Game instructor checklist to facilitating team building games

Game instructors have a leading role in the success of the game. If you want your event to be well organized and smooth, there are some things that is good to keep in mind or just rehearse, especially when you are just a beginner. That will affect how well your event turns out. Here are some suggestions according to the timeline of the preparation before your event, during your event, wrapping up the results and challenges that may occur during facilitating team building games.

Following tips are written by Adventure Company 360 Degrees instructor Meriliis Kotkas and Adventure Company 360 Degrees games manager and instructor Linda Tetsmann. You can download the shorter and printable version from the end of the article. Enjoy reading!

A Week Before the Event – creating the game, preliminary info and testing

✔️ Prepare a game and create an event. If possible, consult with colleagues, show them the game file and apply changes if necessary.

✔️ Test the game: it is always a good idea to test the game before a real event, especially when it is carried out in a new location or you use a new game type. Testing the game helps to avoid flaws and make playing for clients more pleasurable. We recommend you to play the full game at least once, remember to play really and not just test quickly. You will not lose any teams if you use a testing mode.

✔️ Send pre-info to the client to confirm the time schedule and the venue (the start and finish point of the game) of the event and inform clients to wear comfortable clothing (if it is an outdoor game). It is also a good idea to share the phone number of the game instructor (in case something happens). This preliminary information also works as the reminder for both sides and helps to avoid mistakes in timing and venue.

A Day Before the Event – preparation and packing

✔️ Check batteries of smart devices and if needed, recharge them.

✔️ Clean the screens of the devices and pack them. It is recommended to pack your smart devices (for example tablets) into weather proof cases. That is how you can prolong the lifespan and batteries duration of your devices. Read more about how to make your tablets weather proof.

✔️ Pay attention on how many smart devices you will need. It is always a good idea to pack some extra devices (depending on the number of players), just in case the batteries run out or something else happens during the game and you have to change the devices.

✔️ Print out a summary of the game where a safety reminder, a game description and rules are listed. This document acts as the reminder for a game instructor and gives more confidence when you are just a beginner.

✔️ Before every event check if there is an update of Loquiz app in Google Play or in App Store. New releases help to make an app more stable, they can also involve new features and improvements. Instructor Alar at a game

The Day of the event – preparation and briefing

✔️ Be at the venue of the event at least half an hour before the event starts. Then you will face less stress and it gives a good impression when you are already prepared when players arrive.

✔️ Prepare the devices. If your clients will use your devices, then we recommend to turn on all the devices before the game, insert event codes and load the game. This way it is much easier for the players to start the game without complications. If the players use their own phones, then make sure that they have enough batteries. You can also equip yourself ahead with some power banks. It is important to show to the teams who are playing with their own devices, how to resume the game with the other device in case batteries run out.

✔️ Briefing clients – it should be short, fun and informing. It is good to give an overview of how long the game lasts, what is the aim of the game (main idea), player´s location (blue dot), how to use the device etc. Remember that too much information is just overwhelming, you can always use an intro text to add extra details.

✔️ How to share people into groups? Larger screen tablets are best to view in a group of 5-6 people, smartphones with 2-3 people. But when it is a big event, then of course the groups can be larger, 7-9 people is optimal. Read more tips about dividing teams into groups. If it is a big event (for example with 200 or more people), it is a good idea to share people into groups already before the day of the event and also give them team names. If you want, you can even prepare a test game for team leaders to practice before the real event.

✔️ Agree on ground rules with players to avoid further misunderstandings and disagreements. For example, you may agree what happens when two teams have the same amount of points – winners could be those who answered the most questions or those who had the biggest amount of correct answers. You could also agree either to use Google search to answer or not. In addition, to just ranking teams by score you could also rank them according to most km-s, funniest photos, etc.

✔️ Share the game instructor’s contacts – let the players write down the phone number of the game instructor or to take picture of it. It is a good idea to put the phone number also into the game intro where players can find it, if necessary.

✔️ Give an option to ask questions – just to be clear. Most probably, they will ask about the length of the game (you can repeat), where is the finishing point, and what happens when the device breaks.

During the game

✔️ Be available if some player calls you to ask questions or if something happens. If possible, meet players somewhere during the game – most probably you will meet them when you are nearby to the areas where they are playing (check a map view from the results page). In case of some specific question, where the task is to visit some cafeteria or restaurant in the game, it is good to go and check if everything is ready (just after starting the game and seeing that everything goes fluent).

✔️ Keep an eye on the game progress– during the game, it is a good idea to follow the results page – if each team has started, where the players are, are the results uploaded. Then you can react if necessary. Hint: you also see results page link when you start the game in the app in the testmode.

✔️ Check the game time – be earlier in the finishing point, because it may happen that some teams will arrive back from the game earlier.

Summary- wrapping up the results and packing

✔️ Collect and count all smart devices. You don’t want anything to be missing.

✔️ Check out the results before announcing the winners. It is also a good idea to recheck if results in the tablet and results page fit.

✔️ Prize – it is always a good idea to have a prize for the best team in the game. It keeps motivation up and gives a bit more competition in the game.

✔️ Avoid condensation in devices. If it was rainy during the game, it is better to dry and take smart devices out of cases. Condensation can really harm the devices. When you are playing in winter time – keep the smart devices at room temperature before charging their batteries.

✔️ Share the web link of the photos and videos to clients if you had some questions in the game. If a client wants, you can also make the presentation of photos and videos at the end of the game on a big screen.

✔️ Evaluate the game: write down controversial questions and anomalies (questions not opening). This all helps you to make your game better next time, so use it.

Special cases – What to do if …

… it is not possible to start the game. Did you check if you have enough teams on your account? Or maybe you inserted a wrong username or password? You will need the internet to start a game.

…. Loquiz does not show my location. Make sure you are outside and your smart device has GPS on. Check out also if Loquiz has necessary application rights (right to use a location and camera). You can also try restarting the app.

… questions don’t open: check if the team has started the game by entering the team name. Is the game time running? It can also happen with a bad GPS connection. If the location accuracy is worse than 100 meters, then Loquiz will not activate questions. Remember that GPS works outdoors only.

… results are not uploaded. The team is probably missing the internet connection. If teams play the entire game without the internet connection, then make sure to create the internet connection for the device at the end (wifi etc) and press the button to reupload the results. This will update the results table. If you are unable to get internet back on, use the results table in the device to see results for this team.

… app crashes, battery runs out or a smart device stops working. No worries, players can resume the game on the same device where it was closed. You can just push “Continue last game” in log in screen.
If you wish to resume the game on another device (possible only when the device had the connection with the server to upload results), enter the username and password of the game and choose Resume in the opened event screen. Choose the correct team name and you can continue from the last saved position. Playing with the same team on multiple smartdevices simultaneously will screw up the game and results! So brief players to use one device per one team.

… I want to change the game when it is already on: unfortunately, it is not possible. Changes made in the game file during the game will only affect persons that will start the game after your changes and saving the game.

Download the printable checklist here!