Numbers: This can be done with as little as 5 people, though
the numbers will dictate how much money is given out at the start.
Equipment: Monopoly money (or equivalent), 2 dice (sic?), life
auction sheets, pencils.
Time: around 1 hour
Age: 11 and up.
The activity.
Give out 'life auction sheets' and ask people to rate what they thought
was important in life fro the sheet, and to list their top 10 (1st most
important, 2nd etc.)
Give out $1000 to each participant. Each person roles the 2 dice. They
get an extra $50 for each number on the dice. But, if they get more than
7, they can roll one extra dice to add to their number, and if they get
12, they get to roll both dice again. This introduces a large degree of
inequity into the game.
Announce that you are going to auction off all the items on the sheet.
At this stage there is no mention of any connection between their listing
and the auction. Auction off all the items starting at $100 each. Keep
a note of who buys what.
When everything is gone (or all the money is gone), allocate points
for what was purchased.
1st Preference 25 pts, 2nd - 20pts, 3rd - 16pts, 4th -
14pts, 5th - 12pts, 6th - 10pts, 7th - 8pts,
8th - 6pts, 9th - 4 pts, 10th - 2 pts, anything that hadn't
been ranked - 1pt.
Get people to share how many items were purchased, and how many points
they had.
Who had won? Did the person with the most items have the most points.
What items were important to people. Why?
We Looked up these passages and thought about what they mean to us.
Matthew 6:19-21, Mark 8:34-36, 1 Samuel 2:7-8
Life Auction Sheet
1. Artistic ability
2. Power over things
3. Great amounts of wealth
4. Physically attractive
5. Ability to love others
6. Ability to receive love from others
7. Close and supportive family
8. Strong and sure faith in God
9. Able to initiate and maintain friendships
10. To have children who are nice people
11. Ability to have an influence over others
12. To be good at sport
13. Good health
14. Musical talented
15. Popular with the opposite sex
16. High intelligence
17. Ability to speak well in public
18. An ability to bounce back from hardships.