When you think of video games, what comes to mind? Nintendo Wii? Mario? Sonic? How about supply chain management? While you won't find such a game on the shelf of your local Target, that is exactly what the University of Maryland thought of when they set out to host their first global "serious game" competition.

On March 27, 2007, the University of Maryland used a real-time simulation developed by researchers at the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands to allow 14 different schools to compete in a virtual, global supply chain management game.

During the game, each team, representing a different computer manufacturer, had to run their "business" over a 4 hour period and react in real-time to global changes that were simulated through the game. Decisions from where to locate factories to how to best transport product were required of each team and the real-time nature of the game forced players to react quickly to global changes. As well, each decision impacted all of the other teams making the gameplay truly competitive.

Prizes ranged from portable GPS units to iPods and digital cameras for the winning teams. Sun Microsystems was the corporate sponsor of the competition and the event was a great success! Here is another example of how game play can be used to help teach advanced concepts and systems and provide depth that can not be achieved simply through textbooks in the classroom.

Check out more information at: Supply Chain Game Press Release