You can review MIT John Sterman's Beer Game workshop video here. There are additional reading materials once you log in to the MIT Sloan Beer Distribution Game simulation as a facilitator.
Login page: Once you enter your Registration Code, a "View Setup & Briefing Slides" link will be listed on the login page. Select the link to view the file "briefing-slides.pdf" which will guide you through the setup and playthrough.
Teaching Materials page: After you log in with your account to view the new Class Code, select the menu "Teaching Materials". There, you can review the file "The Beer Game Online: Facilitator Guide (PDF)" for additional setup and walkthrough.
The MIT Beer Game requires a minimum of four student/participant accounts to complete a single team.
If you would like to try the MIT Beer Game simulation for yourself, you will need five separate browser profiles: one for your admin/facilitator account and four for each role on the team.
Please make sure that when you log in with your players' test account information, you are not using the same browser that your facilitator account is logged in with. We recommend using different browser profiles (see link below), five different browser versions (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, MS Edge), or multiple computers.
Learn how to set up multiple Chrome Browser Profiles here. If you have any questions, you can reach us at support@forio.com.
Navigate to https://forio.com/app/mit/beer-game
Select the "Enter registration code to access teaching video and notes, or set up a new educator account" link
Tip: If you do not see this link, then you have already entered your Registration Code; otherwise, click on the link "clear registration code" in order to bring up the link above.
Copy and paste your Registration code, including the dash characters, into the "Registration code" entry field and select the Submit button.
Select "Create a new educator account" to create your new username login.
Enter your preferred username in the "Username" field.
Enter and submit your preferred password in the "Password" field.
Tip: Do not forget your new username and password - you'll need these credentials to log back in to the simulation.
The simulation will automatically log in with your new username
Enter a Class Code in the "Set a class code" field. Your students will use this to join the simulation.
IMPORTANT: Please do not use your Registration Code as the Class Code. An unauthorized person can figure out that the Class Code is your Registration Code.
If you need to continue the sim at another time, you can select the "Logout" button found at the top-right corner of the page.
To log in and continue where you left off, you can select the "Log in through MIT Sloan" link on the login page and use the same username and password that you generated from Steps 5 and 6 above.
After the Admin submits the Class Code from the 'Monitor Teams' page's [Set a class code:] field, inform the students to do the following:
Navigate to https://forio.com/app/mit/beer-game
Select the link "Join Using a Class Code".
Enter the Class Code that was created in step 8 above and click the "Join" button.
Enter their First and Last Name, and then click the "Create New User" button.
Once all of the participants are logged in, the Admin should go to the "Assign Users" page and click the "Refresh Data" button.
Set "Default Player per Role" to either 1 or 2 players per Role. The simulation requires 4 Roles per Team: Retailer, Wholesaler, Distributor & Factory.
Tip: When set to 2 players per Role, the participants should be aware that they will share the same role and decisions with a co-player. Co-players can use the "Become Editor" button to take over the decision submissions. Co-players should take advantage of the simulation's built-in chat, located at the bottom right corner of the page, to communicate decisions together.
Select "Auto-Assign" or manually assign the participants' Experience Level, Team, Role & Game Mode
Go to the "Monitor Teams" page and select "Open Simulation".
IMPORTANT: We recommend that the participants NOT log out until the simulation is over
Once the game is Open, the participants assigned to the Retailer role must submit a Team Name.
After a Team Name has been submitted, that Team should now be able to play through the simulation.
After participants place and submit their order, the Admin selects the "Refresh Data" button from the "Monitor Teams" page and then selects the "Start Timer and Advance" button to begin the timer countdown. At the end of the timer countdown, the participants will automatically advance to the next week to place their order. Repeat until the Admin and participants are ready to end the simulation.
When ready to end the simulation, the Admin selects "End Session" from the "Monitor Teams" page. This will prevent the participants from submitting their Weekly decisions.
Select the "Show Drawable Graph" button from the "Monitor Teams" page. This will allow the participants (except those assigned to the Retailer role) to sketch what the end customer orders were.
Go to the "Customer Order Graphs" page to review the participants' submissions.
NOTE: All students must log out of the previously played Beer Distribution Game simulation.
Navigate to the "Monitor Teams' page.
Select "Start New Game"
Tip: If the "Start New Game" button is not enabled, select "End Session" to enable the "Start New Game" button.
When the pop-up confirmation reading "Confirm New Game. Are you sure you want to start a new game?" appears, select "Yes"to confirm.
When a new pop-up message reading "Enter new class code. Please enter a new (and unique) class code to use for your new game" will appears, enter the desired Class Code, then select "Submit"
Proceed again with steps 1 through 11 found in the "Steps after creating a Class Code" section above.
You can find additional information at the MIT Sloan site. If you have additional questions, please email us at support@forio.com.