Playing Card Mixers

1. Grab a pack of playing cards (or two packs if your group is larger than 52 people.)
2. Randomly distribute one card to each person in your group.
3. Invite them to gather with all others who are holding:
   – Card of the same suit, eg hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades;
   – Card of the same value, eg all the 4’s get together, all the Kings get together, etc;
   – An odd (or even) card; or
   – The same colour card.

You can never have enough fun and engaging ways to invite your group to randomly connect with other people. Take a peek at Leadership Tips to understand why this is so important.

Grab yourself a pack of playing cards (two if your group is larger than 52 people,) and distribute the cards randomly among your group, one per person.

Depending on the size of the groups you are seeking to form, you may then ask each person to gather with others who meet the following criteria:

• Card of the same suit, eg hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades;
• Card of the same value, eg all the 4’s get together, all the Kings get together, etc;
• Everyone holding an odd (or even) card; or
• Everyone holding the same colour card.

After a while, I might invite everyone to swap their card with someone in their current grouping, and then return to an earlier split, such as suit. This tends to mix people up again.

You now have a prescribed number and randomly produced groups or pairs to move on in your program.

Have fun.

The premise behind this strategy is that most people, all things being equal, prefer to be with others that they know or are familiar with – as I describe it, with those they like or are like. Nothing wrong with this. It’s a reflection of our natural instinct as humans to seek safety and comfort. However, this preference will never build and strengthen relationships in a group. Hence the need to given people a reason to seek out others whom they would not ordinarily be or associate with.

Another wonderful benefit of using playing cards (or any prop for that matter) is that the focus of the exercise initially is on the cards, and not on the person. For some, focusing on another person such as looking them straight in the eye, can be very confronting.

Take a look at Facilitator Tips: Episode 1 to learn a little more about the value of giving people a reason to be with others, rather than simply ask everyone to ‘Pick a partner…’

• Straight: Gather with two, three or four other people so that the value of your cards forms a straight, eg 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or Jack, Queen, King, Ace.
• Poker: Invite people to form into groups of five, to form the best poke hand (click here to view the rules of Poker to identify what beats what.)
• Take a look at Clumps, Getting Into Pairs and Vowel Orchestra to inspire you to adopt many more fun and random ways to mix people.

The playing card you are holding will say a lot about what’s going to happen next…

I know that the playing card you are holding was randomly distributed or chosen, but there’s a reason you are holding it right now. It can predict the future…

Coupled with one or more reflection strategies, here are some sample questions you could use to process your group’s experience after using this fun, random method to mix people:

• How did you feel to use your playing card to determine who you gathered with?
• Using this strategy, did you find it easier or more comfortable to find a partner/group?
• Why do humans seek out people they know more often than those they do not?
• Thinking of your own experience, describe a time when you intentionally chose to seek out someone you did not know or has nothing in common with.