According to Dennis Strijker and Kevin van Ostaden of PwC in The Netherlands, "You better get your game on!" Expatica interviews the inventors who offer Expatica readers the chance to win The International Mobility Game.

Over the past few months,  Dennis Strijker and Kevin van Ostaden have been working on the development and launching of  "The International Mobility Game", a board game which enables players to gain knowledge on the entire international mobility process (from international taxation to immigration and assignment policies to process improvement).

[Expatica] Can you tell us a bit more about the goals you are trying to achieve with the game?

[Kevin] This obviously depends on who you are playing the game with. We have played the game with clients and received lots of positive feedback on it. The International Mobility Game is developed in such way that it covers wide international mobility topics, without going into the technical detail of specific country law. It reveals valuable information, helps in building the relationship with all stakeholders in the international mobility process and provides a lot of topics to talk to each other about what we see in practice and how we deal with this. And, of course, it is a great gift...that is if you are able to win the contest!

[Dennis] We have also played the game with colleagues who just joined PwC. By playing the game, newcomers are able to see the bigger picture in relation to international mobility-related topics. It's not only about taxes, immigration or social security. Other factors are important to our clients such as talent management, process improvement, internal communication standards. Besides that, it's just a fun game to play.

[Expatica] How does the game work? Can we compare it to a boardgame that is already on the market?
[Dennis] It's not comparable to any other boardgame. We developed the game together with a professional game developer, Bas Kesting of Spel-Maker.
[Kevin] We wanted to make sure that our game was unique, but also fun to play. And besides that, we both are not really experienced in developing boardgames. In Dutch we call this "schoenmaker blijf bij je leest".

[Expatica] So how does this unique game work?

[Dennis] Each player is a company managing director who has to assign staff around the world. This staff will have a certain revenue for the assignment period. At the beginning of the game, the players have to structure the assignments. The better this is done (determined by luck), the costs during the assignment years will be lower, resulting in a higher revenue at the end of the game. During the assignment years, a number of situations can occur, which will have impact on the revenues / costs. At the end of the game, the player with the highest revenue wins.

[Kevin] Of course, the best way to learn the game is to play the game. So maybe this is a good moment to tell you about our contest!

[Expatica] Contest?

[Kevin] We still have a few games available and we thought it would be fun to give away three games through a contest on Expatica.com.

[Expatica] So how does this contest work?

[Dennis] Well, we did not want to make it too difficult. So the three subscribers that give us the best reason why they would like to receive a copy of the boardgame will win. The competition will run until the end of October and people can react through your website.

If you would like to receive more information about "The International Mobility Game", feel free to contact Kevin (kevin.van.ostaden@nl.pwc.com) or Dennis (dennis.strijker@nl.pwc.com) personally. Interested in winning a copy of the game? Email us why you would like to receive a copy!

More about the inventors of The International Mobility Game

Kevin van Ostaden has been working with PwC for six years. After receiving an MSc Degree in Tax law, he started working for PwC in the International Assignment practice. The first four years he worked for a variety of clients operating in various industries and the past two years has mainly focussed on clients that operate in the Oil & Gas industry. Kevin says, "I always try to challenge myself to come up with a different approach towards my clients. This is basically how Dennis and I came up with "The International Mobility Game".

Dennis Strijker started working for PwC in 2002. He advises clients on how they should optimize their international mobility processes and policies in such way that compliance risks are avoided and efficiency standards are being met. How much do you pay your expats? From which country? How do you ensure compliance with local legislation? In practice, "I saw many clients struggling with these questions which also formed the foundation of our boardgame,"says Dennis.