The marshmallow tower is the most-studied team-building exercise in the world. Tom Wujec's data shows kindergartners outperform MBAs because they prototype early and iterate. That insight alone is worth the 18 minutes.
How to run it
- 1
Each team of 4 gets 20 sticks of dry spaghetti, 1 metre of tape, 1 metre of string and 1 marshmallow.
- 2
They have exactly 18 minutes to build the tallest free-standing structure with the marshmallow on top.
- 3
Measure each tower. Tallest wins.
- 4
Debrief: who prototyped early? Who designed for 17 minutes and tried once? Why did the marshmallow surprise you?
Where this fits
Pair this with the right venue setting and a matching retreat format. If you want a fully facilitated version, our team can run it for you.