Mini-Max: Ivan's Game with a Purpose

Ivan Scheier delighted in creating group exercises that allowed people to actively interact, have fun and still accomplish serious goals.  One of his early and most popular training designs started out as “Mini-Max” and evolved over 20 years into other formats, notably the “Glad Give Game.” The ultimate purpose of the design is to show a group of people that they all have something to give that is of value to someone else – and to create interpersonal commitments to exchange service.  The process was obviously a real community builder.

In this Training Design, we present the original Mini-Max process. We explain how it was originally developed to help delinquents and volunteers interact, and how to adapt it to new situations.