Observe, Orient, Decide, Act

OODA

Simulation Business Board Game

Game Play

Narrative Design

Generative AI

Starting a business involves navigating unpredictable markets, fierce competition, resource constraints, and the relentless need to innovate. Entrepreneurs often struggle to grasp these complexities through traditional learning methods, which can fail to convey the nuances and realities of startup life.

Challenge

OODA offers an immersive, hands-on learning experience that simulates the real-world challenges of entrepreneurship. Through gameplay, participants engage with various startup phases, encountering scenarios that test and refine their decision-making skills and strategic thinking. This approach not only makes learning engaging but also helps players internalize key concepts and prepare for actual business situations.

Solution

Game Rules

OODA - Observe, Orient, Decide, Act

The OODA concept, originally from military strategy, involves rapidly cycling through four stages—Observe, Orient, Decide, Act—to gain a competitive advantage. In the game, this decision-making process is seamlessly integrated, highlighting its relevance and applicability to various business operations.



OODA Loop Phases

Orient: Players use their observations to align their goals with the challenges and opportunities they face.



Observe: Players start each turn by assessing the current state of their startup, including resources and external factors.

Decide: Players choose how to allocate resources and respond to situations, shaping their startup's strategy.

Act: Players implement their decisions, impacting the game's progress and their startup's success.

Phases of a Startup

The game takes players on an immersive journey through each phase of the startup lifecycle, challenging them to navigate the unique obstacles and seize the opportunities presented at every stage. Each decision and action simulates the real-world pressures and dynamics of building a startup, offering a hands-on experience of the entrepreneurial process.

Game Play

Played individually or in teams, with turns taken in a clockwise order on a board with a specific number of tiles, each representing different phases and events.



Player Setup and Turn Sequence 

Movement and Tiles

Players move based on dice rolls, encountering challenge, opportunity, and event tiles that influence their progress. Resource borrowing and trade are also part of the gameplay.


The game ends when all players reach the End tile. The player with the most resources wins, while a player with depleted resources loses.

Winning and Losing Conditions

Experiential Learning and Engagement

Interactive Learning

OODA uses experiential learning to make complex business concepts accessible through gameplay.



Social Interaction

Encourages collaboration and negotiation, reflecting real-world business dynamics.

Motivation and Realism

Presents realistic scenarios to motivate critical thinking and strategic decision-making.

Value Through Gameplay

Provides a valuable training tool for organizations to develop leaders and strategic thinkers.

Training and Development

Innovation and Agility

Supports employee development and aligns with brand needs for continuous innovation.

Useful for educational programs and startup accelerators to enhance problem-solving and business skills.

Educational Application 

Enhancing OODA with Generative AI

Generative AI was applied to help shape the OODA game board that simulates the highs and lows of startups. It generated contextual images for each game phase, enhancing visual appeal and immersion.

Resource Card Imagery

Generative AI created diverse and contextually relevant images for resource cards (Cash, Product, Talent, Morale), enhancing realism and relatability by visually representing different startup phases and resource types.

Conceptualizing the Rules

Generative AI assisted in developing and refining the game’s rules by simulating various scenarios, balancing complexity with playability, and ensuring the rules reflect real-world entrepreneurial challenges while keeping the gameplay engaging.

Crafting Challenge and Opportunity Cards

AI-generated challenge and opportunity cards provide realistic and contextually relevant scenarios based on startup phases, offering players a varied and thought-provoking gameplay experience that mirrors real-world business situations.