A Strategic Game Is Better Than a Workshop.
- Omar Romero
- May 1
- 4 min read
Updated: May 29
Victory Game is not just a session. It’s a stance. A stance adopted by a team that, for a few hours, stops being who they usually are to become challengers of their own company.
Victory Game is a methodology I created after years of accumulated frustration. Frustration disguised as workshops—those meetings with fancy English names, dimmed projectors, templates being filled out by a facilitator as others dictate pre-written answers.
After a decade as a creative and another as a strategist, I sat in rooms from Miami to Medellín, Dubai to London, where participation was staged, where the so-called workshop was just a photo op. It became clear: if every meeting is called a strategic workshop, then what we truly need is not a new agenda, but a new culture.
A Strategic Culture of Play
Games demand something that strategic spaces rarely do: real willingness to play. And to play is to commit. In a Victory Game, there are:
High-performance players who are ready to give it their all.
A decision-maker who enters and exits the board with the team—not as a judge, but as a co-author.
Area heads who take notes not to archive them but to ensure execution.
Teams who iterate, who track progress, who measure and score like passionate fans—because the trophy isn’t the idea, it’s the implementation.
This isn’t just a meeting. It’s a simulated battle where the stakes are real: the organization’s capacity to strengthen itself. And to play it, you have to be ready to think from different roles, across different tables, wearing different lenses—even doubting yourself in the process.
The Origin
I spent ten years in a military school. That experience planted a fascination with the human machine: how dozens, hundreds, thousands of people organize to act—whether in Roman formations or WWII maneuvers. That led me to Wargames, serious simulations of critical decisions under uncertainty. Victory Game was born from there. But without negotiation, without storytelling, without empathy or mentorship, there is no game. And if decisions aren’t measured or implemented, then it’s not a strategic game either.
How Do You Play?
With clear rules. Just like a good match of RISK®, CATAN® or Monopoly®. You open the box, hand out the boards, and each person takes on a role that isn’t their usual one. You play from mastery—of your business, of your context, of your competition. Then you switch tables, face other teams’ strategies, and return to your real role—ready to debate, doubt, and listen differently.
What Are We Up Against?
The paralysis of over-analysis. Fear of acting. A slow, silent deterioration that eats away at culture, operations, customer experience—until it shows up at every touchpoint. Fragility doesn’t need more slides. It needs action. And the more we face discomfort, the more resilient we become.
“The active participation of everyone deepened their role within the organization and connected them through trend exploration.
— Catalina Arboleda, Communications Leader
Energy Service Company.
“It’s a great methodology. It builds team connection and allows ideas to be compared and enhanced collectively.”
— Erika Robles, Head of Oncology Unit
Pharma Company.
“This is how you get questioned—and question yourself.”
— Franshesca Espinel, VP Marketing
Construction Company.
The Hardest Part
Culture. A Strategic Culture of Play means agreeing, every day, on who we are as a team. Why we exist. Where we are and where we need to go. It means deciding what to commit to and what to leave behind. It means understanding others, walking in their shoes, and co-creating new paths—not writing a strategy once and locking it in a drawer.
That’s why a Victory Game session takes weeks of prep and multiple iterations. What comes out of it isn’t just a strategy—it’s a behavioral shift.
Ten Principles to Start Shifting Today
Allow questioning—even if it's disruptive.
Synthesize: less paper, more ideas.
Surround yourself with real experts—not titles.
Stay open to positive stress.
Build a culture of implementation and experimentation.
Embrace mistakes and learn from them.
Spot the 10% that works and scale it.
Document what happens in the field—execution and iteration matter.
Make people fall in love with what they do through these sessions.
Find someone to mentor—and someone to learn from.
That last point is the real difference between “winning” and true victory. Victory is about improving the conditions for all players involved. That’s why Victory Game isn’t just a business methodology—it’s for institutions, communities, and organizations with key stakeholders and audiences.
At Victory Games LLC, we’ve learned that strategic play doesn’t just design products. It defines alliances. It tells us which technologies to embrace and which to reject. It clarifies what aligns with our DNA and what doesn’t. Saying no is also part of the game.
Bringing new global allies to the table isn’t a commercial tactic—it’s a future-aligned strategic decision. It’s about co-creating, prototyping, challenging, and implementing solutions that can transform entire sectors.
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