Hi guys,

I am currently outside of the US working on a start up company with one of my best friends. We wanted to invent a game to help us learn/practice negotiation. This seems like something that would be right up the alley of poker players.

Objectives
1. Get better at negotiation
2. Introduce variance as an element, but try to reduce the effects so that short term results can be meaningful

Negotiation Game

1. Needed to play game

   a. RNG
   b. 2+ players, human or otherwise
   c. Spread sheet
   d. Timer on phone
   e. Round Robin structure for Pairings?

2. Rules

a. Object is to earn the most victory points by the end of the game
b. Victory points can be accrued by scoring the most points as the negotiator, accumulating the most key words, and guessing the Business
Owner’s exact number correctly (+-10) the most often

i. 3 victory points for ending up with the most points at the end
ii. 2 for having the most key words
iii. 2 for guessing the exact number correctly most often

c. Business owner receives a randomly generated number between 100 and 1000 (we will need to test to adjust numbers) which serves as
their budget and a random negative number (for instance between -1 and -50) as his/her deal breaking disincentive score
d. Negotiator receives a range that the business owner’s number will fall between (for instance 300-700)
e. Negotiator will also receive a deal breaking negative number
f. Business Owner will have a key word (probably just one for the whole game)

1. Game Play

a. Each player will take at least one turn as Business Owner and one turn as Negotiator (Round Robin for multiple players). We can either
have each pairing play “both sides” or immediately rotate
b. Whichever player has the most victory points at the end wins the entire game
c. Negotiations are timed and can last 5 minutes
d. At the end of each round, if players didn’t make a deal, negative points are subtracted from overall scores
e. If players make a deal, Negotiator receives the score that was agreed upon in their deal
f. Business Owner gets the differential between the agreed score and the top of their budget
g. Negotiator guesses Business Owner’s exact number and keeps a tally of how many correct guesses he or she made
h. Negotiator records the key word

All of these numbers are just guesses so I'm open to any suggested adjustments. All the rules are open for debate too. I added the key word element so that there was a "non monetary" element, though of course this can be converted into EV.

Thanks for your thoughts!