Agile Games for Making Retrospectives Interesting

I wrote about this last week on InfoQ but I thought it worthwhile to call out the games I think are the most useful and interesting. In the news item I used a quote from Mike Sutton, that neatly sums up the value of games to my mind: “There is nothing as effective to accelerate learning as a physical immersive game. The simpler the better, better still with near to no props. As low tech as possible. You get to see the penny actually drop with some folks too - and that is a great moment”.

For the broader playbook these games fit into, see our Guide to Effective Agile Retrospectives.

Games

Have a team that isn’t focusing enough on process improvement? Try Boris Gloger’s ball point game:

“The objective of the Ball Point game is to get as many balls through the team as possible within two minutes. Each ball must be touched at least once by every team member and must end with the same person with whom it began. After two minutes the team is allowed an additional minute to discuss the process and how it could be improved. The game is played a total of five times…”

Want a fresh perspective on the iteration? Try Retromat’s Movie Critic:

Each team member imagines the last iteration as a movie and writes a short review covering genre (horror, drama, comedy), central theme in two or three words, any plot twist or bad actor, the ending, a personal highlight, and whether they’d recommend it. After five minutes of individual reflection, responses go on a flip chart with seven columns and the team discusses what patterns emerge: what made this iteration a comedy when the last one was a horror movie?

Need to demonstrate the value of working on problems in small batches and without specialisation? Try the Penny Flipping Game:

This simple simulation exercise helps people to understand the efficiency that can come from moving away from a waterfall or large batch process. The exercise can be done with 20 pennies, 5 people and a clock with a second hand.

More problems in specialisation? Try the Paper Airplane Game:

In teams of 4 or more, have participants create as many paper airplanes as possible. When thrown from behind a table at one end of the room, airplanes must cross the room and touch the opposite wall. The facilitator, playing the role of the customer, can reject any planes that do not meet their quality standards. Track the number of planes created/approved, time to get the first plane approved, time to absorb a new team member, time to incorporate a new requirement (first yellow plane)

The Agile Alliance’s Agile Games library has a number of other interesting games that can be used to help introduce new ideas or illuminate existing problems.

Going further

• Same Old Song in Sprint Retrospective? - when your retros have lost their spark
• When to Stop Holding Retrospectives - sometimes the answer isn’t another game
• Two Key Things for Sprint Retrospective Facilitation - facilitation skills to back up the games

Update May 2026: Tasty CupCakes is no longer reachable, so the original links to “We’re having a Party!” and the paper airplane game have been retired. The Penny Flipping Game and Paper Airplane Game now point to their new homes, and Retromat’s Movie Critic has been added as a fresh perspective activity.