The Heuristic Games team have designed and run training games for over 20 years, engaging business, government and academic audiences in unique learning experiences.

Our Games

Transport Planner

25 Years of Transport Planning in one day

Power Trader

How will your company keep the lights on?

Impact!

Engage key stakeholders in your research

Our Clients

#1 Transport Planner

Transport Planner is a unique one-day workshop that puts you in the shoes of a transport director…

The Game

  • Can you get all of your city’s residents to work in rush hour?
  • What solutions will you use to keep commuters happy and maximise your planning success?
  • How will you optimise your network and adapt to challenges like air quality and climate change?
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Who is the game for?

Transport planners: early/mid/late career

Transport policymakers 

Transport research groups

Masters and undergraduate students

Transport technology developers

Transport consultants

Community groups

Anyone with an interest in transport

What are the outcomes?

LEARNING THROUGH DOING: Direct immersion in the complexities of the transport system delivers a hands-on experience unlike any other training

UNDERSTANDING MULTIPLE SCENARIOS: Each team will develop a geographically and historically different city, each taking different decisions and sharing their outcomes, learning from one another

STRENGTHENED TEAM WORKING: Development of communication, negotiation, decision making and conflict resolution skills

A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE: This bespoke game has been crafted by our experts to create an unforgettable day of learning and fun!

Game Player
Transport Planner @ Birmingham Uni

“Using four different models to simulate different types of cities was really helpful in understanding the different situations.”

Game Player
Transport Planner @ Birmingham Uni

“The upgrades between levels – policies, emissions, CO2 levels etc are all realistic!! And they helped me to understand real life problems.”

Game Player
Transport Planner @ Birmingham Uni

“It was really useful to learn about how transportation planning differs for cities with different geography.”

#2 Power Trader

Power Trader is the unique one-day workshop that puts you in charge of your own energy company…

The Game

  • Can you source enough energy to keep your customers’ lights on?
  • What will you do to maximise shareholder profit whilst reducing carbon emissions?
  • How will you cope with the pressure of changing weather patterns and customer demand?
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Who is the game for?

Energy Traders

Utilities

Energy policy makers 

Research consortia

Energy Technology Developers

Regulators

Energy consultants

Masters and undergraduate students

Community groups

What are the outcomes?

LEARNING THROUGH DOING: Direct immersion in the complexities of the electricity system, delivering hands-on experience unlike any other training

UNDERSTANDING OF MULTIPLE ENERGY SYSTEM PERSPECTIVES: Explore challenges faced by policy makers, power producers and strategists in designing the future energy system

STRENGTHENED TEAM WORKING: Development of communication, negotiation, decision making and conflict resolution skills

A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE: This bespoke game has been crafted by our experts to create an unforgettable day of learning and fun!

Ben
Power Trader @ Edinburgh Uni

“Good to see how the different policies affect the behaviour of the market.”

Tom
Power Trader @ Birmingham Uni

“Actually participating in trading, rather than just looking at markets, gave me a greater appreciation of the difficulties of balancing the grid/cutting carbon/making a profit whilst working under pressure/to tight deadlines.”

Batool
Power Trader @ Birmingham Uni

“Learning different concepts and how they integrate with each other was increased by a lot from one game to another. It was good that no two rounds were the same.”

Game Player
Power Trader @ Birmingham Uni

“The increasing levels of complexity helped develop some understanding of how the real electricity system works and the impact of taxes and subsidies.”

Akash
Power Trader @ Birmingham Uni

“We had an experience of a real time energy market scenario, everything was realistic as the game progressed.”

Game Player
Power Trader @ Birmingham Uni

“Balanced game mechanics meant that different approaches were possible without having one clear “winning” approach – good for teaching.”

Dr Mark A. E. Jepson
Power Trader @ Loughborough Uni

“Overall, this is a fantastic session for any group wishing to explore the intricacies of the energy sector or would like to experience high-pressure business decision making or quickly build teams. I would highly recommend the session.”

Frank
Power Trader @ British Geological Surveys

“The game was really enjoyable, engaging, and most of all it was helpful in understanding some of the dynamics behind modern energy trading”

Umer
Power Trader @ British Geological Survey

“It helped with understanding what challenges we face within public and private sector with CCS”

George
Power Trader @ British Geological Survey

“The Game taught me how the trading system works, and how energy prices are decided”

#3 Impact!

Impact! is the unique one-day workshop that empowers you to get your research to those that most need it…

The Game

  • Which stakeholders most need your work?
  • What will you do to engage them and build relationships?
  • How will you prioritise and juggle different demands on your time as your research develops?
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Who is the game for?

Early career researchers

PhD students

Research consortia

Associations

Energy technology developers

Energy research consultants

What are the outcomes?

LEARNING THROUGH DOING: Hands on experience of developing an impact-based approach, building understanding of how to turn research outputs into tangible outcomes

KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO ENGAGE MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS: Understand the needs of different actors and how to deliver benefits

STRENGTHENED TEAM WORKING: Development of communication, presentation, decision making and strategic thinking skills

A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE: This bespoke game has been crafted by our experts to create an unforgettable day of learning and fun!

Philip
Impact @ Loughborough Uni

“Seeing how complex impact really is in a very kinaesthetic way”

Shandelle
Impact @ Loughborough Uni

“Helped with strategising and planning for the unexpected”

Sara
Impact! @ Loughborough Uni

“Very engaging! Opened mind to possibilities of how to build impact.”

WHY BUSINESS GAMES?

Heuristics have been using business games for many different purposes over the last 20 years.

Our Games are Ideal for

Training new staff. New and experienced staff can play a business game together, tailored to your market and your organisations interactions to learn how the organisation ticks in a hands-on memorable way.
Creating a safe environment for learning about new situations. Your organisation may be faced with fresh challenges as its environment changes. A business game is a safe place to make mistakes before they have to be faced for real.
Providing proving ground for strategy. A game is an ideal tool for strategists and decision-makers to test new strategies or put themselves in their competitors’ shoes, learning to think how they think and understanding their options.
Developing softer skills. These events are ideal for developing negotiating skills, decision making and conflict resolution. They can be coupled with input from a professional behaviour analyst to help participants learn from their experience.
Team building event with a purpose. This is an event that can be used for team building, but unlike raft building or paint balling, it will be highly educational for staff as they learn about the market they operate in.

Past applications of Heuristic games include…

A game for a government department to test changes to regulation before implementation
A series of games to allow generation, retail and trading staff at a utility appreciate each other’s roles
A launch event for 150 staff at an energy trading organisation
An event for an equipment manufacturer to gain understanding by playing in the market of its clients
A 3-day event for board members and senior management prior to the liberalisation of an energy market
An event for university research staff to understand the electricity market
Games within schools to help students appreciate the way electricity is produced and distributed
A simulation of an auction for certain contracts to understand how competitors might behave

RECENT GAMES

Dec102020

Uniper

Power Trader was delivered as an online game for 30 people from Operational Excellence Team

Dec112019

University of Nottingham

Transport Planner was run as a one day workshop for the University of Nottingham Centre for Doctoral Training in Resilient Decarbonised Fuel Energy Systems.

Jun132019

Birmingham University

Transport Planner was used as a one day event for the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education at Birmingham University.

Sep262018

Leicester University

Impact! Was delivered to Energy Research Accelerator researchers drawn from the 7 member universities and research institutions based across the Midlands.

Jun212018

British Geological Survey

Power Trader was run for about 20 students as part of the activities of Energy Research Accelerator which links 7 universities and research institutions across the Midlands.

Dec132017

Loughborough University

Power Trader was used as a one day event within an “Industrial Case Studies” module for students from within and outside of Loughborough University.

MEET THE TEAM

Andy Boston

Game Facilitator

Andy Boston provides energy consulting services through Red Vector Ltd. Andy has more than 30 years experience in the energy industry starting with the nationalised CEGB, through privatisation firstly with PowerGen and thence E.ON, and finally with the Energy Research Partnership.

Over the past 20 years Andy has designed and run games for events of up to 150 people attended by students, lecturers, new staff, middle managers, strategists, traders, senior staff and board members. As well as organising business games his skills include modelling energy markets, developing decarbonisation scenarios and understanding issues around the integration of renewables on to the grid.

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Mike Colechin

Game Facilitator

Dr Mike Colechin is director of Cultivate Innovation Ltd …working with the organisations and individuals who are delivering innovative, low carbon energy solutions.

Prior to setting up Cultivate, Mike was the Energy Technologies Institute’s Partnership Manager, supporting organisations delivering low carbon energy innovation, informing government policy, and building investor and industry confidence in these new approaches.

Mike is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with over 30 years’ experience in the transport and energy sectors, with time spent both as a Combustion Engineer and as a member of E.ON’s R&D Management Team.

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Mike Colechin

Game Facilitator

Dr Mike Colechin is director of Cultivate Innovation Ltd …working with the organisations and individuals who are delivering innovative, low carbon energy solutions.

Prior to setting up Cultivate, Mike was the Energy Technologies Institute’s Partnership Manager, supporting organisations delivering low carbon energy innovation, informing government policy, and building investor and industry confidence in these new approaches.

Mike is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with over 30 years’ experience in the transport and energy sectors, with time spent both as a Combustion Engineer and as a member of E.ON’s R&D Management Team.

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Clare Sheffield

Game Facilitator

Clare Sheffield provides advice to policy-makers and the transport industry on evidence-based, analytically driven transport strategy & planning. A social sciences graduate with 20 years experience, she has pioneered creative research and modelling techniques in the transport industry, specialising in road pricing, cycling and behaviour change, and air quality. Clare has delivered seminars at universities across the UK and bespoke training sessions to analysts and planners.

CONTACT US

To discuss pricing or enquire about booking a workshop, please contact the Heuristic Team: