Here’s a PC (Playing Card) Simulation that I created, conducted, and published in 1991. Its objective was to explore the dilemma between commercial competition and environmental concern. The game was played by participants interested in social issues, waste management, competition, or just having fun. It required 15 to 30 minutes to play and 10 to 15 minutes for debriefing. The game required a regular deck of playing cards for each group of four to seven players.

Steps of Play

Deal. Sort the playing cards into suits. Give each player any five red cards (diamonds or hearts), any two spades, and any one club.

In this game, the value of the cards does not matter. All red cards--whether hearts or diamonds--are regular garbage. Spades are hazardous garbage. Clubs are monitor cards which force people to reveal what they are dumping.

Object of the game. To get rid of all the garbage cards (regular and hazardous) in your hand. You need not (and cannot) get rid of your monitor card.

A round without clubs. During each round, each participant places a card face down. After everyone has done so, and if no one has played a club, all face-down cards are collected, shuffled, and discarded face-up in the garbage heap. Players discover what types of garbage have been discarded--but not who discarded what.

A round with clubs. If one or more clubs have been played during this round, then all players turn their cards face up. Regular garbage cards (red cards) are thrown into the heap. Hazardous garbage cards (spades) and monitor cards (clubs) are taken back by the players. Then each club player gives a red card from his or her hand to each spade player.

Example: The players are Alan, Barbara, Cathy, and David.

During Round 1, Alan plays a club, Barbara, a heart, Cathy, a diamond, and David, a spade. David is trying to get a head start with the spade, but Alan anticipates that. Barbara and Cathy play it safe and get rid of a red card each. Alan gives a red card to David as a punishment.

During Round 2, Alan plays a spade, Barbara, a heart, Cathy, a diamond, and David, a spade. David correctly anticipates that no one is going to repeat a club. Alan also thinks the same. Since no one plays a club, the cards do not have to be turned over. After they are mixed up and dumped into the garbage heap, players realize that two of them got rid of hazardous garbage. But they do not know who played what card (other than what they themselves played).

Additional red cards. In later rounds, a club player may not have enough red cards to give to spade players, especially if more than one player attempts to sneak out hazardous garbage. In this case, after passing out the red cards from the hand, the club player distributes as many red cards from the garbage heap as needed.

Example: During the fifth round, Alan plays a spade, Barbara, a club, Cathy, a diamond, and David, a club. Poor Alan! He gets hit with two red cards, one each from Barbara and David.

During the seventh round, Alan plays a spade, Barbara, a spade, Cathy, a club, and David, a spade. Cathy gets to punish the other three players. She has only one red card which she gives to Alan. She then digs up two other red cards from the garbage heap and hands them to Barbara and David.

Hazardous garbage processing. At any time during the game, a player can exchange a spade card for four red cards from the garbage heap. (This exchange can only take place if there are enough red cards in the heap.)

Ending the game. Game ends when one player has disposed of all garbage cards and is left with only the club. This player wins the game.

Example: After the eighth round, Alan exchanges the single spade in his hand for four red cards from the garbage heap. However, this was a futile move because Cathy, who had disposed of all her spades earlier, plays the final red card and wins the game.

Debriefing

Affective phase

Begin your debriefing with a “how do you feel right now” inquiry. Players may report frustration, anger, or disillusionment with the selfish behavior of their cohorts. Give everyone a chance to vent their feelings.

Cognitive Phase

Help players to process their experiences and derive generalizations about what people do when confronted with a compete-cooperate dilemma. Have them relate the metaphoric behavior from the game to real-life events. Here are some generalizations which have been elicited during recent plays of Garbage:

People wait and see how others behave before deciding what they want to do.
You feel foolish when you play a club and discover that no one has dumped any hazardous garbage.
Excessive dumping of hazardous waste is usually followed by a zealous play of clubs.
Different people react differently to getting caught—and to getting away with hazardous dumping.
People focus so much on winning that they do not pay attention to the significance of the spades.
You fall behind if you spend your resources monitoring other people. Most attempts at collaborative monitoring (e.g., taking turns to play a club) are futile.
People say one thing and do something else in competitive situations.

It is difficult to follow rules and regulations when you know that the others are not following them.

“What if” Questions

An effective activity during debriefing is to discuss several “what if” scenarios. Here are some examples:

What if players agree to take turns playing clubs?
What if players were given time to discuss a common strategy?
What if the garbage cards during no-club plays had to be revealed so that everyone knew who was dumping what?
What if the garbage cards during no-club plays were dumped face down so that no one knew if any hazardous dumping had taken place?
What if each spade could be exchanged for two red cards? What if the exchange rate were six red cards for each spade?
What if a player kept playing clubs all the time?
What if the club player did not give a red card to the spade players?
What if the club player gave two red cards to each spade player?
What if the players were told dramatically that each play of spades would result in a 5% increase in cancer deaths three years from now?