Why Escape Quest is the Best Team Building Activity

By Andrew SoloveyTeambuilding

Every team needs some motivation in order to stay productive during the long-term project. Out-of-work team building is one of the most effective and proven methods to motivate the team. There are several points why team building may be useful. First, it allows your team to recharge:  either to get a breath of a fresh air after several months of hard work or to celebrate some milestone that you have achieved together. Second, it allows teammates to get to know each other better and facilitates building trust between team members. Some types of team building activities can also be helpful in improving collaboration in your team.

I believe that the recipe of the best team building comprises two ingredients: the common goal and having fun. But this common goal should be valuable –  something that you have to achieve together embracing the team work. When choosing a teambuilding activity you may focus on empowering the following team skills: communication, cooperation, problem solving, decision making, adaptability, planning and trust.

The idea of a team building that from my point of view meets all the requirements mentioned above is an escape quest game.

Escape quest is a popular activity when a group of people is locked in a room (or a number of rooms) and has to resolve some riddles and puzzles to find a way out. Each quest room has its own theme and scenario and the limit of time the team is given to escape, which usually is set to 60 minutes. If the team gets stuck they may ask for some hints from the administrator.  At the same time you`re not allowed to use your cell phones, tablets, watches or any other devices (in most cases all this stuff is seized at the entrance).

If the team doesn’t manage to escape in the alloted time, they are definitely released, but it is considered that they have lost the game.

I think that escape quest is a great team building activity because in order to find the way out the participants have to brainstorm, practise both individual and collaborative work, and ignite their minds. To escape (and here is the goal!) the team must remain calm and work together.

From my point of view escape quest mimics and develops team collaboration on some abstract level. The connections that exist in your team may evolve during escape quest as well. So, when you go to escape quest together with your team, please, pay attention not only to resolving the puzzles, but also try to observe how the team collaborates in this situation and analyze it afterwards.

Similar to any team building activity escape quest has its own pros and cons. Let’s look at them briefly.

Pros:

  • It is easy to organize. Escape rooms are getting popular today and most of the cities have a couple of service providers. So, all you need to organize this type of team building is to choose the theme of the room together with the team, book the room in advance and then come at the appointed time ready to start
  • Escape games enforce you to use your minds. The puzzles are usually of different kinds and you have to think and use your head in order to resolve them
  • Escape quest doesn`t need any special skills and preparation from the participants; all they need is their brainpower
  • Escape rooms are extremely fun. This is an explosive mixture of excitement, fun and adrenaline which are stimulated by the interior atmosphere of the room and each subsequent puzzle resolved.
  • Escape rooms are safe. Well, theoretically, escape room may be a source of danger because you are locked in an unknown dark space, where you may get hurt. However, usually escape rooms owners try to keep them safe and provide a detailed safety briefing to the participants before the game. At least, escape quest is much safer than rafting, paintball and other extreme team activities.
  • It is relatively cheap. In the USA, for example, escape quest game costs from 100-150 USD depending on the team size. But in the other countries it may be far more cheaper. For example, in Ukraine it costs up to 20 USD.

Cons:

  • It suits only for small teams because, as a rule, the number of an escape quest participants is limited to 2-6 people. You may definitely split into sub-teams and go into different rooms, but this doesn’t have the ultimate effect.
  • It’s difficult to pick up the room that will suit all the teammates. The main problem here is that as this activity is very popular, it may turn out that some of your teammates have already passed some escape rooms before. Thus, the task of picking the room gets complicated because you have to find one (or better a number of rooms) that are unfamiliar to all the participants.
  • You can’t do the same room twice because after you have escaped some particular room, you know how to resolve specific puzzles and how to escape. So, if there are not too many rooms in your location, you may pass all of them in a short period of time.
  • The whole game takes place in limited space, so it may not be suitable for people who are claustrophobic. However, the rooms are monitored, and players can ask to leave them at any time.
  • If you lose the game, some result-oriented team mates may be disappointed. So, you should think of creating a good and fun mood before the game and comforting your team in case of a negative result. Instead, better read this article and lead your team to the victory.

I have practised escape quest rooms with my teams a number of times and I’m completely confident that this type of team building activity empowers collaboration. What about you? Have you practised escape quests with your teams? Or maybe you know any better team building activity? Welcome to comments!

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