The role of the Expedition Leader is to help teams be successful and mine as much gold as they can. The role of the teams is to have fun, return to Last Chance Gulch, and mine as much Gold as they can to maximize our Return on Investment!
The Search for The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine is a fast-paced simulation engaging teams in a journey to mine gold in the American Southwest.
The role of the teams is simple: mine as much gold as we can and maximize ROI. The role of the Expedition Leader is to help the teams be successful and the key is to work together and have fun.
Participants join others at tables set for 6. On the tabletops are a map, resources and other information about the exercise.
Putting on cowboy hats and colorful bandannas (which adds visual impact and energy) for their journey, the group settles in to discuss the history of the Lost Dutchman Mine and to learn the mechanics of the challenge.
Once we start, teams have 15 minutes to complete their planning and begin play.
Teams have 20 days of 2 minutes each to manage their journey to the mine and back to Last Chance Gulch and can choose from 3 paths with unknown risks, planning for weather and resource use.
When mining, teams get 10 ounces of Gold worth $3,000 for each day in the mine; thus, managing resources and information to maximize their days mining gold is a primary objective.
Actual play will find teams competing more than collaborating and sharing information and resources. They also focus on productivity more than quality. Thus, ineffective systems and processes will minimize payoffs and teams will allow a variety of factors to hamper optimizing overall results.
In debriefing, many issues relating to the workplace can be addressed, depending on desired outcomes for the session. Groups can spend hours discussing how this game parallels their need for leadership, clear missions and visions, and issues of teamwork and collaboration.
Debriefings often focus on goal-setting and the sharing of information and resources. In this simulation, as in the workplace, there is little benefit for competition or speed -- good planning pays dividends.
People have fun and share ideas that apply to their jobs. Substantive action plans for change are common outcomes.
Teams from all over the world have found Dutchman to be a fascinating journey and highly positive conference experience. We have lots of testimonials!
It's fast-paced and high impact -- a highly memorable experience for all.
Teams can choose one of 3 paths from Last Chance Gulch, their starting poin
t, to the Mine. This is at the bottom left of the poster that teams use as part of their planning process at the tabletop. Note that The Lost Dutchman's Mine is near the top-right of the map. In the corners are Supply Depots where teams may also exchange resources should they not have planned their resource consumption well.
The safest and most straightforward route is via the middle, called The Plateau Trail. On this route, it is 7 days to and 7 days from the mine. Teams get Gold on their entry, so they will begin mining on Day 7 and must leave by day 14 to make it back to Last Chance Gulch -- ALL teams must return.
Another route takes them across The Low Country Trail. This route is apparently 5 days in length, although Tom's Canyon Ford across the arroyo has been known to flood and impede progress. When the weather is beautiful, this trail also turns to mud, making teams use up extra fuel.
A third option is The High Country Trail, so called because it heads up toward the Ski Village. This route is apparently longer, but there is also information about the Ski Village available in the Library at Last Chance Gulch.
We have just completed a second playing option which makes the game a bit more complicated and adds a lot of intra-team and interteam interactions toward the end of the game. Essentially, we jump up complexity by adding Ice Shards!! on Day 16, warning teams about them and making the Spare Tires invaluable. We also add a Shovel resource, "just in case the gold is buried." It never is, so the resource is useless.
But this new version adds a second option for play, one that generates the individual behaviors that can be linked to DiSC or MBTI and thus extending the debriefing for a day or more.
This update will appear in all new versions of The Search for The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine sold after June of this year. Updates to older games will be available at an additional cost -- you will receive instructions, new Shovel cards, new envelopes and forms, and all the other resources needed.
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Contact Scott Simmerman for a question or more information at Scott@squarewheels.com