Crisis Mode: free crisis communication game for brands

What is Crisis Mode?

Made-up brands, public backfires: a mocking repost, a 70% price typo, stolen artwork, a data slip, a safety problem, a fake rumour. Each run deals five. For each, make three calls against the clock: the apology (or a correction), the timing and the fix, before the heat meter says it's trending.

Crisis Mode is a free crisis communication game. Made-up brands get into trouble in public, five per run: a snack brand mocks a fan's dance video, a clothing shop posts 70% off instead of 17%, a lamp ad uses an artist's work without permission, a newsletter exposes every subscriber's address, kids' bottles have cracking lids, a fake screenshot starts a rumour.

For each crisis you make three calls against the clock: what to post (a real apology, or a clear correction when the brand did nothing wrong), when to post it, and what to change so it doesn't happen again. Each option comes with an explanation, so you learn why "sorry if anyone was offended", blaming the intern or deleting in silence make things worse.

At a glance

Category

Social Media

Difficulty

Hard

Play time

4–6 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Read the briefing

Each crisis starts with what happened. The clock only starts when you respond.

Make three calls

Pick the apology (or a correction, if the brand did nothing wrong), the timing and the fix from four options each.

Watch the heat

Wrong calls push the story toward trending and cost one of 3 lives. Each crisis gives less time: 30 seconds a call down to 18.

Score

100 per right call, +25 per crisis level, up to 50 for speed, and 100 more for a crisis with all three calls right.

Scoring

Each right call scores 100, plus 25 per crisis already handled and up to 50 for speed. Getting all three calls of a crisis right adds 100.

A wrong call or a timeout costs one of 3 lives and heats the story up. Five crises, with 30 seconds per call at first and 18 by the last. Your best score is kept in this browser.

What it trains

Crisis communication

Owning a mistake in plain words, without "sorry if", excuses or blame.

Timing

Knowing when to speak at once, when to check the facts first, and why silence makes things worse.

Fixing the cause

Choosing fixes that help the people affected and change the process behind the mistake.

Strategy and tips

Own it in plain words

Say what happened and that it was your mistake. Skip "sorry if" and vague "technical issues".

Fast, but check first

Answer within the hour when you can. For rumours, check the facts first, then correct quickly.

Safety beats everything

When people could get hurt, warn them right away, before you know the cause.

Match the size

A tiny slip gets a short, human note. A huge formal statement makes it look bigger.

Fix the cause

The best fix helps the people affected and changes the process: a check, a rule, a better tool.

Why play Crisis Mode?

Every brand and every creator makes a public mistake sooner or later, and the response often matters more than the mistake. Crisis Mode trains the core of crisis communication: owning the problem honestly, choosing the right moment to speak, putting the people affected first and fixing what caused it. Unlike one-to-one support, every word here is read by everyone at once.

Frequently asked questions