05 Exercise: The Sprint Game
Experience a complete Scrum sprint in 30 minutes
About This Exercise
The Sprint Game is a hands-on Scrum simulation that lets you experience a complete sprint cycle in compressed time. You’ll work in teams with assigned Scrum roles and use a digital Kanban board to manage your sprint.
The Project: Study Room Booking App
Your team is building a Study Room Booking App for university students—the same project from the Telephone Game exercise. The app allows students to:
- Browse available study rooms across campus
- Book rooms for individual or group study sessions
- Manage their reservations and receive reminders
The Product Backlog contains user stories for this app. Your team will select, prioritize, and “implement” these features during the sprint.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the three Scrum roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developer
- Experience the sprint phases: Planning, Execution, Review, and Retrospective
- Practice using a Kanban board to visualize and manage work
- Learn how self-organizing teams make decisions
How It Works
1. Setup (Lobby)
- Instructor creates a room and configures teams (1-3 teams)
- Students join using the room code
- Each student is automatically assigned to a team
- Students can opt-out of being Product Owner or Scrum Master
2. Sprint Planning (5 min)
- Roles are randomly assigned: 1 PO, 1 SM, rest are Developers per team
- Product Owner drags user stories from the Product Backlog into the Sprint Backlog
- Team discusses which stories to commit to
3. Sprint Execution (15 min)
- Tasks appear on the Kanban Board (To Do → In Progress → Review → Done)
- Developers claim tasks and move them across columns
- Scrum Master helps remove blockers and keeps the team focused
4. Sprint Review (5 min)
- Each team presents what they completed
- Product Owner accepts or rejects the work
5. Retrospective (5 min)
- Everyone submits feedback: What went well? What to improve?
- Discuss as a class
Scrum Roles
| Role | Responsibilities | In This Game |
|---|---|---|
| Product Owner (PO) | Decides WHAT gets built, prioritizes backlog | Drags stories to Sprint Backlog during Planning |
| Scrum Master (SM) | Facilitates process, removes blockers | Helps team stay focused, tracks progress |
| Developer (Dev) | Decides HOW to build, self-organizes | Claims tasks, moves cards on Kanban board |
The Kanban Board
Your team’s work flows through four columns:
- To Do - Tasks ready to be worked on
- In Progress - Tasks someone is actively working on
- Review - Tasks waiting for review/verification
- Done - Completed tasks
Key Rules
- Only claim tasks you intend to work on
- Move cards when status changes (don’t batch updates)
- Limit work in progress (WIP) - focus on finishing, not starting
- Help teammates when they’re blocked
Ready to Play?
Join or create a room below:
Join Room
Waiting Room
Developers: Rate each story from 1-5 stars based on its importance for the product.
All Roles: Rate each story's priority in the Sprint Backlog (3 = Very important, 2 = Important, 1 = Nice-to-have, 0 = Irrelevant).
Developers: Select the stories you would like to work on (multiple selection allowed).
Developers: Are you satisfied with your assigned stories?
How satisfied are you with these assignments?
Team Alpha
Team Alpha
Prioritized Backlog
Final Scrum Board
Voting Summary
Round 1: Backlog Prioritization
1.1 Importance Voting (1-5 stars)
1.2 Priority Voting (0-3)
1.3 Confidence Voting
Round 2: Story Assignment
2.1 Preferences
2.2 Assignments
2.3 Satisfaction Voting
Review: Story Approval
Sprint Statistics
Sprint Complete!
Congratulations! You've completed a full Scrum sprint.
Discussion Questions
- Did you complete everything you committed to?
- What blocked you during the sprint?
- How did the board help (or not help)?
- What would you do differently next sprint?