Badada
OVERVIEW
Badada is a very simple word association game used frequently as a warm up at the beginning of workshops. Typically featured in workshops focused on:`
Creativity
Agility
Public Speaking
Team Building
REQUIREMENTS
Number of Participants:
Minimum: 4 participants / Maximum: 16
Time Required:
Minimum: 5 minutes / Maximum: 10 minutes
Materials Needed:
Nothing, except a great attitude!
EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS
If working in-person, have the group stand in a circle to play this simple word game. If online, you can simulate the sequential order by numbering all participants with a simple numeral placed in front of each participant's name, from 1 to the total number of participants.
Explain this is a a word association in which each player will say a word to the person on their right or the next numbered participant online. That person will then respond to that word with a word inspired by what came earlier. Finally all participates will say both words in rhythm and then say "Badada".
The rhythm is important in this game. To keep it, have all participants pat their legs in rhythm and give voice to a few sample rounds of the game yourself.
Using musical notation the proper rhythm is:
Player 1: First Word (Whole Note)
Player 2: Second Word (Whole Note)
Everyone: First Word (Half Note), Second Word (Half Note), Badada (Whole Note)
*You can hear the rhythm in the video at the bottom of this page at the 4:15 mark.
Now the pattern repeats with the responder from the last exhange saying a new word to the person to their right or the next numbered participant, that person repsonding and all participants saying both words and then Badada.
Once you have gone around the circle fully or given every numbered participant a turn, you can simply contnue playing the exercise by going back to the first player. Having one round of Badada feature several turns for every participant is normal.
Every time someone adds a new word, excluding the first word that starts the exercise, it should be inspired by the word or words that came previously. However, no contribution is wrong. Even if a person can't get a legitimate word out and just says something garbled, that becomes their word and should be used by the next player looking for inspiration and recited in rhythm by the entire group.
Stress that any word is acceptable, participants should not be judging themselves or the words they select. Even if every player just said the word Dog, it would still be an acceptable instnce of this exercise.
INSTRUCTOR DISCUSSION POINTS / LEARNING TAKEAWAYS
TEAM BUILDING
Note instances when participants freeze or stumble over their words as examples of focusing on evaluating their own performance, rater than focusing on how well the other participants can hear and understand contributions directed at them. In order to be successful with this exercise you need to focus on your partner rather than your personal feelings. This is often true when contributing to a team effort.
AGILITY
You can't know what word your partners will say to you. Relax and be okay with the uncertainty. Embrace your inability to know what word will be said for you to work off of. All a participant has to do is say a word, something they do many times every day successfully. When a participant orders a sandwich at a deli tey can't know how the order takerwill respond, yet they can carry on entire conversations under such circumstances. This feels different because their is a performative element. If they relax themselves and lower their expectations they will perform better than if they don't.
CREATIVITY
People often struggle to come up with words when playing this game. Is it truoy possible that anyone is so uncreative they can't conjure up a word? Improvisers know that the diefference between what we call an uncreative person and what we call a creative one is that the creative person doesn't judge their own ideas and choose to self edit while the uncreative does exactly that.
Everyone has thoughts and so everyone is equally creative, you just have to choose to share your thoughts in order for others to appreciate your creativity.
PUBLIC SPEAKING (PRESENTATION
SKILLS)
This game often creates feelings of self doubt as participants judge the words they say. When noting the exercise stress that if you focus on your partner rather than yourself, the game becomes easier. Your partners (the group in the circle) needs you to look them in the eyes and say any word in rhythm in order for the exercise to be successful.
Focus on their needs rather than your fear or discomfort that the words you speak are unimpressive compared to others (Spoiler Alert: they really aren't!).
As a social animal, humans often create unrealistic expectatioms when asked to complete a task in public. For most of us, when asked to deliver a presentation, it is not expected that our presentation will be comparable to the Gettysburg Address.
VARIATIONS
Try having the group speed up the rhythm they play the game at. Often this will result in the group growing louder, not faster. Remind them that the goal is to go fast.
Try inverting the order of the words when they are repeated. If player 1 says "House" and player 2 says "Fly" then the group should repeat "Fly House Badada".