What does money mean?
What is the commonly accepted narrative about money and how is this being disrupted?
What is your personal story about money, and does it need healing or transformation?
The Power of The Money Game
There’s often no better way to test and draw out our hidden behaviours and assumptions than by playing a game.
The Money Game was invented many years ago at Findhorn in the highlands of Scotland and has been played by groups and in communities around the world as a way to help us think about, and deconstruct, our relationship to money.
During the game, we explore and manifest the habits and unconscious beliefs that run our relationship to money, learning through our individual experience, interactions and reflections with the wider group.
We’ve run the Money Game for many types of groups and in many countries as live, in-person events, and now we’re excited to host it virtually!
The Basics
For this lab, we are offering to host the virtual Money Game for two different groups of 6-12 people with strong, trusting relationships rooted in shared history, collaboration, and vision that are ready to explore their relationship to money.
What happens during the game is quite simple — several rounds of “play” interspersed with reflective dialogue — but in keeping with tradition we don’t share all the details in advance.
We convene synchronously for 2 – 2.5 hours in Zoom alongside a Mural board, requiring a computer with good wifi connection and privacy to ensure confidentiality.
One person from the participating group will act as the primary point of contact for the host-facilitators. This person will also act as the TREASURER (temporary holder of the money) for the game. You will decide how much money you want to play with and send that money to the Treasurer at least 24 hours before the game begins. The Treasurer holds responsibility for redistributing the final sums after the game.
Participants are invited to “bring” an amount of money (sent to the Treasurer in advance) that you feel comfortable letting go of, but that is enough to “trigger” your learning. It is important that you take a few minutes to feel into what this amount might be for you as it is essential to have a meaningful experience.
People have played with anywhere from $10 to more than $500 (USD). The amount you choose will appear on the game board as virtual currency.
Typically each participant has a different experience of the game. Some leave with more money than they started, and others leave with less or none at all. There is no way of knowing in advance and this is part of what makes the game insightful.
What you must know…
The Money Game is a personal experience in a group setting — an experience that is different each time it is played. Every participant shapes the game based on your own relationship to money, the good & bad qualities you attach to it, the histories & imagined futures you associate with it, and your relationship to the other participants.
This creates fertile ground for individual & collective growth, and can surface discomfort and painful emotions for some. The hosting team aims to create an environment of care and safety, however it is very important that you are aware that YOU ARE 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE WITHIN THE GAME. Your experience is yours, your boundaries are yours, your needs are yours.
For this reason it is important that participation must be optional and at the will of each participant — that no one is required or coerced to attend — and that every participant plan to stay the entire 2 – 2.5 hour duration, so there is sufficient time to process & reflect on whatever happens and to nurture any difficult moments that arise.
The Hosts
FRANCESCA PICK
Francesca is an ecosystem builder, facilitator and organization designer working in the field of distributed leadership and participatory work. During the last decade, she has been a leading member of the self-organized communities Ouishare and Enspiral, and has supported dozens of other networks with her hands-on experience in network governance and community building.
J.D. NASAW
J.D. is a facilitator, coach, consultant, and community builder working at the intersection of somatics, self-management, social justice, and regeneration. As an associate at Greaterthan, he stewards the Academy and leads courses on advancing facilitation, trauma-informed collaboration, and building thriving networks.
