Tech Tempest is a full-day competitive simulation where teams represent ancient civilisations competing to win a modern technology contract. Hudson Hanseatic Bank is building a digital bank from scratch, and eight teams are pitching to deliver it.
Players don't study AI transformation. They live it, making real decisions about what to build, where to build it, how fast to scale, and what to sacrifice. They use AI tools to solve problems, defend their strategy to a simulated risk committee, and discover that there are no right answers, only trade-offs and consequences.
The simulation is built on a defensible industry cost model with thousands of possible configurations, no two teams ever submit the same bid. Every number players see reflects real enterprise economics, delivery team costs, infrastructure trade-offs, location multipliers, and risk pricing.
Tech Tempest is grounded in contributive learning, every team's decisions, insights, and presentations contribute to the shared experience. Players don't just absorb content; they create value for the room. When one team defends a bold strategy and another challenges it, both learn more than either would alone.
The simulation flows through four phases. Each builds on the last. The facilitator controls the pace, players advance when the room is ready.
After all four phases, The Tempest arrives, a wheel spin that tests whether each team holds the right roles and capability cards to capture value or withstand risk events. Only then does the bank reveal its budget and announce the winner.
Timing is flexible. The facilitator controls transitions between phases using unlock codes. Here's a typical school-day flow:
The brief from Hudson Hanseatic Bank. Teams receive civilisation cards, role cards, and capability cards. Login and form councils.
Epic framing. Two question rounds (opening + rivalry) using AI tools. Shoulders of Giants patron research. Physical card trading begins.
Card trading continues informally, players negotiate role and capability swaps.
Feature selection. Nightingale Test (market demand assessment). Tell the Story (creative pitch with imagery and tagline).
Final card trading window. Teams discuss strategy.
Location choice, infrastructure, release scheduling, pricing. Nine steps from baseline to final bid. Real-time cost model updates.
Risk landscape review. Risk spectrum visualisation. Committee verdict and risk budget. Final bid submission. Partnership negotiations.
The Tempest wheel spins, value capture or risk events. Bank reveals budget. Winner announced.
Each team represents an ancient civilisation with a distinct philosophy, a rival, and a signature strength. The civilisations aren't decorative, their wisdom shapes how teams approach modern strategy.
Each civilisation has 8 roles (Merchant, Oracle, Philosopher, Scribe, Advocate, Engineer, Inventor, Sentry) and competes for 8 capability cards (People, Growth, Social, Finance, Legal, Tech, Quality, Create). Matched role-capability pairs provide strategic advantage in the Tempest endgame.
Tech Tempest blends physical cards with digital apps. This is deliberate, the physical trading creates energy and negotiation that purely digital experiences can't match.
Civilisation cards (A4), one per team, introducing their civilisation's history and philosophy. Role cards (A5): 4 per team initially, traded throughout the day. Capability cards (A5), earned and traded.
Tech Tempest, the core simulation (4 phases, player-facing). Game Scoreboard, facilitator dashboard showing all teams, bids, partnerships, and Tempest outcomes. The Great Stink, extension session on process transformation (optional). Cyber Tempest, extension session on cyber risk (optional).
Tech Tempest maps to multiple curriculum areas. It is most commonly delivered in Digital Technologies but works equally well in Business, Humanities, and cross-curricular programmes.
For the full picture, what students actually do across the day and where it connects in your state, see the curriculum alignment page.
Year levels: Designed for senior secondary students (Years 10–12). Successfully piloted with Year 10–11 players. Enterprise edition available for adult learners and corporate leadership teams.
Players use AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or similar) during the Questions phase and Blueprint design. Schools may use their own approved AI tools. The simulation teaches responsible AI use through structured challenges, players learn to prompt effectively, evaluate outputs critically, and build on AI-generated insights rather than copying them.
The facilitator (teacher or SHIFT127/partner facilitator) controls pacing using unlock codes, provided in the facilitation guide. A facilitation guide with detailed timing, discussion prompts, and debrief questions is provided separately. First-time facilitators are supported by a SHIFT127 co-facilitation session.
By the end of Tech Tempest, players will have:
Prompted AI tools to research, analyse, and build insights, not just retrieve answers.
Chosen between cost and quality, speed and risk, innovation and safety, with financial consequences.
Experienced how location, infrastructure, and scheduling decisions change a five-year cost model.
Faced a risk committee that priced their decisions, and discovered the gap between intention and consequence.
Traded physical cards, formed partnerships, and managed team dynamics under competitive pressure.
Discovered that civilisations facing resource constraints made the same decisions today's enterprises face.
Two standalone companion sessions can be delivered alongside or independently of the core simulation:
Each has its own page: The Eye, The Great Stink, and Cyber Tempest.