The trainer
Spot the players. Name the shape. Seventeen situations, one from every domain. Each runs the same four beats — and the first one is worth more than the other three together, because an incomplete player list makes everything after it wrong.
01 · Work and Careers The last one out Nobody in the department is asked to stay late. There is no policy, no rota and nothing in anyone's contract about it. Unplayed Sit down →
02 · Work and Careers The number and the job A support team is measured on average call handling time. It was chosen because it is the one thing that can be measured accurately, and because it used to correlate well with how the team was doing. Unplayed Sit down →
03 · News and Media Two desks, one tip Two news desks have the same tip from the same direction. It is plausible, it is significant, and it has one source. Unplayed Sit down →
04 · Climate and Shared Resources Six boats and a bay Six boats work a bay. The stock has been thinning for three seasons and everyone can see it. Unplayed Sit down →
05 · Family and Relationships The dishwasher argument Two people have had the same argument about the kitchen forty times. Both find it exhausting. Both would end it today. Unplayed Sit down →
06 · Markets and Money The quiet exit A freelance platform matches clients with editors. Clients cannot judge editing quality before the work is done, so they choose on price and star rating. Unplayed Sit down →
07 · Politics and Voting The bill nobody will introduce A change to committee procedure would make oversight substantially more effective. It is technical, it is not controversial in substance, and privately most members think it is a good idea. Unplayed Sit down →
08 · Health and Medicine The last ten per cent Coverage for a childhood vaccine has been stable at eighty-eight per cent for four years. The threshold for interrupting transmission in this population is around ninety-five. Unplayed Sit down →
09 · Law and Courts The offer on Friday A claimant with a strong case is offered a settlement on the Friday before trial. It is a little above what continuing would cost them, and well below what they would win. Unplayed Sit down →
10 · Social Media The thread that will not end Two people who broadly agree are eleven replies into a public argument about a detail neither cared about this morning. Unplayed Sit down →
11 · Platforms and AI The one who slows down Four companies are building similar systems. All four have safety teams and all four take them seriously. Unplayed Sit down →
12 · School and Education The extra tutor A selective school allocates places by exam. Roughly the same number of places exist each year. Unplayed Sit down →
13 · Crime and Policing Tuesdays at four A transport network runs ticket inspections. Resourcing allows about eight per cent coverage. Unplayed Sit down →
14 · Faith and Community The rota that fell over A community hall is kept going by volunteers. For years a paper rota hung by the door and about thirty people took turns. Unplayed Sit down →
15 · Sport and Competition The keeper's read A goalkeeper has watched every penalty a particular taker has hit for two seasons. Unplayed Sit down →
16 · Dating and Attraction Nobody says it first Two people have been seeing each other for four months. Both would like to make it exclusive. Neither has said so. Unplayed Sit down →
17 · War and Security The fence and the tower Two neighbouring states share a long, historically disputed border. Neither leadership wants a war and both have said so, privately and credibly, to third parties. Unplayed Sit down →
