Scavenger Hunt!
While out during lunch yesterday I spotted a small group of folks in blue t-shirts with a corporate logo - laughing and running down the street. A few moments later a see a similar group - but their shirts are green, then there was a red group…
Ah ha - the downtown office scavenger hunt!
I’ve taken part in a few of these over the years - the best one was 5 or 6 years ago now when all of the salespeople and technicians from our offices across the country were in Portland for some training at the corporate headquarters here in town. Our offices were out by the airport though - so even though each group had at least one local member on it - many of the people who lived in Vancouver or East County didn’t really know downtown very well either - which made for some very entertaining confusion.
The teams were all dropped off at the MAX station on 122nd and Burnside with a disposable camera, a list of things, people and places to visit, and small amount of cash. One team decided that time was more important that money and to forgo MAX and used some of there precious cash for a cab downtown - and then had to bargain with the guy at Wolf’s Photo to develop their pics for a discount because they ran out of money by the end of the hunt.
There it was the plethora of standard scavenger hunt items:
- a validated Smart Park card
- a photo of a skater kid with the Umbrella man in Pioneer square
- a photo of your entire group inside one of the old bus mall shelters
- a cocktail napkin or matchbook from Mary’s Club
…and so on….
It was a great time and a really fun way to get to know these people that I worked with on a daily basis but for the most part had never met in person. We spend so much of our time with people from work that it’s really important to be able to enjoy their company - so even though I know some people think corporate bonding events are cheesy - I think they can be really really good. And I hope the people I saw yesterday had as much fun running around downtown as I did.
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This sounds spectacular! Who organizes it? Is it just something the office does? Get me some details if you have any please, this is something my office TOTALLY needs to get in on!
This sounds like the Go Game. They’ve got a great website that explains the whole thing: http://www.thegogame.com
Wow - that’s fancy!
When I’ve done it’s just been somebody in HR or marketing that’s organized it - but not nearly the detail of what that company can do (although I’d imagine it’s a pretty hefty $$)
BLF - I was on the organizing group for one of these outings, and pretty much a small committee of us just brainstormed a bunch of ideas of what we could have people do. Sometimes involving taking photos that included specific people or places or items (you got more points the more you could include in one photo ’cause they had to use the provided disposable cameras, not digital - so the number of shots were limited.)
That company looks cool, but really it’s almost as much fun to plan it as to participate!
That sounds like such a fun time. What a great way to enjoy the city.
It WAS The Go Game. We have a phenomenal time designing and running games in Portland. It’s one of our favorite cities. (And you’re right Divebar, planning is almost as fun as playing!)
Teams are given a superhero lunch box that contains a map, digital camera and cell phone. They are then sent the traditional, location-based puzzles usually associated with scavenger hunts. We also hire actors for the teams to interact with within the game zone. Other missions prompt teams to take wacky photos and videos (all of which are judged at the end of the day).
Give us a holler any time!