Here's exactly how to run it.
What is 5S?
5S is a five-step method for organizing any workspace so that work flows faster, safer, and with fewer mistakes. The five steps are:
1. Sort — remove what you don't need
2. Set in Order — a place for everything, everything in its place
3. Shine — clean the workspace so problems show and work speeds up
4. Standardise — make the good setup consistent and repeatable
5. Sustain — keep the discipline alive so you don't slide back to chaos
This game walks your team through all five — not as theory, but as something they experience round by round.
Download the 5S numbers game here
What you'll need:
One printed game sheet per participant or team (download link below)
Print single-sided — one slide per page. Do not print double-sided (each round must be on its own separate sheet so players can't see ahead)
A pencil or pen for everyone
A timer
That's it. It works for one person or twenty, in any language — the sheet is bilingual (Arabic / English).
Set up your groups
As the facilitator, assign a timekeeper if you can — or keep time yourself
The timekeeper shouts "Stop!" after 30 seconds
Ideal group size is three to four people
Each group appoints a leader, and the leader holds the pencil
The rules (say these out loud before every round)
Strike out the numbers 1 to 49 in the correct order — 1, then 2, then 3, and so on.
You have 30 seconds
When time is up, write down the highest number you reached in sequence
Same rules every round
How to run it, round by round
Round 1 — The baseline. Hand out the sheet face down. Don't let anyone peek. Start the timer. Numbers are scattered randomly across the page — and there are even junk numbers higher than 49 cluttering things up. Most people barely pass 20. Stop the clock and ask: Did you finish? What stopped you from scoring higher? Let them vent — the mess is the point.
Round 2 — Sort. Explain that your first analysis found excess numbers above 49 that don't belong, so you removed them from the work area. Replay the same 30 seconds. Scores go up.
Round 3 — Set in Order. The remaining numbers are now placed in an organized racking system — a clean grid instead of chaos. Replay. Scores jump again.
Round 4 — Shine. The work area has been cleaned up, and the racks and numbers polished. Replay. Faster still.
Round 5 — Standardise. The numbers are now correctly rotated and arranged in an improved, standardized layout. Replay.
The Quality Check. Tell the team that an auditor came a month later and found two numbers missing. Their new job: find the two missing numbers as fast as they can — this time they can work overtime. First to find both wins. This is what happens when standards slip, and no one maintains them.
Round 6 — Sustain. Ask: what if we kept applying all four previous steps every day?
The debrief (the part that sticks)
Point out the one thing that never changed: the people, and the 30 seconds
Same team, same time limit — but organizing the workspace multiplied what they could achieve
That's the entire case for 5S in one sheet of paper
Ask them: what does your real workplace look like in Round 1 — and what could your Round 6 look like?
Download the game
Grab the free printable PDF and run it with your team this week.