NASA game

The NASA game (or: space game) is a discussion game for groups of any size. The players have to find out what equipment would be needed if astronauts got lost on the moon. It is often played in several phases, when the solution is first found by each player individually, and then discussed by larger groups, until a joint solution of all players is found.

Required equipment

 * Each player needs a sheet of paper and a pen.

Story

 * You are part of a NASA mission to the moon. Your space craft crashes. You survive, but you are 200 miles from a rescue craft. Your current position is on the day side of the moon. From the stuff on your spacecraft, you can take 15 working parts. Decide, might be most usefull to you, and order the stuff according to that. Each part will get a number, 1 for the most important equipment, 15 for the least important one.

Equipment

 * First aid set
 * parachute silk (or nylon)
 * compact heating device
 * emergency rations (food)
 * magnetic compass
 * nylon rope
 * two handguns
 * self-inflating life raft
 * oxygen container
 * signal flare
 * map of the moon
 * matches
 * 20 liters of water
 * powdered milk
 * radio transmitter (send/receive)

Ablauf
Each player has to sort his equipment by importance. For each device, he can give a number between 1 (most important) and 15 (least important); each number can be used only once.

Then, the players are put together in groups to discuss their solutions. Each group has to decide on a joint solution. Of course, the groups should find a consensus by discussion, not just a trade-off of the individual solutions. Often, groups that discuss the solution with good arguments finally reach a better solution than other groups.

suggested "correct" solution
This solution was (allegedly) presented by specialists of the NASA.


 * 1) oxygen
 * necessary to survive
 * 1) drinking water
 * important to survive
 * 1) map of the moon
 * Important for navigation
 * 1) emergency rations
 * Food is important for the body, but less so than oxygen and water
 * 1) radio transmitter
 * Might allow communication with the rescue craft
 * 1) nylon rope
 * several possible appliances (pulling equipment, climbing, etc.)
 * 1) first aid set
 * important in case of an emergency
 * 1) parachute silk
 * can be used as sun protection (remember, there is no atmosphere on the moon)
 * 1) self-inflating life raft
 * CO2 containers might be useful as impellent
 * 1) signal flare
 * might be used to alert other astronauts
 * 1) handguns
 * might be used as impellent
 * 1) powdered milk
 * nourishment
 * 1) heating device
 * not necessary on the sun-facing side of the sun (but it will get night sometime)
 * 1) magnetic compass
 * does not work on the moon, there is no magnetic field
 * 1) matches
 * do not work on the moon, there is no oxygen

Similar games

 * The game maritime emergency is quite similar, only the situation is changed.

NASA-Spiel