Kraken Bingo

Kraken Bingo · Scavenger hunt

Team building scavenger hunt: a race across town, one clue at a time

Split the team into groups, send them across town on a trail of codes, questions and photo tasks, and follow the race live until the last group reaches the finish.

Create a hunt

Why this works as a scavenger hunt

Most team building asks people to cooperate on something nobody cares about. A scavenger hunt hands a small group a real problem with a clock running: find the next place, answer the question, get the photo, keep moving. Within ten minutes the roles sort themselves out — one person reads the map, one spots the code, one somehow knows when the town hall was built — and nobody had to be told to collaborate.

The trail opens one step at a time, so no group can plan the whole route or split up to cover more ground. Each group gets its next hint only when the step before is done, which keeps the race fair, and the ranking — points first, then each group's own time from setting off to the finish — means a careful group can beat a fast one. Afterwards you have photos from every group at every stop, a better record of the day than one group shot in front of a hotel.

Set it up in an evening

  1. 1

    Create a team

    Create a team for the event. Its admins build the hunt; everyone else just plays.

  2. 2

    Add a hunt and choose who plays together

    Create a new game, choose Scavenger hunt as the kind of game and In groups as who plays together, and set the common start for the end of the briefing.

  3. 3

    Write the steps

    Add the steps below in order. Each has a hint, a way to prove the group got there, and an optional question and photo.

  4. 4

    Put out the codes

    Print the QR codes from the step list and put them up along the route on the morning of the event. Where a code could blow away, use a GPS step instead.

  5. 5

    Set off

    Share the team's invite link: everyone who joins is added to the running hunt, and anyone already in the team you add on the Players tab. Then split them into groups and follow them all on the Live tab.

A 10-step trail to start from

Players see one step at a time, in this order, and each hint arrives only when the step before it is done. Add these 10 as your steps, then swap in your own places and answers.

  1. 1The office door — a team photo before you leave, so the album starts with everyone
  2. 2The main square — find the year above the town hall door and type it in
  3. 3The oldest statue in town — scan the code on its base and pick who it shows
  4. 4The riverbank — check in by GPS, then answer a question about how the company started
  5. 5A street-art wall — find the code hidden near the mural and copy its pose in a photo
  6. 6A park — film the group spelling the company's name with their bodies
  7. 7A bookshop — find a book with a colleague's first name in the title and photograph the cover
  8. 8A market stall — ask for a local tip and record it in a ten-second video
  9. 9A viewpoint — a photo of the whole group with the city behind you
  10. 10The finish, a terrace or a pub — scan the last code to stop the group's clock

Recommended setup

Length
10 steps over two to three kilometres: real distance, but nobody gives up halfway.
How long it takes
90 minutes to two hours, plus a drink at the finish while the ranking settles.
Worth turning on
Staggered departures. Each group's clock starts when it sets off, so sending groups out five minutes apart keeps the first stop clear without costing anyone a place.

What makes it work

Proof at every step

Every step checks that the group really got there: a QR code you print and put up, the phone's position within a radius you choose, either one, or both. No more “we were definitely at the fountain”.

Questions that open the next step

A question can be multiple choice or a typed answer, where capitals, accents and spaces don't matter. Groups can retry as often as they like, but only a right first answer scores, and the right answer is never shown — so the same trail works next year.

A live view and a ranking

The Live tab shows which step every group is on, how many tries each answer took and the photos so far. If a code goes missing, mark the step done for that group; the ranking, points and then time, updates by itself.

Frequently asked questions

How many people can play?

Everyone in the team. In group mode one phone per group is enough: the person holding it plays for the group, and the rest walk along. Groups of four to six work best, big enough for different talents and small enough that everyone gets a turn with the map.

What if a group gets stuck?

On the Live tab you can mark a group's current step as done, for example when a code has been torn down. The group keeps the points for getting there, loses only the answer points, and carries on.

Does it work without mobile signal?

The iPhone and Android apps keep playing without signal and send the moves once the phone is back online; the server checks each one again. In the browser, players need a connection.

Can a group see the whole route in advance?

No. Before setting off they only see how many steps there are, and each hint appears when the step before is done. What players see of a place on the map is your choice per step: nothing, an area around it, or the exact spot.

How is the winner decided?

By points first, then finished groups ahead of unfinished ones, then by each group's own time from setting off to the last step. On the website you can put the live ranking on a projector at the finish.

What does it cost?

Creating a team and a hunt is free. You sign up as the organiser; players join the team with the invite link or QR code.

Plan your first hunt

Free to create, no card needed, and players join your team with one link.

Create a hunt

Other ways people play

Team building bingo that runs for a month, not an hour

Give your team a card of 25 challenges, a few weeks to finish them, and a shared album of everything they did.

A new hire scavenger hunt that gives the office tour for you

Instead of a hurried tour between two meetings, give every new starter a trail through the building: a code to scan at each place that matters, a question about it, and a few colleagues to meet on the way.