Description

Positive, uplifting entertainment: part icebreaker, conversation starter, "getting to know you" tool, team building exercise, communication skills builder, teaching aide, therapeutic intervention, tournament, coffee table book, one small part game, and one big part cooperation made simple and fun.

Agreed the Tournament of Enlightenment: A unique play concept of cooperation and consensus rather than competition. Players use a tournament format to choose their preferred quotations from several historical sages, and the winning quote makes it to the championship. Everyone wins! The tournament includes hundreds of great quotes and encourages discussion of "real stuff"--peace, love, honesty, trust, truth, dreams, hopes, forgiving and genuine friendship. If you pitted the wisdom of Gandhi against the wisdom of Mother Teresa, who would win? Pit the wisdom of Shakespeare, Buddha, Eleanor Roosevelt, William James, Helen Keller, Coach John Wooden, Maya Angelou, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jane Austen, Plato, Anais Nin and a host of other thinkers up and bare witness to something good.

Agreed The Tournament of Enlightenment:

Creates a safe context for sharing thoughts, beliefs, values and opinions.
Fosters sharing, cooperation, working together and building a sense of community.
Generates and achieves heartfelt dialogue.
Helps people get to know each other on a personal positive level.
Prompts deep conversations and the use of concepts and choices that are sadly missing from our black and white world.
Provides a means to re-learn the skills necessary to find common ground, build agreement and connectedness.
Provides a safe venue for a group of like minded or different minded people to achieve deeper discussions.
Guides players to share two thousands years worth of wisdom, wonder, mysticism, and precepts from many different traditions.
Provokes a stretching of the mind, encourages reflection and lighthearted banter.
Stimulates non-competitive and non-argumentative exchanges.
Teaches skills in listening, sharing, consensus, team-building, critical thinking and democracy.
Compels exploring of important poetic/literary/spiritual/philosophical/religious concepts among family, friends, colleagues, romantic interests, and acquaintances.
Step into a good for you, good for me consciousness.

Great for: people who love quotes, the alternative/hippy/green/peace & love crowd, the health and sustainability crowd, educators, bookstore patrons, literary types, coffee shop customers, poets, song writers, friends, family, strangers, metaphysical book store customers, college students, clients, spiritual and ecumenical folks, conference/fair/festival goers, philosophers, academic settings, therapeutic and self help folks, religious studies groups, dating, couples retreats, therapists, counselors, groups, companies, corporate trainers, Sunday school classes, boards of directors.

Select comments from the comment cards from the 2010 Mensa Mind Games Competition: Original idea, interesting concept, easy set up, smart green board and minimal packaging (it does not come in a big clumsy box, it comes in a neat container), promotes agreement, has a feel good quality to it, a way to get away from alienating first person shooter videos, actually it was cool: kind of like watching democracy and philosophies at work, non-competitive entertainment, based on a concept of no discernible winning player; rather everyone is a winner, leaves you knowing more than when you began playing, worth marketing but not to the competitive and strategic game player market.