A GPS treasure hunt is one of the most versatile and engaging outdoor team building activities for bringing people together at work. Although GPS challenges are perfect for team socials (owing to their fun and competitive nature), there are many other ways this type of activity can be used to provide a unique and engaging experience that meets your wider objectives. Whether you’re planning a company away day, team offsite or employee engagement activity, GPS challenges offer a fun and memorable way to strengthen collaboration.
Here are some of our favourite more ‘outside the box’ ways to incorporate a GPS treasure hunt into your next event.
1. Use a GPS Treasure Hunt as an Icebreaker for Meetings and Offsites
When you’re bringing colleagues or teams together who don’t see or work with each other every day, removing awkwardness and getting everyone to integrate can be a challenge — especially when you want to get the most out of the productive part of your session. Kicking off your time together with a treasure hunt is the perfect way to break the ice:
Why it works
- Encourages natural collaboration from the start — mix up the teams to get everyone mingling outside their comfort zone
- Breaks down barriers without awkwardness — the combination of creative and brain teasing challenges remove egos and put everyone on a level playing field
- Sets a positive, energetic tone for the day — as the saying goes ‘start as you mean to go on’, a high energy activity brings people into the main part of your agenda on a high
- Gets people naturally exploring a new or old location — whether you’re in a new location away from the office, or staying relatively close by, a treasure hunt is the perfect way for teams to explore new surroundings and make the most of time spent somewhere new, or to re-explore somewhere familiar. No more of those staff survey responses where people didn’t get a chance to see the sites or stayed cooped up in a meeting room all day!
Best for
Strategy days, company offsites, and cross-functional team meetings
2. Use a Corporate Scavenger Hunt as a Transition Between Work and Social Time
We’ve all been there — the strange limbo between the end of a meeting or regular work day, and the after work social. People finishing things off and trickling in at different times — the slightly awkward walk from your working location to the place you’ve got booked for the social. The teams that do it best are the ones that set a mandatory ‘down tools’ time, and get the ball rolling with an activity like our Pub Explorer — full of pub games and quiz themed challenges! Make the starting point your office or meeting location, and kick off your social with a high-energy post-activity wrap up presentation at your chosen social destination!
Benefits
- Keeps energy levels high and offers a change of pace after focused sessions
- Eliminates downtime, fragmentation or disengagement in the ‘in-between slump’
- Builds fun, friendly competition and anticipation leading into social activities
Best for
Corporate away days, conferences, and team socials
3. Use a GPS Treasure Hunt for Employee Onboarding Programmes
They say it takes up to 6 months for new starters to get fully up to speed in a new role. With so much to absorb including new responsibilities, colleagues and office surroundings — the most successful new starts are the ones who have been through a well structured, effective onboarding process. An interactive app-based treasure hunt is a fantastic way to immerse new joiners with the rest of their team, familiarise them with the office, campus or local area quickly, and ultimately give them a memorable onboarding experience they’ll remember and talk about positively outside of work.
How to use it
- Group new hires within teams or mix departments to get everyone integrating quickly
- Include challenges that introduce company knowledge — we offer a custom questions bolt-on that’s perfect for incorporating company facts and important information
- Customise tasks with onboarding content and objectives — like custom HR related challenges that turn the mundane but essential onboarding pieces into something fun and memorable, e.g. fire assembly points and health & safety rules
Best for
Graduate programmes, new starter cohorts, and fast-growing teams
Find out how a client used a treasure hunt for exactly this!
4. Plan a Team Social Activity That Goes Beyond the Pub
Let’s face it, the pub is usually the go-to destination for an after work social, but it’s not for everyone. GPS treasure hunts offer a social activity that everyone can get involved with regardless of lifestyle or religious observations — allowing those who want to, to make their way to the pub afterwards.
Why it’s a great alternative
- Inclusive for all team members
- No reliance on alcohol-based environments — with 1 in 4 adults identifying as teetotal, socials that don’t centre around alcohol reduce the risk of excluding colleagues or causing unintended discomfort
- Scalable without strict headcounts or venue constraints — rather than waiting for people to accept a calendar invite, or risking drop-outs on the day, a treasure hunt with Wildgoose offers you complete flexibility. Book for your minimum numbers and add on extra people as needed up to 24 hours before.
Best for
After-work socials, inclusive team bonding, and company culture initiatives
Take a look at our outdoor activities
5. Re-Energise Meetings and Training Days with a GPS Treasure Hunt
Beat the post-lunch slump or smash through the energy wall by getting people up on their feet, out into the daylight and taking part in some gentle physical activity! Keeping energy and attention high throughout a full agenda can feel impossible. But rather than accepting it as a side-effect of training days, why not embrace the peaks and troughs by building in some time on the agenda to re-energise?
Why it works
- Boosts energy and helps people regain focus for the content that matters
- Encourages movement and fresh thinking — some fresh air, a change of scenery and a bit of gentle movement is not only good for the body but it’s great for the mind, leading to a boost in productivity
- Adds a competitive edge with live leaderboards — picking up the pace with some friendly competition is a brilliant way to recover dipping energy levels
Best for
Training days, workshops, and strategy sessions
Whether you’re planning a corporate event, onboarding new hires, or looking for team building activities that actually work, a GPS-enabled scavenger hunt combines problem-solving, collaboration, and fun in a way that feels natural — not forced.
