Bring a great competitive/cooperative game for your events

New Loquiz Template: GAMBIT by Christiansen Consulting

Gambit is a team-building or team-bonding game designed for event companies. The idea for this game came to me after a conversation about the different needs companies might have when choosing their next team-building activity. Some companies want full cooperation, some want full competition, and some need a mix of both.

Event companies often have sales-oriented clients who want team-building activities that promote competition. However, for onboarding, you might look for something that emphasizes cooperation. The problem is that you invest time, money, and effort into creating a good game, but its use is limited. Repeat customers are common, so you must always present something “fresh” and “out of the box,” which can be challenging.

So, I thought, why not make a game that can be easily adjusted to fit different needs (competition, cooperation, or a mix of both)? This way, the time and money spent building it can be recovered by maximizing its use. This is how Gambit came to life.

More about Gambit…

Since the idea is for teammates and teams to interact (as this is a team-building activity), strategy must be present. I chose chess as the base because it is a classic game known to all. Even if you’ve never played chess, you can still play and enjoy Gambit. Those familiar with chess will find some “easter eggs.”

How It Works

When teams enter the game, they are sorted into the “white team” or the “black team.” This is important to remember for later.

The main goal is to get as many points as possible in less than 2 hours. So walk, open the pins on the map, and solve its riddles/tasks. From the player’s point of view, the game is straightforward.

When the Queen and the King of the opposing team enter the game, you need to catch them as fast as possible and solve their riddles to gain an advantage.

What the players don’t know is that this will impact not only their game but everyone’s game to some degree. How? If a white team catches the Queen, they see a message asking if they want to solve the Queen’s riddle. If they answer the riddle correctly, they will win points, and all white teams will also win points. If a white team fails the Queen’s riddle, all white teams will lose points. Meanwhile, all black teams will gain those points, potentially flipping the game upside down.

But that’s not all! The first team to solve the King’s riddle correctly gets extra points just for them, regardless of their team color.

Gameplay

All map tasks trigger some action on the map or in the playground. The playground and the team paper are also linked, revealing secret tasks on the map and providing hints to solve map tasks. This way, the game is played in three environments: the map, the playground (the master chessboard), and the team paper.
The tasks and challenges are original and inspired by soft skills. Teams can choose their points strategy (minimal score, double, or triple). If they succeed, they earn the points; if they fail, they lose those points. This setup maximizes interaction among team members and provides facilitators with rich content for debriefing and reflecting on team performance.

Who is the Winner?

The facilitator can determine the winner (at the beginning of the game) in several ways:

Competition:

The winning team is the one with the highest score. Chat is disabled, and adjustments are made to the Queen and King, particularly regarding the points they allocate to the teams. There are still twists and turns in the game.

Cooperation:

The winners are all teams with White/Black color combined. The game duration is shorter, and chatting is allowed. Teams must cooperate to collect all map pins and achieve the maximum score possible.

A Mix of Both:

One color wins, and the top-scoring team is acknowledged. This mode features a 2-hour duration, chat is available, and the Queen and King function exactly as described in this article.