Think carefully about your strategy. Where are its weak points? How would you go about beating it? Once you figure that out, you can expect your opponents to figure it out too. So, how do you beat that strategy?

This could be an infinitely iterative process as you and he keep figuring out how to beat the next strategy, but that is part of the fun. Unless there is a strictly dominant strategy, there is always something else you can try.

monster-chasing-shark

Victory Dances

When I was home from college with my siblings, I got into the bad habit of singing a victory song after I won. It would change, but it was usually something from Star Wars or Super Smash Bros

This was really annoying. I apologize if you had to live through those days. I received payback for this when we played Pit. Everyone kept trading me the bear and holding onto cards I needed. When you are a bad winner, it comes back to haunt you. (Side note, the only strategy you can do when it gets like this, is to let people cool down. It just takes time.)

Change up your Strategy

Another method that can help is to adjust your strategy. You may love to play the same way each time, but if you change up just a little, it can keep people from figuring out exactly what you are going to do.

Change Games

Often, it helps to just change games. Playing different games will also help you so that people don’t get tired of playing games with you. I often like to play people’s favorite games, that way, they have fun and I get to match wits in the game they are most competent at.

What else have you done that helps when people figure out your strategy?

3 Comments Posted on Career Strategy

Career Strategy 6: Effective Interviewing

Great Job! Your Job Search Strategy is paying off. You’ve been invited for an in-person interview. Now, here is where you have to really shine. At this point, they want you. The job is there for the taking. To successfully cross this finish line, you need a strategy. Here is what I recommend:

  1. Prepare sufficiently beforehand
  2. Show confidence
  3. Be your best self
  4. Maintain honesty
  5. Tell great, short stories
  6. Ask real questions
  7. Show your interest
  8. Determine cultural fit

Preparation

The recruiter will often send you a list of who you will be meeting with. Take the time to do research on the people, the company, and the position. When you spoke with the recruiter previously, you should have received a solid understanding of how the position fits in the company. You can learn about the company through the website, the news, or by reaching out directly to people within the company. You can find information about the people on LinkedIn.

I like to write up specific questions for each of those people and say their names over and over in my head so that when I meet them, I am ready to have engaging conversations.

Additionally, you should have a great answer prepared for all the standard interview questions. They may try to surprise you with something unexpected, but most questions follow the standard list.

Confidence

There is a difference between confidence and cockiness. You don’t want to be the guy who assumes he has the job and speaks down to people he meets with. You do want to be the person who smiles, shakes hands, and carries on an intelligent conversation without stumbling over his words.

Stand up straight, look people in the eye, and smile.

Be your Best Self

You need to be yourself, but you want to be your best self. Let your personality shine through, but if you have traits that rub people the wrong way, do what you can to keep those in check. Ask a friend or family member what you do that can irritate people, and they will be happy to share it with you.

Honesty

Don’t make up stories or lie about your qualifications. I know managers whose number one criterion for hiring people is whether they can be trusted. People can tell if you are making things up, and it will get you a pass right out the door.

Tell great, short stories

Some questions lead you to tell a great true story. We as humans love stories. Take your answers to the above standard questions and add in a story when you overcame hardships, were successful at your job, or helped someone out.

Keep it short, but try to get them to feel something; success, overcoming odds, compassion. These are all great elements for a good story.

Ask Real Questions

In your planning beforehand, write out questions that you want to understand before you join the company. Here are some good ones:

  1. I like what I have seen so far about the team, what is your vision for where it is going?
  2. How does this job fit into the bigger picture for the company?
  3. How can I be successful quickly at this job? What types of people have succeeded here?
  4. Is there anything you wish you knew before you started here that would have helped you?

Tailor it to the interviewer. Bring up things from earlier in the conversation and try to dig a little deeper into it. (EX: I like your vision. How does my role fit into it?)

You don’t have to wait until the end of the interview to ask questions. It should feel like a natural discussion where you are going back and forth and building rapport. (Some companies require a canned list of interview questions so you may have to hold your questions.)

Show Genuine Interest

Throughout the interview, show interest in the position. Interviewing is like dating. The hiring manager doesn’t want to commit to you if they feel like you aren’t even interested in the position. Say “Wow, this looks like a great position. I’m really excited about this opportunity.”

As the interview ends, you can even say, “I would love working here, and I feel like I’m a great fit. I look forward to continuing the conversation.”

Determine your Cultural Fit

When you leave the interview, think back on your time with them.

  • Did you like the people you spoke with?
  • Would you be able to work well with these people?
  • Does the position seem like it has growth potential?
  • Does your manager care about the success of their team?

The role may not have everything you want, and that is ok. You want to go into the role with full knowledge of what to expect.

Good luck on your interviewing! Let me know how it goes.

1 Comment Posted on Game night, General Strategies

Why We Play Games

On my first date with my wife, we played games together. It was just me and her, and the competition was fierce. Afterward, I went back to my roommates and told them how awesome the date was and how I really wanted to take her out again. Mallory went back to her roommates and said, “Well, we didn’t really talk very much.”

According to the American Psychological Association, there are three intrinsic needs that drive behavior; Competency, Autonomy, and Relatedness. People play games because games meet these needs in multiple ways. Here are my thoughts, please share if you have others.

Competency

  1. To develop our minds
  2. To learn new things
  3. To feel a sense of accomplishment

Autonomy

  1. To make choices without lasting consequences
  2. To feel a sense of ownership
  3. To participate in creating.

Relatedness

  1. To build relationships
  2. To establish dominance
  3. To match wits

And lastly, FOR FUN!

Competency

All of us have a need to feel like we are competent in something. Games are a very quick way to feel competence. When I play games, I can engage my mind in something that is interesting to think about. I’m able to draw connections between things that I hadn’t seen before.

I learn things while I play, and I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish that last route or get rid of my last card. Think about the game you like best. Does it give you a sense of accomplishment, or develop your mind?

Autonomy

You have the capacity to accomplish great things. Your choices have lasting consequences, for good or ill. Playing games gives you a place where you can try things out, make choices, with immediate consequences. You are the only person that gets to make the choice, but if it doesn’t go well, it isn’t permanent; you are able to try again, immediately.

Games give you a sense of ownership. You become the character in your game, or you feel ownership of the properties and things that you build. In Carcassonne, you lay your tile and place your guy in the city, and you own it. It is yours to do with as you wish. This is also the reason why people get so mad when you sneak into their city.

Some games, (eg: Blokus) allow you to create. You feel empowered as you lay your pieces and create your world. This is also why Lego’s are so successful. You are creating something new that no one else has created before.

Relatedness

The last intrinsic need that games meet is the desire to feel connections with other people. Psychologists call this relatedness. Games are great for building relationships. You feel closer to people when you spend time doing fun things together.

The fun part of competition is matching wits with like-minded people. Losing and winning, make me feel closer to the other people. If I won every time, I wouldn’t feel like I was being challenged, and would try to play with someone who can match wits with me. (That is one reason why my wife is so great. She beats me all the time.)

 

In the end, playing games is fun. How have games helped you to meet your intrinsic needs?

3 Comments Posted on Career Strategy

Career Strategy 5: Protecting your Personal Brand

Businesses often talk about protecting their brand. If you ask someone at Apple, they are very aware of how their company is perceived. There are entire teams focused solely on making their online presence clean, clear, and awesome.

I want to talk about your personal brand. If someone mentions you within your company, what comes to people’s minds? How are you perceived by your peers in your job? How does your manager, and other managers throughout the company, see you?

This is your brand; this is who you are to others.

How to create and manage your brand:

  1. Decide how you want to be perceived
  2. Develop and sell your brand
  3. Monitor your brand within your company
  4. Be willing to adapt your brand as you change and grow

Personal Perception

How do you want people to see you? I posted earlier about how to decide who you want to be. As part of the exercise, you listed the things you like and are good at. This is a good start for what you want your brand to be. You get to decide in part how others perceive you, so figure out what that is. This could also be your elevator pitch.

I’ll give you mine as an example:

“I am an expert in modeling and simulation of complex systems. My supply chain experience and technical capabilities help me to understand analytical jargon, but my confidence and understanding nature aid me in communicating complex technical problems to leaders in a way that is easy to understand. I am the go-to person for any modeling or data questions in my organization.”

Ok, I may sound a little geeky from the description. I did throw in the confidence and understanding nature to show that I have a softer side. It doesn’t take away the geekiness, but that is part of my brand. I wouldn’t be me without it.

Develop and Sell your Brand

Now that you know who you are, how do you communicate that to other people? Start with doing great work. If you want people to know you as the person they can always count on to complete your tasks quickly, do just that. People form perceptions about you quickly, but you can guide them to perceive you the way you want to be seen.

While using your actions to create your brand you can smooth things along by planting thoughts through quick conversations and one-liners. Say things like:

  • “That is what I’m best at.”
  • “Thanks for the opportunity, this is really interesting work.”
  • “Wow, how did you know that I was the right person to talk to about this.”

You can and should have a conversation with your manager to see how you are perceived and to tell them the things you are best at. People will ask them about you; they can be your best brand protector, or a fatal brand destroyer, use them for the former.

Build relationships with your peers, and leverage them to communicate your brand. If the people closest to you believe your brand, others will too.

Monitoring your Brand

Now that you have started communicating and proving your brand, you have to be aware of it at all times. Meet with people often, especially those outside your immediate team.

Once you are comfortable with people, you can ask them how you are perceived. Ask questions about what they think are your strengths and weaknesses. Most people will soften their feedback, but you can tell based on how they talk about you what their feelings are.

If it isn’t great, or it isn’t the message you want to hear, it is your job to change it. This can be difficult, but you can say something like, “That is great feedback. I’m really working on developing my (fill in the blank with the skill you are trying to communicate). Do you have any advice on how to go about it?” This does two things: first, it gets them thinking about you in terms of that skill; second, it may lead to opportunities for you to prove yourself.

Make sure to thank people for their time. It is also customary to buy people lunch or coffee when you have these conversations.

Be willing to Adapt

If you consistently hear from people that your best skill is something that isn’t in your brand. Take a deep breath and look at yourself from their perspective. Maybe you should add that skill to your brand. If it isn’t something that you like, focus your efforts at work on the areas you do want to shine through.

You may be the best note taker in the company, but if you don’t want to be stuck as the note taker, branch out and work to prove your other skills.

You have many awesome skills. Do what needs to be done to be seen.

 

What other ideas have you tried to build your brand?

 

1 Comment Posted on Simple Games

Rock, Paper, Scissors Strategy

Rock, Scissors, Paper feels like a simple game of luck. This is great, because most of your opponents will feel the same way. Although you can’t always win, there is a way to increase your chances of winning. It is all about Psychology.

When I was younger I often lost the first play. It was frustrating because my winning probabilities were way worse than 50%. So, I started watching what people did. Here is what I found.

  1. Plant suggestions in their mind
  2. Randomize if you win
  3. Choose the odd one if you lose

Psychology of first play

Growing up, I called this game, “Rock, Scissors, Paper” but most people call it “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. When I didn’t have time to think about what to play, I would play paper, and they would play scissors.

What was happening here? Our brains have two parts, the thinking part and the feeling part. When you use logic and reason, the thinking part is active and we logically choose what to do. This is much more slow and methodological. The thinking brain needs time to process.

That is why we have a feeling brain. The feeling brain reacts quickly to stimuli and makes quick decisions or knee-jerk reactions.

In Rock, Scissors, Paper you can trigger the feeling brain by doing the following.

  • Say to your opponent, “What do you call this game?”
  • They will say “Rock, Paper, Scissors”
  • You then quickly start the game.
  • They will automatically play Scissors because that is what their feeling brain is thinking.
  • You should play rock.

This strategy works more than 80% of the time! (unless they read this blog, then they will be expecting it, then you have to go back to random play)

Randomize when you win

Some Cornell researchers found that people often play the same thing if they win, and play the next down the line if they lose. (if they lose with Rock, they play Paper, Lose with Paper, play Scissors, etc).

So if you win with Rock, play Paper more often, but don’t get predictable. Randomization is key because if you follow a pattern, they will figure it out.

Switch if you lose

If the other player isn’t following this blog, then they will tend to play the winning strategy again. In that case you should  play the odd one. (the one no one played last time.)  But, if they are following the recommended strategy above. You will often tie.

Once again, randomizing is key.

 

Or, if you are like this guy. Always play rock.

picture-to-win-rps

Try it out and let me know how it works!