7 Best Team Building Programs for Corporate Events

You can tell a good team building program by the way people talk about it for weeks afterward, and years later still measure other events against it. We picked seven programs for different kinds of corporate events: two story-driven outdoor games, one GPS game, two for a hotel ballroom or your office, and two for teams that mostly meet on screen.

We've been organizing corporate events and team building for over 16 years, and we prepare and run all seven programs ourselves, with our own instructors and our own tech. Below you'll find how each program works, how long it takes, which groups it suits and when to pick it.

All Seven Programs at a Glance

1. Treasure Hunt: Treasure Hunting with a Tablet in Hand

Our best-selling and most popular group experience. In small teams, you grab a tablet and head out into the field. A series of questions and challenges will test your powers of observation, your logic and your knowledge.

Choose from story games you can play anywhere, or use routes we've built in the most beautiful Czech towns. Or have us design a treasure hunt just for you, anywhere and anytime. You'll be surprised how much fun a plain tablet and the great outdoors can deliver.

The tablet screen shows teams where the treasures are, they follow the score and their rivals' moves in real time, and they snap team selfies at interesting spots. The game takes 2 to 3 hours and has no capacity limit: small teams and entire companies play it. We have up to 52 tablets running our own GPS app TerraHunt, 60 games in specific locations and 8 story games you can play anywhere.

We have ready-made routes in Prague and Brno, for example. Because teams have to reach every treasure in person, the game also works as a guided tour of the city.

2. Sherlock Strikes Back: Investigating in the Heart of London

Almost everyone knows the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes, but few have met him in person. In Sherlock Strikes Back, you'll meet the legendary investigator and much more. You'll dive straight into investigating a string of seemingly unrelated crimes in central London.

You'll form small investigation teams and, led by an experienced instructor playing a Scotland Yard constable, visit the crime scenes one by one. You'll investigate a murder, rescue the wounded after a bomb attack or visit an opium den. Each solved case earns you a clue, and in the end, with a little luck and teamwork, you'll free the victim of a cruel kidnapping.

The cases are logical, lightly athletic and just plain fun, so fitness level and age don't hold anyone back. Instructors in costume bring late 19th-century London to life.

What if the weather doesn't allow outdoor activities? Then we have a rain plan for you. You can enjoy the same theme in a different format from the comfort of a hotel restaurant or a conference hall, using a phone or tablet. The story game Sherlock Holmes' Cases can be played indoors, outdoors or online.

3. Indiana and the Holy Grail: Fearless Adventurers on a Journey Around the World

As accomplished academics, you'll be pulled out of your office routine when your most famous colleague calls you into action. Together, you'll travel the world to gather clues to the greatest artifact Indy has never found: the legendary Holy Grail. You'll fire ancient slingshots at the Great Wall of China, move statues on Easter Island or build an aqueduct in the Sahara.

You'll then piece the clues together at a final conference and, led by Indiana Jones, try to find the treasure chest and the Holy Grail. The whole program is packed with adventure and cooperative challenges.

Teams complete 4 to 8 stations, from Moai statues to building a bridge. Groups don't primarily compete against each other: in the finale they have to share the clues they found, or nobody gets to the Grail. The program is about cooperation and communication as much as fun.

You can run it anywhere with suitable outdoor space: the grounds around a hotel, a castle or chateau setting, and often a simple meadow or forest is enough.

4. Escape Box: At Sea in the Middle of a Gang War

Enjoy the popular escape game concept, in a version you can play anywhere. You'll board an ocean liner carrying passengers across the English Channel. The captain has discovered that mafia gangs are using his regular route to traffic drugs, so you're in for a very unusual voyage.

The secret service needs your help finding cash hidden in one of three suitcases on board. Getting to it takes plenty of wit, teamwork and attention to detail, all against the clock, because you need to reach the money before the voyage ends. Stylish costumes and a striking visualization of the sea voyage set the mood throughout the game. You can play Escape Box right in your office, at home or in the conference space of a hotel.

It's an escape game in reverse: nobody escapes from a room. Teams have to get into locked suitcases and recover the gang's money before the one-hour voyage reaches port. Up to 7 teams play at the same time, in English or Czech, and the game takes 1.5 to 2 hours. In a conference hall, everyone plays at once and nobody waits for another team to finish.

5. Chocolate Day: Sweet-Toothed Chocolatiers Anywhere, Anytime

Who doesn't love chocolate? But did you know it tastes best when you make it yourself? Chocolate Day is a great pick for chocolate lovers and for anyone who likes to surprise someone with an unusual gift. You'll take home your own chocolate creations, made exactly to your taste. Expect plenty of fun facts from the world of chocolate, mixed with quiz questions.

Then, guided by experienced instructors, you'll get down to making your own pralines. You'll choose from many kinds of chocolate fillings and a huge range of ingredients, using your creativity and imagination. Aim for the tastiest praline, or focus on the overall look instead. This popular program livens up any corporate event and sweetens the whole day.

All the program needs is a space with power and water, such as a conference hall or your office. Companies like to book it before the holidays as a thank-you to employees for the year. The team contest is judged on the look and taste of the pralines and on how each team presents them.

At large parties, it also works in a lighter version as a Chocolate Stand that guests drop by throughout the evening.

6. Remote Escape Game: Exploring Adventure Worlds from Your Desk

The Remote Escape Game takes you into a whole different world full of adventure and unusual experiences. You can become a wild pirate, a ruthless zombie hunter, a famous Venetian lover, a superhero fighting crime, a traveler on a journey around the world, a detective in Sherlock's London or an adventurous archaeologist. All of it online, with nothing more than a computer and an internet connection.

At the start, an instructor explains how the game works and introduces the story. You'll play in small teams, and your goal is to score more points than your rivals before time runs out. Learn more about the best virtual games in our roundup 8 Best Virtual Escape Games.

The game runs in the web version of the TerraHunt app: on a computer you launch it in three clicks, on a phone or tablet by scanning a QR code. The team shares a screen via Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet and solves the challenges together, even when everyone sits somewhere else. Players can be anywhere in the world.

7. Online Wine Tasting: A Gourmet Experience from Your Couch

Want to unwind after an online company meeting and enjoy a food and wine experience from the comfort of home? A virtual tasting is an unusual choice that works really well. Before the event, a package of samples of the finest Moravian wines arrives by mail. If you like, you can add farmhouse cheeses or other snacks. A professional wine expert and an experienced host guide you through the tasting from our virtual studio.

You'll hear about each sample and about wine in general. You can join in along the way and ask exactly what interests you. You'll spend a very pleasant evening with your colleagues and probably won't even notice you're sitting on your own couch rather than in a wine cellar.

The package reaches participants one to two weeks before the event, together with a Google Meet or MS Teams link. Stories from life under the Pálava hills and a casual trivia contest keep everyone engaged until the end of the evening. We ship packages across the Czech Republic and the entire EU, so colleagues abroad can join too. If you'd rather taste wine in person at a corporate event, go for our Tasting Event program.

How to Choose a Team Building Program

Start by asking what the event should give your team. Your answer will narrow the seven down quickly:

• Have a large group and want to get them outside? Treasure Hunt has no capacity limit and doubles as a tour of the location.
• Departments that rarely talk to each other? Indiana and the Holy Grail makes them share information in the finale, or nobody finds the treasure.
• Half the team works from home or abroad? The Remote Escape Game and Online Wine Tasting run on screen, so nobody has to travel.
• Worried about the weather? A rain plan is part of every event we run: a reserved indoor space, a ready alternative program and a decision time agreed in advance. Read more about our guaranteed indoor backup program.
• Looking for a custom team building program? We build most Treasure Hunts for a specific location, and we can set story games anywhere: downtown, around your hotel or right at your company.

Adrenaline isn't a requirement. We believe activities mainly need to be interesting and fun.

A Program for Your Company Party

Entertainment for a company party doesn't have to mean just a band and a buffet. Of the seven, Chocolate Day as a stand and Escape Box, which gets up to 7 teams playing at once in a ballroom, work best for parties. For more holiday-season ideas, see Christmas Party Activities That Work.