Enterprising students can now practice their negotiation skills with MarketPlace – a new board game developed by the WestFocus Knowledge Exchange.

Based on a real-life online restaurant reservation business, MarketPlace aims to provide a new and exciting way of teaching entrepreneurial skills at all levels. The game focuses on key marketing concepts: features, benefits, needs and objectives.

Participants are divided in 2 groups. One group are the ‘sellers’; and the other group are the ‘purchasers’. The sellers then make their pitch, elicit needs and encounter objections from the purchasers. The two teams then swap roles and experience the opposite side of the transaction. The game usually takes 30 to 45 minutes to play.

MarketPlace has already been piloted successfully on intensive programmes and on curriculum modules for developing entrepreneurial skills; and it can be used in a variety of learning situations.

MarketPlace can also be effectively used at marketing courses to illustrate the process of marketing communications and at professional development programmes that include developing negotiation skills.

MarketPlace is now available for purchase in boxed sets of 10 games. Each game can be used by up to 12 students at a time, so the box can accommodate a learning group of up to 120 participants. The game is professionally produced on sturdy board, and is fully reusable. The boxed set costs £250 (plus £10 post & packing) and is available from WestFocus. Contact m.mador@kingston.ac.uk