Firing Fred
Let go. No longer with the company. Downsized.
Outsourced. Seeking new opportunities elsewhere, with
the emphasis on elsewhere. People are fired all
the time. Some are fired for good reasons, others for
empty ones. Now it's your turn to trump up some charges.
Firing Fred is a turn-based black-humored
party game about managers trying to terminate one poor
sap's employment. For 3 or more people.
Setup
Print out one set of game cards (100 cards) and one
page of 10 Role cards. The last two pages are optional:
the second-to-last is a sheet of blank cards, and the
last is the card back art. To keep the game cards and
Role cards separate, don't print the card backs of the
Role cards.
This game is in color, but works in black and white.
The pages are laid out for 10 business cards/sheet blanks.
Punch out the cards and shuffle them, then find a flat
surface, a stopwatch (or some 30-second timer) and two or
more fellow managers. You may find a notepad and pen(cil)
useful for writing down particularly nasty or convoluted
complaints.
Deal out a Role card to each manager. Set aside the
other Role cards Leave the deck in the middle of the table.
Play.
Rules
This game is turn based. It doesn't matter who goes
first, the first few managers' turns may be no-ops (passes).
Each turn, draw two cards, showing them to the other managers
as you go. Manager to your left is the timekeeper using
the stopwatch. You have 30 seconds after the words are
revealed with which to come up with an excuse or complaint.
Each turn the cards you draw dictate if you are to
make a complaint against poor Fred or defend him. In
either case, you should speak as your Role dictates. The
person with the Security Role shouldn't make an excuse
based on a technical reasoning, unless it has bearing on
Security somehow.
- If one of the two cards is a File
Complaint card, draw additional cards one
at a time until you've drawn two non Complaint
cards (some combination of Wildcards and word
cards). Discard any other File Complaint
cards you draw after the first one.
- If you did not draw any wild cards, once the
second word card is drawn, you have 30 seconds
to say (and finish saying) your complaint
using both words.
- If one or both of the cards is a wild, the manager
to your right waits until you've shown the two cards,
then says a word in keeping with the theme on the
wildcard for each wildcard. You then have 30 seconds
from that point to say (and finish) your complaint.
- If neither card is a File Compliant card, you
get to select any existing complaint and make an
excuse for it. If there are no Complaints active,
you pass.
- If you did not draw any wild cards, once the
second word card is drawn, you have 30 seconds
to say (and finish saying) your excuse using
both words
- If one or both of the cards is a wild, the manager
to your right waits until you've shown the two cards,
then says a word in keeping with the theme on the
wildcard for each wildcard. You then have 30 seconds
from that point to say (and finish) your excuse.
Every complaint and excuse is subject to a vote
by all managers except the person filing the complaint
and the person making the excuse. As soon as the current
manager finishes making his/her excuse or complaint, everyone
makes a snap judgement and hold out their right arm in
either a thumbs-up (good complaint / excuse) or a
thumbs-down (bad) gesture.
Each person voting need not explain his/her reasons.
Such is the way of management. Points to consider:
- Did the person sound managerial?
- Was the reason buzzword-compliant?
- Did the reason jibe with the person's role?
- Did you like the reason? Did you laugh?
The basic rule: So long as one person
is gives a thumbs-up gesture, the complaint or excuse is
valid.
If your complaint is valid, keep the two word cards
(or wild card(s)) in front of you to remind you (and other
managers) when the excuses start coming in.
Discard the File Complaint card - other managers will
soon need it.
If you are making an excuse, discard the word cards
when you're done, regardless of whether or not the excuse
is upheld.
But terminations are long and involved processes,
requiring much documentation, paperwork and second chances
to prove the terminated party was not singled out. Like
poor Fred here.
If the complaint is valid, then other managers get
to make excuses for it.
If an excuse is upheld, then the complaint is
dismissed. Return the word cards to the discard
pile.
If a complaint stands until it's your turn again
and you make another complaint, the first
one becomes part of Fred's permanent record.
It's now official and no one can make an excuse
for it. Turn over the word cards, but keep them.
Winning
The winner is obviously the person who gets to fire
Fred. If you have two complaints on Fred's permenant
record, the third complaint, if upheld, provides you
enough documentation to fire Fred.
Note that the complaint need merely be upheld.
No other manager gets to attempt to make excuses for it.
Moreso than most games, you're on your honor here.
Don't thumbs-down a complaint just because someone will
win. If it's a good complaint, let him/her win, then
rehire Fred (offer to play again).
Optional Rules
- The Name of the Game
- You've the right to make modifications to this
game as per the BCG license on the
Business Card
Games page. If you know somebody named
Fred, please change the name.
- Changing Cards
- Definitely make new cards. Cross out old ones.
Use the blank cards. Download the file and
edit the cards. Customize this game
to reflect your cube farm.
- Trading Roles
- Managers trade roles frequently. After someone
successfully excuses one of your
complaints, say indignantly "So you think
you can do better?" Swap roles with
that player.
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Links
Author's Notes
Having (luckily) no experience in being on either
end of a termination, I'm talking out of my hat here.
The only reason I named this game Firing Fred
is simply that I know of no co-worker or friend named
Fred.
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