Top Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Team Building
Everyone loves a scavenger hunt, even if for most people, it’s been awhile since they’ve done one. There’s something challenging and exciting about a fast-paced game of riddles and seek-and-find. It makes everyone feel like a kid again. Maybe this is why scavenger hunts have proven to be a favorite for team-building activities: they can be a fun and out-of-the ordinary way to create a strong team dynamic: especially if your team is remote.
Scavenger hunts encourage social interaction along with a little friendly competition. Most commonly, a scavenger hunt provides a riddle or clue and game players must go find that clue or an item that matches it, such as find something in your house with the company logo. They may even be asked to perform silly challenges, such as lip sync to Lana del Rey.
If it’s an in-person scavenger hunt, you’ll probably be running around the office looking for items, such as the one stapler that works really well. Or, if it’s a virtual scavenger hunt, your team will be running around their own homes looking for objects. There are also online scavenger hunts, in which everyone looks for things online, such as a wedding photo from your favorite 90s boy band.
Many scavenger hunt team-building activities incorporate different types of “hunting” challenges. For example, in virtual scavenger hunts, there is often a mix of hunting around each person’s home (or, home office) and online searching, such as finding the most popular song the year you graduated from high school. Virtual scavenger hunts often also incorporate silly challenges or even trivia.
Scavenger hunts come in many different varieties. Some have themes, such as 90s or pirate hunt. Some are a little non-traditional, such as races to see who can Google information the fastest. Some are designed for specific times of the year, such as the winter holidays. For example, many companies supplement or replace their holiday office party with a holiday-themed scavenger hunt.
Benefits of Scavenger Hunts for Team Building
Scavenger hunts are definitely fun. And, believe it or not, fun is a positive thing in the workplace. According to Harvard Business Review, when your team has fun, it encourages engagement, creativity, and a feeling of shared purpose. That makes fun a critical part of any successful team-building activities. With a scavenger hunt team-building activity, the fun is already built in.
Scavenger hunts have many benefits beyond fun, including building your team’s soft skills, such as communication, leadership, and problem-solving. They foster creativity and problem solving through riddle solving, communication and camaraderie through a shared good time, trust in each other as they learn to relax, and commitment to the team and the company’s goal through greater engagement.
Everyone will have the experience of uniting over a single goal, regardless of their usual work role. This could lead to a surprise benefit of hosting a scavenger hunt and give you the opportunity to identify potential leaders on your team.
Most people think of scavenger hunts as in-person activities. However, scavenger hunts are just as much fun when played virtually. As more teams have gone remote or hybrid-remote, there has been an increased need and demand for virtual team-building activities: virtual team-building activities have increased in popularity by more than 2500% since 2020.
According to Forbes, “companies should consider the long-term benefits of investing in virtual group activities.” Scavenger hunts have become a popular virtual team-building activity because they create a fun way to build company culture and camaraderie amongst virtual or hybrid-virtual teams that don’t interact as often.
#1: Virtual Scavenger Hunts
Virtual Scavenger Hunts, also known as “Zoom Scavenger Hunts,” are a popular, fun, and out-of-the-box team-building activity. They can work in almost limitless ways, including participants searching for things in someone’s background on Zoom or collecting items from their own home. They can have themes, but many are more general, so they appeal to more people.
Virtual scavenger hunts are typically broken up into rounds. Some example rounds include finding items around the house, finding items within the team, looking online for items, and act outs. Typically, in a virtual scavenger hunt, everyone will be given a list of items from around their house. Some examples might be your favorite mug, a movie starring Sinbad, or something you can’t live without, such as a pet or little one. You might also be asked to compete in silly games, such as doing a TikTok dance or taking a selfie with a pet. You might also be asked to show off things about your house, such as the last thing you cooked or the view from your work desk.
CourseHorse offers a Virtual Scavenger Hunt that is one of the most popular group activities offered on their site. Both Fortune 500 companies and small businesses have used this unique game to build a stronger team. CourseHorse specially designed this 60-minute scavenger hunt game to be customizable for all kinds of teams: whether your team is at the office, at home, or at both, they’ll be able to fully engage with the scavenger hunt. A high-energy host will introduce everyone and break up your team into mini-teams that will compete against each other in several different game rounds. It begins with riddle races, in which teams solve a riddle and then race to find the object it describes around their home. Next, everyone will compete in a larger scavenger hunt with multiple prompts. This is followed by a show-and-tell round led by a hilarious host.
You can also register for a Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Upcycling from CourseHorse. Everyone will bring out their inner Marie Kondo in this fast-paced, competitive game designed to get everyone on their feet searching for items needed to finish long-neglected projects. In addition to tidying up a little, everyone will find everyday objects around their house that will advance projects they’ve been putting off. This virtual scavenger hunt also features sustainability trivia and crafting.
#2: Online Scavenger Hunts
Online scavenger hunts ask game players to race to find information on the internet. Since they can be played from anywhere, they’re a great choice for hybrid or hybrid-remote teams. They’re also a great choice if you have team members with mobility issues and don’t want your team running around the house since everyone will do the searching from the comfort of their own office chair.
Online scavenger hunts typically start with clues in the form of riddles or a trivia question. Then, participants “race” to find the information or item online as fast as possible. You might be asked to find an image, such as a photo of Nelson Mandela’s jail cell or race to see who can find the oldest version of Disney’s logo. Or, you might be asked to find a fact, such as which town inspired Monopoly’s street names or what year did Danielle Steele publish her first novel?
You can tailor online scavenger hunts to a theme, such as a holiday, or something relevant to your company. For example, you might ask everyone to race to find a competitor’s logo online or the oldest version of your company’s website.
CourseHorse offers an online scavenger hunt game focused on Googling information: Virtual Googling History. In this fast-paced, fun game, a high-energy host will lead your team as they compete as mini-teams and race to find obscure information online. Everyone will race the clock to find the answers to prompts designed to uncover information. This game intentionally includes information on historically-underrepresented topics, so it can also be an excellent way to increase diversity, equality, and inclusion at your workplace. The game has three rounds: an image search round, a scavenger hunt round, and a debate round, which has participants debating hot topics.
#3: Pop Culture Scavenger Hunts
Pop culture scavenger hunts have participants racing to find pop culture items and answer pop culture trivia. Since they’re defined by their focus, they can be done in-person or virtually, or as a hybrid game. They can focus on collecting items from around the room or online searches. They can also include trivia (What was the most popular movie in 1968?) or silly pop-culture themed challenges (Who can remember the most lyrics from “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies?)
In pop culture scavenger hunts, you might be asked to go grab books or movies from around your house. Or, a t-shirt or sweatshirt from a concert you’ve attended. You also might be asked to look for items online, such as finding a meme or sharing a favorite website.
One cool result of choosing a pop culture scavenger hunt is that it can be a great way for teams to learn more about each other since they’ll be learning about what each other likes. For example, during a virtual pop culture scavenger hunt, everyone might be asked to collect the book they’re reading. You might learn that the Head of Marketing loves Stephen King or that the Head of the Dev Team is reading a book about Buddhism.
Social media scavenger hunts are popular among younger crowds and could be a fun bonding activity if your team is in marketing or adjacent. Selfie scavenger hunts ask participants to scour through their own online photo collections to often hilarious results. You could also choose a theme for the pop culture scavenger hunt, such as a decade, high school memorabilia, or
CourseHorse takes you back to the last great decade with Virtual Scavenger Hunt: The ‘90s. A high-energy host will engage everyone and then break everyone into mini-teams to compete to solve 90’s riddles to find items around their house.
#4: Holiday-Themed Scavenger Hunts
Holiday-themed scavenger hunts are typically used as an alternative to a traditional office holiday party. They can create a structure for team gatherings, which can be especially useful for remote or hybrid-remote teams that don’t know each other well. While we might typically associate holiday parties with the winter, holiday-themed scavenger hunts can be used for any holiday.
Holiday-themed scavenger hunts typically have participants hunting for holiday-themed items. For example, at a Winter scavenger hunt, participants might be asked to search around their house for holiday cards, a dreidel, or some holiday candy.
CourseHorse offers a top-selling Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Holiday Scavenging, which combines a traditional scavenger hunt with trivia. Your team will break into mini-teams to compete in three rounds of holiday-themed challenges. Some example challenges include creating a snowflake garden, quoting your favorite holiday movie, and making pet-friendly antlers and putting them on your pet. You might also be asked to find your coziest socks or a Santa hat.