This week in EDL 290T, our class continued playing Fiasco using the scenarios that we had set up the previous week. Fiasco is a dice-based game where players have to collaborate and create character backstories, then throw those characters into various scenes based on the rolls of their dice.

Our class continued with the same Zoom breakout rooms as the week before. Our team made it through the first half of Fiasco and was setting up the tilt, but we were the only group not to make it into the second half of gameplay. In Fiasco, the tilt is a central “plot twist” that makes for a challenge that has to be incorporated into the scenes in the second half of the game. The tilt is usually something that results in a catastrophe for at least a few of the players; the tilt, like all other elements of story setup in Fiasco, is dependent on the roll of the dice and is chosen by the players who have the highest roll totals for the “good ending” white dice and “bad ending” black dice.

The big challenge this week was communication; one member of the group had their wisdom teeth removed in between classes and other players had mic issues. We were able to use the chat within Zoom to coordinate some aspects of gameplay, but it did slow us down as a group. For me, the most fun part of the week was working out who got to do what to incorporate some of the elements we’d built into our storyline during the setup process, like the crashed helicopter and an Antarctic firetruck.

The gameplay within Fiasco ties into leadership because there are sometimes unexpected elements that come up seemingly out of nowhere to complicate situations. As leaders, having good communication and coordination within a team can make dealing with the unexpected easier. I could see my friend Will, who is big into disaster movies, enjoying this game because of the chaotic elements that have to be incorporated via the tilt.