What better test of problem solving than to have a puzzle scattered on the tabletop and points for being able to solve it? The only better thing to test your skill may be having only eight puzzle pieces and creatively designing solutions.
Think it's the Apollo 13 mission to Mars? It very well could be. But, consider the more "reachable" tabletop of the dining room - and Scrabble. The lessons we learn there, and games in general, are applicable to every day life. And if we stop playing games, sometimes we forget the lessons we learned as a child.
This particular game was created during the Great Depression, as an outlet for creativity (and the source of income for its inventor). Until this point, there were essentially two types of games - strategic moves and number-based games (mostly geared to adults - kids were allowed free play. Imagine that.) The formation of this new outlet engaged new "buyers" that were previously left out of the fun if they weren't chess players or enjoyed bingo. The marketing types, the visual types, the literary crowd and families together were previously discounted for games and now could engage in activities geared to them.
At work, do you give assignments that are geared toward someone's natural abilities? You should. This is what leaders do - they set employees up to succeed and encourage them. Leaders challenge themselves with a version of game theory (which is economics, but still a game) when they are mentoring and figuring out the puzzle pieces with who can contribute with their skills in the best manner. This keeps a leader's interest - the path to the outcomes - and makes the job fun and engaging for both employees and leaders.
Leaders also make sure they communicate in the various ways that their team members understand. Adult learning theory shows many ways to interact with people, so they can "hear" the message as it's intended, without having extraneous noise disrupt the message because in the manner it was delivered.
When a solution initially yields a $20 loss, don't give up - Scrabble shows that not only learning something new can be fun, but instead of selling just 84 'widgets', your new idea could sell more than 150 million.
"Never give in, except to the convictions of honour and good sense." "Lead by example. " And let games into your life.
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150911-word-up-the-secret-story-of-scrabble
