Blood Distribution Game: Instructions for gameplay
Basic Rules of the Blood Distribution Game:
1. There are 8 identical blood banks playing this game simultaneously. You are Player 1.
Computer will play the game on behalf of the other 7 blood banks.
2. Each blood bank issues two products, Whole Blood (WB) and Red Blood Cells (RBC), to
patients.
3. Life of both the products, i.e., WB and RBC is two1 days. All blood banks maintain two
different stocks for a given product. Units which are fresh are stored in the "FRESH STOCK"
while the units which are one day old are stored in "OLD STOCK". Any unit which is older
than two days is discarded.
4. All 8 blood banks get their supply of the WB and RBC from a Regional blood bank. The
Regional blood bank has a limited daily supply of 45 units each for WB and RBC.
5. At the start of every day all blood banks place their orders for WB and RBC to the Regional
blood bank. As long as the total quantity demanded (for a product) by the 8 blood banks on
a given day does not exceed 45 units, each blood bank receives the same number of units it
ordered. If the total quantity demanded exceeds 45 units, the units are allocated to blood
banks in proportion of their order sizes. Units are transferred from the regional bank to the
individual blood banks immediately without delay (Lead time =0 days).
6. The average daily demand for both WB and RBC at all blood banks is 5 units with a standard
deviation of 2.24 units. The daily demand values for WB and RBC at your blood bank for the
last two months is shown in Fig 1.
Variation of Demand
WB Demand
RBC Demand
-60
-59
-58
-57
-56
-55
-54
-53
-52
-51
-50
-49
-48
-47
-46
-45
-44
-43
-42
-41
-40
-39
-38
-37
-36
-35
-34
-33
-32
-31
-30
-29
-28
-27
-26
-25
-24
-23
-22
-21
-20
-19
-18
-17
-16
-15
-14
-13
-12
-11
-10
-9
-8
-7
-6
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
Demand (Units)
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Days
Fig 1: Variation of demand of WB and RBC for Player 1 (last two months).
1
Life of Whole Blood (WB) and Red Blood Cells (RBCs) both is actually 30 days but for the purpose of the game
both have been assumed to last for only 2 days.
What do you need to do?
1. At the start of every day you will need to decide the number of units of WB and RBC to order
from the Regional blood bank.
2. The number of units received, however, may be less than what you ordered depending upon the
supply at the Regional blood bank. The units are added to your “fresh stock” instantaneously.
3. Please remember units in “fresh stock” will survive for 2 days while units in “old stock” will
survive for 1 day. At the start of a given day all the remaining units from the “fresh stock” of the
previous day are transferred to “old stock”; all the remaining units from the “old stock” of the
previous day are discarded (wasted).
4. The fixed cost of transporting units from Regional blood bank to your blood bank is $3 per day.
This cost is independent of the product being transferred as well as the number of units being
transferred. As long as you receive at least one unit of any one product you incur this cost of
ordering of $3. This cost can be avoided only if you did not receive even a single unit on a given
day.
5. If your total stock is less than the demand on a given day then you experience a shortage. For
every unit your blood bank falls short of issuing to the patients it incurs a cost of $10.
6. Your “old stock” denotes the items that have a remaining life of just 1 day. If the demand on any
day is less than the number of units in the “Old Stock” then you will experience a wastage. For
every unit of blood that is wasted due to expiry (discarded) it incurs a cost of $1.
7. Your objective is to minimize the total cost for your blood bank : cost of ordering + cost of
shortage + cost of wastage
How to play the game?
(You need MS-excel 2007 or higher to play this game. You may also have to enable macro in your
excel file in order to be able to play this game.)
1. Go to the ‘Game File’ sheet in the workbook. You will see that the initial inventory on the start of
Day 1 of both WB and RBC at your blood bank is 5 units (all units are 1 day old, hence stored in
“old stock”) [see Fig 2]
Fig 2
2. Press the proceed button to begin the play. As soon as you press the proceed button you will be
asked to decide the order quantities for WB and RBC for Day 1 [see Fig 3]. The units allocated by
the regional blood bank to you (based on your order) are added instantaneously to the “fresh
stock” [see Fig 4].
Fig 3
Fig 4
3. The system will tell you how many units for WB and RBC were demanded by the patients during
Day 1 [see Fig 5]. Depending upon the demand observed during Day 1, the stock level of both
products will be updated. The units are issued in the oldest-first manner (FIFO). If the demand is
more than the total stock (fresh + old) there is a shortage. If the demand is less than the “old
stock” there is a wastage [see Fig 6].
Fig 5
Fig 6
Fig 7
4. Once the player presses the proceed button Day 2 will begin. The units received at the start of
Day 2 are stored in the “fresh stock”. Any leftover from the “fresh stock” of Day 1 is moved to
the “old stock” on Day 2. Any leftover from the “old stock” of Day 1 is discarded (wasted).
5. The system will tell you how many units for WB and RBC were demanded by the patients during
Day 2. Depending upon the demand observed during the Day 2, the stock level of both products
will be updated. If the demand is more than the total stock there is a shortage.
6. The game is continued in the same fashion for 30 days. Once the game is over please refer to the
“Summary Sheet” [see Fig 8]. You will be able to see the performance (shortage, wastage,
ordering cost and total cost) of all the 8 players during the gameplay.
Fig 8
(Please do not edit/enter/delete any of cells in the worksheets for it may disrupt the game setting.
Once the game is over please save the excel file with your name and e-mail it to
harshal@iimidr.ac.in)