Testers are often characterized as a curious group, both inquisitive and a little puzzling. Some do not understand our attraction to this challenging and thoughtful profession. Testers come from many walks of life and have varied stories of stumbling into testing. When we gather, we celebrate our commonalities and explore our differences.
In truth, testers are a playful lot, enjoying challenges of various sorts. We use our wits to tackle existing games as well as newly designed exercises. From riddles to storytelling, Tester Games may be hands on or heads together but they’re always a happy hour. You never know what someone will bring to the conference for evening socializing.
CAST favorites include the dice game and the pen game (no spoilers! you need to experience it for yourself!), but many of us have enjoyed store-bought sets with conversation tailored to development of testing-related skills such as critical thinking or developing test ideas. Some CAST presenters have argued that games help us to become better at testing while others have not found a provable connection. This year, there is even a conference session about how professional testing can be like a game. Check out the AST YouTube channel for archives of CAST Live! game playing “on air.”
Tester games are a CAST tradition, so please join us for the fun this year!
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