Collect the stars! Meta game!

Need an idea for a team competition?

Think, METAGAME.

That means: game within a game.

This past year for RA training the meta game I made was themed "collect the stars." It utilized a board game mechanic known as SET COLLECTION.

Teams competed in various activities (such as scavenger hunts and other physical events) as well as in leadership and spirit to earn stars (see the picture at the top of this post).

On the back of each star I wrote either an "M" "S" or "U". Instead of a traditional point accumulation scoring mechanic, in this meta game a team's score is their total of complete sets of M, S, and U. Thus, a team with 4 Ms, 2 Ss, and 2 Us would have a score of 2.

When stars were awarded, they were awarded at random (a mechanic I will call HIDDEN BENEFIT) so that no team was able to see what letter they were getting. In addition, teams were not allowed to trade stars with one another, and each team's name was printed on the stars they received so it would be obvious if there had been cheating.

How to win?

The winning team was the team with the most sets of MSU at the end of the week. Second place went to the team with the most stars overall. Thus, both teams with few sets and teams with many sets were encouraged to continue to compete in every daily activity.

Of yeah, and the winning prize included a significant portion of "time-off" for the winning team.

The plan worked! (For the most part). Competition was consistently high throughout training and I believe it helped teams to grow and develop as they worked together to collect the stars.

And it was fun!

That is, I think it was fun. Every day, teams were excited to draw their stars from the stack (I handed out close to 100 throughout the week), and there were both cheers of excitement for good draws and groans of agony for that 15th "S."

And lastly, THE ULTIMATE BEST THING about this META game is...

You always have something to give as a reward, at little cost to you, but relatively great value to those involved.

Ok, maybe thats not the ultimate best thing, but I liked it.