At this stage, participants get to play. Help them actively and keep track of the time.
Juliste 7

  • Create space by removing extra furniture or create a suitable space for the game in some other way.
  • Place game location markers in 5 different places.
  • Take out the game cards.
  • Reserve pen and paper for the exercises.
  • Check that mobile phones or tablets work so you can access the game website.
  • Tell players that there is a short link for each game character: oph.fi/barja | oph.fi/cosmo | oph.fi/hanski | oph.fi/josa | oph.fi/jules
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  • To learn about the values of the EU Youth Strategy through a game.
  • Experiential learning, ”walking in somebody else’s shoes”.
  • Linking the Youth Strategy to young people’s worlds.
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  1. Explain the rules and progress of the game to participants.
  2. Divide participants into small groups of a maximum of 5 people per group.
  3. Lead participants to the game location markers and give them a game card.
  4. Participants will play the game independently using the materials and character cards found online.
  5. As the facilitator, you will guide and help players if needed. Keep track of the time.
  6. Gather participants together for a discussion after the game.
  7. The total duration of the game is 45 minutes to 1 hour.
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The game is played following the online instructions on the game character pages.

Study the pages of each character in advance. They consist of

  • an introduction and
  • 1-5 exercises and a wild card exercise.

Before the game, each team will study the introduction of their character. The introduction includes

  • 2 audio files: Welcome words by the character and their story
  • 1 link to the character card with introductory information about the character

In addition, the introduction of the character also includes 3 links to posters representing the character’s values. The posters are discussed in the poster exercise of part 1.

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Exercise 1

  • Recommended time approx. 5 minutes
  • This exercise is the same for all characters.
  • The team makes lists, writes or draws on a mind map to develop the traits and background of their game character.
  • Examples of questions: What kind of information do you think that the character is missing? Where do they live, for example? How old are they? How do they live? Who are the other people in their lives? The idea is to add more substance to the characters.

Exercise 2

  • Recommended time approx. 3-5 minutes
  • This exercise is the same for all characters.
  • The team will examine the dreams of the character: What dreams do they already know about? What goals does the character have? What else does s/he dream about?
  • Next the team will select traits from the traits list online that they think the character will need to achieve their goals and to overcome their challenges. The team should select at least 2 traits that they think would support the character’s development.
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Exercise 3

  • Recommended time approx. 10 minutes.
  • This exercise is different for all characters.
  • In this exercise, the team will help the character overcome an everyday challenge.
  • The exercise is split into 2 parts for all characters:
  • First the team familiarises itself to a pre-determined value of the EU Youth Strategy which is noted on the character’s online page. The value is linked to the character and their world.
  • This is followed by an exercise reflecting on the value for each character.

Exercise 4 

  • Recommended time approx. 10 minutes.
  • This exercise is different for all characters.
  • Like exercise 3, this exercise is split into two parts:
  • First the team familiarises itself to a pre-determined value of the EU Youth Strategy which is noted on the character’s online page. The value is linked to the character and their world.
  • This is followed by an exercise reflecting on the value for each character.
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Exercise 5

Wild card exercise

  • Recommended time approx. 15 minutes.
  • An alternative to the exercise 5: If the team has approx. 15 minutes, it can choose to do  this exercise instead of the exercise 5.
  • This exercise is the same for all characters.
  • First, the team studies the value #11 Youth organisations and European programmes.
  • After this, the team plans a project for the character that will offer them opportunities to reach for their dreams. Five minutes of the total time of the exercise is reserved for planning of the project.
  • Teams take turns to present their character and the planned project as a 1-minute elevator pitch. All teams will comment each other’s projects.
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  • As the facilitator, your job is to analyse the thoughts raised during the game.
  • You can do this by returning to part 1. Examine the posters and discuss them again based on your new experiences about the values.
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  • Make sure that everyone is aware of the time frame and how much time they have for each exercise. Help participants actively to keep to the schedule. Teams can choose a person to keep track of the time in their team.
  • If you have plenty of time, you can extend the time limits and play the game longer.
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