Gaming in the Oil Business

Canada’s Edmonton Journal recently carried an article called 'Serious Games' for rig hands. It describes a serious game being designed for rig hands to train them in something called being crowned. In this case you don’t get to be king. According to the journal, "It’s a bad mistake that’s easy to make. Just push a lever too far on one of the 1,001 portable, truck-mounted service rigs in use to maintain western Canadian 183,000 producing oil and gas wells. A big diesel engine roars. Tonnes of machinery and steel pipe rush upwards and smash into the crown of the derric. At worst a lethal hail of metal crashes down." A 23 employee firm, Terris Hill Productions (http://www.terris-hill.com) is fielding the new serious game and is already supported by one third of the western Canadian service rig fleet. With big guns like Imperial Oil and Talisman Energy supporting the project as well as open invitations to show the finished project in both the US and China, Terris Hill Productions could have a hit on its hands, and at the same time save lives.