Dear colleagues
I would like to share a free, open source strategy simulation: The Slingshot: An AI Startup Simulation. The simulation places students in the role of an AI founder making strategic decisions under uncertainty. Over 16 quarters, players must complete three progressively challenging milestones before running out of cash. It is designed to provide an experience that is akin to the richer, deeper commercial simulations, like Football Manager, than more narrowly focused educational ones. It offers players the opportunity to develop a wide range of entrepreneurial strategies. The game engine includes some luck but rewards approaches that balance different tensions and that aligns resources with their context. Each quarter players are faced with a set of managerial choices, each of which requires them to make difficult choices about how to allocate their managerial attention.
Key features: 560+ events covering various topics in technology strategy, the commercialization of technology and non-market strategies, funding and funder dynamics rounds, pivoting, racing against competitors, managing team morale, winning grant funding, hiring (and layoff) of staff, developing market and customer knowledge, and many more. There are three 'mini-games' for variety and fun and a guided-play mode, short/long tutorials, help buttons embedded for new players. Winning requires completing three increasingly challenging milestones, and then choosing an exit pathway, including a potential AI unicorn. At the end of the game, players are given a downloaded PDF of their entrepreneurial journey that captures their key strategic choices with developmental feedback. The simulation is set in the dynamic UK AI innovation ecosystem.
You can use as-is and start students playing instantly (works best on a computer). There is no registration, approvals, or payment required. There are also teaching guides, 16 potential class exercises, and various support materials on the GitHub repository. Alternatively, you can modify, adapt or fork it. It is licensed for open development. The goal is to create a collective resource to break away from the closed and costly model of education management simulations. If you want, you can download the HTML file from the GitHub repo and start 'vibe coding' yourself to create different versions and features. It is very easy to do and does not require any technical skills.
Please give back any new versions to the community, so that we can learn and build something together. The license is permissive, but requires you share new versions on the same terms, use for non-commercial purposes, and give appropriate credit.
You can play here.
GitHub repository is here with the game file, teaching materials and other resources:
All the best
Ammon Salter (Warwick Business School)