Creativity Tip – Experiment removing core functions

Generate new ways of achieving your solution by removing a key function and finding inventive ways of replacing it.

I experienced this recently when playing a board game in a pub but didn’t have any dice. I needed to think of another way to simulate a roll of the dice.

First have a think about how you would solve this problem before reading my solutions beneath?

Here are my options:

• Arrange 6 objects on the table in a circle and spin a bottle, knife or glass.
• Write numbers 1-6 on a bits of torn napkin, place in a glass and pick without looking.
• Read through the menu line by line and the next vowel you come to corresponds to the order in the alphabet a=1 e=2 i=3 o=4 u=5. There is no reason I need 6 numbers.
• Flip a coin 6 times with heads= 0 tails= 1
• Pick out 6 people in the pub and number them. The number you pick will be the first person to take a mouthful of food or drink during your go.

I was able to invent new solutions by reframing the function of dice as a means of picking a number between 1 and 6. This allowed my thinking to move away from the rigid function of dice.