Team Hanoi Tower - Communication Puzzle Activity

Activity Objective: To solve the puzzle by moving one lid or block at a time without making the wrong move. To stack them, one at a time, through all three spots.

Facilitated Objective: To see the next few steps to accomplish your goals. Communicating to ensure those steps are shared and followed. Having the patience to see it through.

Needs: Five nesting lids, blocks, or boxes. Each block needs to be in five different sizes. Three index cards or spots. One-stop watch. One table per group.

Numbers: 4 – 8 people in a group or at a table

Time:10 – 15 Minutes

Procedure:Set the three spots on a table or flat like the floor. Space them about 18 inches apart. Place all the blocks on the first spot, increasing from the smallest to the largest where the smallest is on top.

Story:Your team’s reputation in defusing bombs is growing. You have been contracted by the FBI. They are developing a process to quickly disable any bomb by placing these titanium lids over them. Speed is critical to the process, not to mention the order in which it happens. The housing components for each part must be handled with the tools given by the FBI. The lids containing the bomb must be moved into three chambers. The team will have succeeded when the bomb is stacked in the final chamber. Due to the extreme working conditions in a disaster zone, the director mandates shifts, between partners, to ensure that everyone works together.

Instructions:

The goal is to transport a block piece, one at a time, and then finish with the final completed stack in the third spot.
Each piece must be moved one person at a time.
Everyone must have a chance to move a block before someone goes twice. This continues with every rotation.
Only one block may be moved at a time. If more than one block is ever in the process of being moved at a time, the sequence fails and must be returned to the first spot and the crew must start over.
Blocks may only be placed on an open chamber OR top of a larger block. Larger blocks cannot be placed on top of smaller blocks. The placing of the sequence of spots does not matter, as long as they all end at the third spot.
Blocks may only be moved from the top of a stack.
Only one stack per spot. Nothing can be placed to the side sharing the spot.
Record your time.

Observations/Questions:

What were the challenges of this exercise?
What assisted the group in reaching the goal?
What hindered the group in achieving the goal?
Follow up with conversations about integrity and ethics.
How did you react when people were sent back over?
Talk about your planning process.
Did you change your approach? If so, how?
Talk about the leadership exhibited in the group.
Did the actions of the group follow the mental plans in your mind?
Who had the vision all the way through? Was that person first listened to? Why or why not?

Variations:

Start with four spots to make it easier. Then, in the second round, take away a spot.
For easier rounds, start with four blocks then work up to six blocks. Adding one block per round.
To change the dynamics of collaboration, use cardboard lids from boxes. Then, you can take a hole punch and put holes in on the sides of the lid. This will allow you to change the dynamics of the activity as the participants must use chopsticks to pick up the lids together as a team. If a lid falls then you start over. With this variation, I usually only have a stack of four lids. Using chopsticks or writing pens can be used for picking up the lids.

To change the dynamics of communication. Using index cards, label each of them One, Two, and Three in big bold letters. Have a captain or two be communicators and everyone else be the movers. Movers can’t talk and Captains can’t move the blocks or even point to identify location. The captains’ hands have to be behind their backs giving directions. If either the movers talk or the captains move their hands the team starts over. Playing cards or numbered spots can be used if you do not have index cards.

History: “The puzzle was invented by the French mathematician Édouard Lucas in 1883. There is a story about an Indian temple in Kashi Vishwanath which contains a large room with three time-worn posts in it, surrounded by 64 golden disks. Brahmin priests, acting out the command of an ancient prophecy, have been moving these disks by the immutable rules of Brahma since that time. The puzzle is therefore also known as the Tower of Brahma puzzle. According to the legend, when the last move of the puzzle is completed, the world will end.^”From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a favorite amongst my facilitator friends. I just wanted to add different props to change the dynamics of the game. I am unsure who was the first to take this puzzle and make it a team challenge, but please comment or email me if you know and have the resources.

Video Link:https://youtu.be/2SYtQmWCyIA