Card games enter the workplace as companies pay for team sessions

The Games Experience has landed its first paid corporate booking, with 16 New York Life sales agents in San Ramon, California, using a card game to work on sales skills during lunch. Founder Gini Graham Scott is now expanding the format to local businesses and training facilitators to run sessions independently.

Why it matters: - Companies are starting to pay for low-tech, in-person game sessions as a tool for team building, sales training and problem-solving. - The format is designed to push employees into conversation, quick thinking and group decision-making without screens or software.

What happened: - Sixteen sales agents at New York Life's San Ramon office took part in a lunch-hour card game focused on selling insurance. - The session was the first paid corporate booking for The Games Experience. - Several participants asked how to run sessions themselves by the end of the event. - New York Life is the first company to book the program.

The details: - The Games Experience uses printed cards and a facilitator-led format. - A facilitator reads a prompt, players respond in turn, and the group votes on the best answer. - Sessions run one to three hours and cost $200 to $400, depending on length. - The format was developed over the past year through free events for community and civic groups in the East Bay. - Past events included a Danville National Night Out gathering and a session for seniors at the Belmont Center. - The New York Life session was customized for customer relationships, closing and accountability. - Founder Gini Graham Scott designed a new game called Sell It! and had the cards written, designed, printed and cut inside two days. - Most participants said they would attend another session, and a majority said they were interested in hosting one. - The company manager who arranged the session called the event fantastic. - Written feedback said the session helped participants look at their business through a different lens, have conversations they would not normally have, and practice explaining their thinking out loud. - One participant wrote that the group brainstormed together and learned what to say and how to say it. - Scott later took the program to the San Ramon Chamber Expo, where she met companies and community groups interested in hosting game events for team building and fundraisers. - Workplace sessions come in two formats: existing games on topics such as brainstorming and health, or custom games built around a company's issue. - Scott is recruiting and training facilitators to run sessions independently, with facilitators taking half the fee. - Companies and facilitators can contact changemakerspub@att.net to book or train.

Between the lines: - The appeal is not just entertainment. The feedback suggests employers see value in structured conversation that surfaces ideas employees may not voice in routine meetings. - The model also creates a potential scale play for Scott: custom sessions generate premium work, while trained facilitators can expand reach without her running every event.

What's next: - Scott is expanding outreach to local businesses and community groups that want game-based sessions. - The Games Experience will likely grow through facilitator training, which could let the format spread beyond the East Bay. - ALB Games is also developing mobile versions and an online community for players and game designers. - Scott is writing a series on games in the workplace focused on why teams that talk to each other outperform teams that do not.

The bottom line: - Card games are getting a second life as a workplace tool, and at least some employers are willing to pay for them.