This course covers gaming as a professional practice and prepares students to apply associated methodologies. The term gaming applied here addresses sponsored objectives and decision support rather than commercial and/or entertainment value familiar to most people. Many US Government programs regularly include gaming approaches (eg, table top exercises, wargames) as a method of addressing critical challenges, sorting through complex qualitative factors or driving collaboration across disparate groups. Interagency and international applications are becoming common place but require special attention to cultural and social factors. Students will learn to influence strategic decision making, course of action examination and critical thinking through gaming while providing empirical support for stakeholder priorities, policy development and complex interactions.