25 Office team building scavenger hunt ideas to test now!

Most of us spend our whole workdays in an office. We do our best to deliver the best work. Thus, should a workplace be a dull place to be? Absolutely not. We should add some positive emotions. So this is why I share with you 25 office team building scavenger hunt ideas.

1. A frightening escape as an office team building scavenger hunt idea

Do you know what’s the best way to deliver a positive feeling in team building? Bring a strong emotion. The strongest one is fear. So that you can make your colleagues play a frightening escape.

In fact, there is one scavenger hunt game that you can try with Loquiz: The Dark Manor.

In this game, you wake up. You don’t know who you are, where you are. But you know you’re locked in a dark manor. From there, you’ll need to scavenge for items until you succeed in escaping… Or not.

To play the game, first download the Loquiz app (iOS, Android), then scan the following QR:

From the app, you can also input the following

Username: darkmanor406

Password: 406

2. A photo scavenger hunt

What if instead of finding items, you rather go to take photos? Indeed, there are so many ways you can transform the idea of taking photos into an entertaining game within your office. In this article, I give you 50 ideas to do so.

3. An outdoor game with good storytelling

Having a good office game is nice. But do you know what makes a game outstanding? Good storytelling. However, office scavenger hunt games are often simple. Thus, it might be tough to add lore. And yet, it’s possible. Here we have an example:

Jules Verne’s last travel.

Note that it’s an outdoor game. Then how can you play it from your own office? This game is based on your walking distance. The more you walk, the more you travel. Thus, this means that you can play it from anywhere despite being outdoor.

4. A quiz scavenger game about each other from the office

A scavenger hunt might not necessarily be about items. And this is important when it comes to an office. You might not have the items you need if you want to offer an outstanding game.

So why not consider that you need to find out about other’s people facts and interests? That might be more thrilling than just finding items.

If that interests you, you can try the Connections game.

5. A serious game as an office team building scavenger hunt

You can use the scavenger hunt format as a serious game. Indeed, you can let people find virtual items across your office. Each virtual item can have a link with a topic.

For example, you can use the different rooms of your office and create imaginary situations where sexism is involved. Then you can question people on these situations. If they answer right, they get items as rewards.

I actually developed one game related to that topic: People had great fun while learning about discrimination.

There are many other topics: Work safety, Covid rules, emotional intelligence, etc.

6. Musical culture’s contest

Again, there are other things than items that can be found. People can also find… Songs! You can easily make a game with a list of songs that people need to guess. Divided by teams, they need to get the highest number of correct guesses. So if you have the best musical culture, then it’s time to shine!

7. A murder mystery game

Imagine a murder mystery in your office. Someone from the company (virtually) killed a character. On the crime scene (i.e. your office) spread many items across the scene. Then find a maximum number of items. Each of them gives clues.

And if you connect all the clues, you might find out who’s the culprit!

8. A QR scavenger hunt game

You can spread and hide QR codes across your office. Through a platform, any player can scan the different QR across the office.

Each QR code gives a riddle to solve.

In this article, I let you know how you can create your own. It’s not that difficult!

9. A Zoom scavenger hunt as an office team building game idea

At this time of Covid, you might not be working with all your colleagues in the same room. Therefore, you would need a remote event. Everyone could be connected through their device, and you can have fun. Is it possible? Definitely, if you use technologies like Loquiz and Zoom.

In fact, I’ve developed many Zoom Scavenger hunt ideas. You can read them in this article that I wrote at the beginning of the pandemics.

Maybe your colleagues are remote. You can still play using Zoom or Meet.

10. An onboarding game

What if you use the scavenger hunt format as an onboarding game?

Onboarding can be a critical time for any new team member. Indeed, they will associate their work with their first memory, the first week there. If you provide them with an entertaining but insightful game, then they will appreciate it.

As an onboarding game, you can let the newcomers find items that are related to their future teammates. Each item can give a presentation about each colleague.

11. An indoor photo scavenger hunt

You might have beautiful paintings in your office. Or you might have any kind of nice artwork or plants. So why not organize an indoor game based on them?

You can create where each item needs to be taken in a photo, following a riddle. Besides, that might be nice if you realize that people don’t pay attention to the different wonders of your office.

12. A waiting game for your meetings

There’s another situation where a scavenger hunt may be fun for your office: Meetings or conferences. Indeed, imagine that you’re starting a conference. And guess what: Things turn awkward. You start at 15:00, but 50% of the attendees are present. Do you start? No, you wait. So here comes an awkward time where you try to engage people, but at the same time, people are passive. They expect the conference to start right away.

What if you replace this awkward time with a waiting game? Make your attendee play a remote scavenger hunt, waiting for the conference to start.

In fact, I’ve developed one. You can have an overview of this game here.

13. Games about the company’s values as office team building scavenger hunt ideas!

A company always has strong core values. However, it might not be evident for whoever joins. Why not make them learn through gamification?

So imagine that they need to collect hidden items across the office. Each item is a metaphor for a given value. For example, you can find a baseball ⚾. Then you can scan it with the object finder. From there, your Loquiz device will tell you how your company works as a baseball team: Everyone has their own role, but everyone depends on each other.

14. A competition for everyone

Sometimes you can bring the fun with competition. Indeed, when you know that you have to strive to get a better score than your workmate, you can have a great laugh about it.

For instance, you can imagine a game that updates itself every Monday at the same time. At this time, new virtual items (such as QR codes) appear. Then people need to find a maximum number of items. From there, people can see themselves in a global ranking among their workmates. Fun, isn’t it?

15. A “Favorite Movie” office team building scavenger hunt idea

Do you know well your colleagues’ tastes in movies? You might get some surprise. What if you make a list of clues; each of them would include hints about a given movie. Collect a maximum number of movies, then you’ll be the winner of your office!

For example, try this one:

16. An outdoor game for Easter

When I’m writing these words, Easter is actually happening soon. Why not make a workplace scavenger hunt based on this event? In fact, we already made one using Loquiz.

Indeed, you can actually play this game for your office’s team. Then you can play it outside of your office. After all, Easter is spring. It’s time to start going outside, after a cold winter.

Here you can find more information about this game.

17. A team scavenger hunt for the non-participants

What do I mean by this? Imagine that you plan for a huge event abroad. Can you bring everyone? No, you can’t, plane tickets are expensive. For those who are left behind, let them play! This actually happened to me, in one of the corporations where I used to work. Most of the office went to Africa.

For those who were left behind, including me, we were offered a game (and a party). Maybe we did not get the African sun and the pleasure to discover a whole new continent. But we had great fun that evening. We did not feel let aside from the rest of the company, and that was cool.

You can already imagine now some office team building scavenger hunt ideas, to prepare for such a situation where nobody would be left behind!

18. A drawing scavenger hunt as an office team building idea

What if the items were inexistent? They can draw them by themselves. Using the Loquiz app, you can use the object finder (which we already mentioned on point 13). If your drawing skill is good enough, you’ll succeed in earning points!

That can be a fun competition to play between small groups of colleagues in your office.

19. A touristic game for your own office

Sometimes an office building is located in a tourist place. One of my offices is in fact located not so far from Opéra Garnier. So, what if you make your own colleague discover their own district? They might find new places of interest. And they’d never expect that.

Why not create your own touristic scavenger hunt for your own location? I can ensure that your colleague would love to re-visit their area.

20. A team building scavenger hunt as a birthday game idea

Is someone from your office celebrating their birthday? Then make everyone play! I suggest you put items that are related to the person’s center of interest. Do they like kitesurfing? Then you can hide a kite somewhere. And you can provide the player with points only if they succeed in flying the kite.

21. A virtual escape for wintertime

When I write these words, we’re at the beginning of April. And guess what, it was -7 degrees this morning where I live. Winter is not over. So it might still be a good time to enjoy a scavenger hunt that’s based on winter.

You can for example try the Ugly Sweater Escape. In this game, you’re locked in a cold room with your team. There is nothing but ugly sweaters in the middle of the room… Perhaps, by unlocking them, you might unlock each room until your escape.

You can actually start this game for your colleagues now. First, create your own Loquiz free trial account. Then you have to follow these instructions:

22. A housewarming office game

Are you moving to a new office? Then you’ve got 2 ways to make people familiar with the place. The first way is an ordinary (if not dull) visit. The second way is a scavenger hunt game! Ask people to discover specific items from specific rooms. Make the room a bit more difficult to apprehend. So you give them a challenge.

And they’ll have fun, without realizing that they’ve actually visited their new office!

23. A hybrid scavenger hunt game

What if your office was split into different locations? Your company might work in several countries, rather than one location. And sometimes, keeping cohesion between the remote workmates is difficult.

In that case, the hybrid game format is the best match. Hybrid means that you’re mixing remote and real-life meetings. Indeed, you can gather several groups from each location.

Take a look at our article about hybrid team building games to find ideas for your office treasure hunt.

24. A 5 sense scavenger hunt

When you work, you might not have usage of your senses. What if you make a game based on the 5 senses? So people from the office can rediscover their own senses. I advise this because it’s quite popular among team building events. Indeed, we all enjoy rediscovering our senses, when our everyday life doesn’t use many of them.

Imagine… You can set up an office scavenger hunt using morse code riddles for the hearing sense. Then offer some mystery fruit juices for the taste. Besides, why not set up many sense workshops across your office?

25. Your own office team building scavenger hunt ideas

There are a lot of work scavenger hunt ideas up there. In fact, as a game expert, I could build every single idea using the Loquiz tool. From the Creator, you can basically build any game’s rules you wish.

And you know what? There’s a free version. Indeed, you can create an account now. However, you might find it difficult to handle the Creator right from the beginning. If so, you can request a 30 minute demo with me. I’ll be happy to show you. 😊

To put it in a nutshell, there are many ways to bring team building scavenger hunt ideas to life. The sky is the limit; your imagination too. With all these 25 ideas, you can get some inspiration. Then you can provide your colleagues with entertaining games. If you take such an initiative, they’ll love having a fun pause in the middle of their work in the office. Therefore, I definitely encourage you to create something now!