Discover the Best Competitive Team Building Activities
Competitive events make great team-building activities. Long before people had media, they played games for fun, connection, and entertainment. Competing against one another is an ancient and effective way to build team bonds, communication, and engagement.
Some examples of competitive team-building activities include white elephant parties, lego-building parties, Bingo, trivia, scavenger hunts, game nights, and even virtual escape rooms. Your team will come together over a common goal and have fun while problem-solving.
Your team doesn’t have to be in the same room: virtual team-building activities have increased in popularity since the pandemic by 2,500%. They are highly recommended for companies with remote or hybrid-remote teams.
Benefits of Competitive Team Building Activities
Your team will share a common goal without the pressure of productivity. It will also give them a bond beyond their office projects and interactions. This could be especially beneficial if your team is remote and doesn’t have the opportunity to bond within physical space.
Top Virtual Escape Room Team Building Activities
Virtual Murder Mystery: Team Escape
Your team will become trainees at CHPD (CourseHorse Puzzle Detectives) and solve a series of puzzles to find a murderer inVirtual Murder Mystery: Team Escape. Everyone will be sent to a high-school reunion where the star quarterback has been murdered. Your team will have one hour to work together to solve the crime and escape the gymnasium.
You can also choose a 45-minute version of this escape-room game:Virtual 45 Minute Murder Mystery: Team Escape.
Virtual Time Travel: the 90’s Team Escape
Travel back to the last great decade, the 90s, inVirtual Time Travel: The 90s Team Escape. Your team will hear a dial-up modem while rocking out to the Spice Girls in their flannel shirt. In this game, your team will travel back to a 90s-theme camp and compete to solve 90s-themed puzzles to return to the present.
Virtual Escape the Office Holiday Party
Your team will compete as mini teams to work together to escape the dreaded holiday office party to enjoy their holiday break inVirtual Escape the Office Holiday Party, a holiday-themed escape game. As the DJ spins terrible records and you endure small talk with your colleagues, your ID badges are deactivated, and everyone finds themselves trapped inside the office holiday party. You will have 75 minutes to escape by solving a series of puzzles and riddles.
You Can Also Choose a 45-minute Version of This Escape-room Game: Virtual 45 Minute Escape the Office Holiday Party.
Virtual Time Travel: Escape the 00s
Travel back to the simple life of the 2000s inVirtual Time Travel: Escape the 00s. It’s Harry Potter vs. Lord of the Rings and OC vs. Gossip Girl in this nostalgic and fun escape room game. Your team will have 75 minutes to solve a series of puzzles to escape the 2000s. They’ll do this by using a series of virtual maps, character descriptions, video and audio clips, and other clues.
Jumanji Escape
Your team will work together against the clock to solve puzzles inJumanji Escape. After a day at the zoo, you and your team discover a dusty old game of Jumanji in the zoo gift store. The game busts open, and you’re all pulled inside the game. Everyone will have 75 minutes to escape Jumanji by solving a series of puzzles using video and audio clips, virtual maps, and character descriptions.
Virtual Pirate Treasure: Escape Room
Your team will compete as mini teams to beat the clock to find buried treasure inVirtual Pirate Treasure: Escape Room. Your team has 75 minutes to solve a series of pirate-themed puzzles using character descriptions, video and audio clips, virtual maps, and more. They’ll be racing Captain William Kidd to find buried pirate treasure in this exciting, fun, and challenging escape-room game.
You can also choose a 45-minute version of this escape-room game:Virtual 45 minute Pirate Hunt: Escape Room.
Marvel Avengers: Escape Room
Your team will race against the clock to solve a series of puzzles and save the world in
Marvel Avengers: Escape Room, a virtual escape-room game. You’re having trouble going to sleep after seeing the latest movie in your favorite superhero film series. You fall into a dream where you wear a cape and have superpowers, but suddenly it’s not a dream: you’re trapped in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! Your team will have 75 minutes to escape the Marvel Universe by saving the world.
Virtual Monsters & Ghouls: Escape Room
Your team will compete in mini teams to escape the monsters in this Halloween-themedVirtual Monsters & Ghouls: Escape Room. It’s the night before Halloween, and your team is attending Madame Grim’s annual monster ball at her spooky castle. The lights go out, and you find that the Crimson Crystal is stolen and Halloween will be canceled. Your team has 75 minutes to find the Crimson Crystal and unleash the Spirit of Halloween.
Virtual Winter Team Escape: the Arctic Circle
Your team will compete as mini-teams to work together to solve a crime by solving puzzles and riddles inVirtual Winter Team Escape: The Arctic Circle. Your team purchases a Groupon trip to the North Pole when their private plane crashes. You’ll find yourselves on a great adventure through the arctic circle, interacting with reindeer, penguins, and polar bears. It’s a game of survival, and you’ll use virtual maps, audio and video clips, and character descriptions to escape the North Pole.
Virtual Escape the Upside Down
Your team must escape the upside down in this Stranger Things-themed escape room game:Virtual Escape the Upside Down. It’s 1983, and you’re playing Dungeons & Dragons while eating Pizza Hut in your friend’s basement. Unfortunately, your friend rolls a natural one, and the Demogorgon appears, sucking you into the upside down. Your team will compete as mini teams to escape the upside down using clues such as video and audio clips, virtual maps, and character descriptions.
Virtual Team Escape: Expedition to the North Pole
Mini teams have 75 minutes to escape the North Pole inVirtual Team Escape: Expedition to the North Pole. Everyone is traveling to the North Pole when their private plane crashes, and your equipment and supplies are lost. It’s a race to survive while surrounded by penguins, polar bears, and blizzards. Your team will use video and audio clips, virtual maps, and character descriptions to solve a series of puzzles and escape the North Pole.
You can also choose a 45-minute version of this escape-room game:Virtual 45 minute Team Escape: North Pole Expedition.
Virtual Escape Inflation
Virtual Escape Inflation is a timely escape game that thrusts your team into the difficulties of the 2022 economy and the detonation of our economy. Debt is rising, and your job is terrible when you find a book in the self-help section of the bookstore your town probably doesn’t have anymore. The book? Escape Inflation. Suddenly, you’re sucked inside, and you and your team have 75 minutes to escape this crumbling economy. Everyone will compete to solve a series of puzzles and riddles using virtual maps, video and audio clips, and character descriptions.
Virtual Villainous: an Escape Room
Your team will compete to become the biggest villain in this excitingVirtual Villainous: An Escape Room. Have you always wanted the villain to win? Found them more interesting? You’ll be rooting for the bad guys as you compete to stop the hero. Teams have 75 minutes to escape by solving a series of riddles and puzzles using audio and video clips, virtual maps, and character descriptions.
Virtual Escape the Final Frontier
It’s been ten years since Pluto went missing, and your team will go looking for the lost planet in this excitingVirtual Escape the Final Frontier, a virtual team escape-room game. Your team will be blasting into space to find the missing planet Pluto by solving a series of challenging puzzles. To locate Pluto, they’ll be using virtual maps, audio clips, and video clips.
Top Scavenger Hunt Team Building Activities
Virtual Scavenger Hunt
This hour-longVirtual Scavenger Hunt is designed to work for both in-person, remote, and remote-hybrid teams. Teams will compete in a series of “riddle races, ” in which cryptic clues point them to objects they must hunt for. There will also be a larger scavenger hunt with a larger number of prompts. All of this is followed by a show and tell that’s sure to have everyone laughing.
Virtual Holiday Scavenger Hunt
Virtual Holiday Scavenger Hunt is one of CourseHorse’s most popular team-building activities for a reason: it combines three rounds of holiday challenges with a fun, party-like atmosphere. Break out the egg nog and participate in fun games and challenges. Some example challenges include making pet-friendly antlers, favorite holiday movie quotes, and creating snowflake gardens.
Virtual Upcycling Scavenger Hunt
Learn about upcycling, declutter, and have a lot of fun inVirtual Upcycling Scavenger Hunt. Everyone will gather materials, work on projects, and compete in a few rounds of sustainability trivia. Everyone will leave with a greater appreciation of what they already have and which projects should be next.
Virtual Halloween Scavenger: the Horrific Hunt
Your team will have a totally spooky experience with his Halloween-themed scavenger hunt:Virtual Halloween Scavenger: The Horrific Hunt. This one-hour event will have everyone getting on their feet to celebrate Halloween with a scavenger and ghost hunt. Halloween candy and masks can be shipped to participants before the event for a $25 per person fee.
Virtual 90s Scavenger Hunt
Head back to the last great decade inVirtual 90s Scavenger Hunt. Your team will be challenged to find 90s items around the house and answer 90s trivia in this fun, nostalgic event. There will also be digital puzzles and clues to solve.
Virtual Winter Scavenger Hunt
Back every year to popular demand, Virtual Winter Scavenger Hunt is one of CourseHorse’s most popular team-building events. Your team will enjoy a fun, casual environment with three rounds of challenges. Challenges might include getting your pet dressed as a snowman, illustrating snow globes, and finding awkward family photos.
Other Competitive Team Building Activities
Competitions make great team-building activities because they unite everyone over a common goal and purpose – that isn’t work as usual. They’ll work together as a team in a low-stakes environment such as an escape room, bingo, or a trivia game. Everyone will get to know each other better while building trust and having fun.
Private Virtual Trivia
One of CourseHorse’s most popular team-building activities isPrivate Virtual Trivia, an exciting Zoom-based trivia game that can be customized for your team. This hour-long game has four rounds: a traditional round, a music round, an image round, and a surprise round. Your team will compete as mini-teams but also interact as a whole group. Topics could include ice cream, pop culture, movies, music, history, sports, or dog breeds.
Virtual 30-minute Private Trivia is a half-hour-long version of this game.
Virtual Guess the Price
Experience a new twist on a classic game show format in this fast-paced, virtual price guessing game in the aptly titled Guess that Price. You and your team members will compete to get their guesses as close as possible to the correct price of everything from bars of artisanal soap to luxury home goods to live bait. More than just a series of price guessing games, your team members will compete in a collection of mini-games, all themed after the classic game show style that will be sure to have your team members excited to play.
Virtual Feud Frenzy
Another take on a timeless game show format, this team building competition will have your team members competing to give the best answer to a series of unconventional survey questions in a game of Feud Frenzy. Working in smaller teams, everyone will compete to determine who truly has a finger on the pulse of the populace and who can make sense of their often irrational thought processes. This game is a fun, light-hearted way to introduce a little competition amongst your team members in the form of a fun and fast-paced game night.
Brick Building Team Challenge
Your team will have so much fun competing in thisBrick Building Team Challenge, with a Lego Kit included. Everyone competes as individuals or as mini teams in a series of Lego-building challenges. Example challenges include creating Lego self-portraits, competing to build the tallest tower, and making Lego zoo animals. All materials will be shipped to participants before the event, including a Lego kit.
Virtual Minigame Throwdown
Why settle for one game on your team building game night when you can get the equivalent of a sampler platter of any of these exciting games in a Virtual Minigame Throwdown. In this event, your team members will play four truncated versions of some of these other fine games including a fast-paced round of trivia, a speed typing event, a competitive round of Feud Frenzy and a collaborative set of escape room puzzles (they’ll be competing against other teams). Sure to include something for everyone, this collection of game night favorites is sure to be a smash hit with your team members.
“Get to Know Your Teammates” Icebreaker Game
“Get To Know Your Teammates” Icebreaker Game is trivia with a twist: all of the questions will be pulled from questionnaires about your team. Here’s how it works: each participant will receive a prompt beforehand to provide interesting and surprising trivia about themselves. Then, at the event, everyone will quiz each other on speed-dating style to see who can guess the most correct answers about their teammates.
Virtual Team Olympics (Materials Included)
Your team will go for the gold inVirtual Team Olympics, inspired by the iconic episode of The Office. There will be a casual, silly tone to all of the games, which might include typing speed races, Family Feud-style challenges, creating balloon animals, racing to build marshmallow towers, and playing harmonicas. Winners will receive gold, silver, or bronze medals, which will be shipped to participants before the event along with other materials needed for games such as marshmallows or harmonicas.
Virtual Game Night: Battle Royale
Your team plays head-to-head in classic board games inVirtual Game Night: Battle Royale. There will be three rounds of classic games including List It, Think Fast, and Link It. In List It, they’ll list things, In Think Fast, they’ll see who can answer trivia the fastest, and in Link It they’ll
Virtual Social Media: the Game
This one-hourVirtual Social Media: The Game event will test your team’s knowledge on all things social media. Your team will break up into mini teams to compete against each other to become Verified Influencers and compete in an hour-long trivia event that tests everyone on their knowledge of the screens that everyone’s been staring at for the past ten years.
Virtual 90s Pop Culture Bingo
Virtual 90s Pop Culture Bingo combines traditional bingo with trivia: your team will compete as mini teams to answer questions about 90s pop culture and be the first to complete their digital bingo cards. Questions might include identifying 90s songs (Tori Amos, Nirvana), naming the 90s movie quotes (“I’m flying, Jack!, ” “You’re a virgin who can’t drive”), recognizing 90s tv casts (Friends, Dawson’s Creek), and other pop culture questions such as fashion (plaid shirts and Birkenstocks) and news (Nancy vs. Tonya, Jerry! Jerry!).