10 Reasons Teams Love Virtual Escape Rooms
Most companies and leaders know that team building is important. Regular team building events and activities ensure that your employees feel comfortable with each other, make them feel valued, and promote company culture.
But planning team building activities can sometimes feel like just one more thing to do - it can be hard to think of something that’s different than the usual trivia, happy hour, or team picnic, not to mention something that’s affordable and easy to set-up.
This problem is only compounded now that a lot of teams have members working remotely at least part of the time. It is harder to think of activities that will keep a team engaged when there are extra challenges to consider such as setting up web conference links and coordinating different time zones.
That’s where virtual escape rooms for team building come in! Virtual escape rooms are unique, easy to set up, and fun for teams. Below is a list of 10 reasons why teams love online escape rooms.
1. Easy to set up
For most Escape Rooms, teams have 60 minutes to escape the room with the entire event lasting around 90 minutes. Once you’ve reserved your time slot, there’s generally no prep required from you or your teammates prior to starting their game - all that teams need to do is click on the provided web video conference room link at their start time and commit to 90 minutes of fun!
A Virtual Escape Room for teams is easy to slide into the work day around other commitments, and so it's likely not too difficult to find a time that works for everyone on your team. At Ryptic Team Building, our hosts take care of everything, so there’s not much you’ll need to worry about on your end!
2. Affordable
Most virtual team building escape rooms are relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of team building events. At Ryptic, the ticket cost for any of our virtual escape rooms is just $30 per person. Nothing ever needs to be shipped to your participants, and there are no transportation or food costs associated with this event.
The cost of each admission ticket is all you will have to pay for to get access to a virtual escape room, which gives your team access to this professionally-hosted team building event.
3. Unique and Memorable
Your team has likely never done a virtual escape room together, and setting up an online escape room event can be a breath of fresh air compared to other more common team building activities that they’ve likely done time and time again.
Since escape rooms add an element of time pressure - you only have 60 minutes to escape - escape room events are never boring. Virtual escape rooms are competitive but also require the entire team to work together, which makes this activity more engaging and unique compared to a lot of other team building activities.
4. Builds problem-solving skills
Virtual Escape Rooms are designed to be tricky! For your team to successfully escape in the 60 minute time frame, they will need to use their critical problem solving skills. Escape rooms can be a particularly good way to develop these skills, because it doesn’t feel like work while you’re developing them.
Your team will benefit from having to try lots of different ideas, look at problems in new ways, and coordinate with each other, all while working towards a common end goal and having fun along the way. These skills will continue to spill over into the workplace long after the event is over.
5. Builds communication skills
It does happen that not all teams are successfully able to escape in the 60 minute timeframe. The most common reason is because everyone started working on the same part of the escape room, and the team runs out of time before they can tackle the entire room. If everyone works on the same puzzles individually without coming up with a group strategy, then this is bound to happen.
Your team will need to communicate well to maximize their time and effort, and make sure everyone’s solution fits together in the end. Practicing this type of effective communication in a game environment can help teams work together more efficiently in their daily lives too.
6. Builds time management skills
Since your team only has 60 minutes to escape, they will need to use their time wisely. Spending too much time on tangents will keep your group from being able to escape. The number of tasks needed to escape a room combined with time pressure means that your team will need to carefully prioritize puzzles and clues, and make sure that everyone is communicating well to maximize their time.
Getting the hang of these skills in a fun, low stakes environment can help your team manage their time better on work projects as well, and your team will certainly be able to benefit from this.
7. Get to know teammates
There’s a good possibility that a number of people on your team have spent hours and hours working together on a daily basis, but have never really taken the time to get to know each other. Your employees likely act a certain way when they’re on the job working hard (which is generally good because it keeps your workplace functioning well), but that can make it harder for them to get to know their coworkers on a more personal level.
A virtual escape room is an environment that is just different enough from what your team is used to that it can help them turn off “work-mode”, and really relax and engage with the rest of their teammates. Interacting with coworkers in a more informal setting can help foster tighter relationships between everyone!
8. Facilitates Accomplishment
There are lots of fun online team building events out there, but virtual escape rooms have a particular advantage. Your team actually has a real chance at failure, so if they’re able to escape the room in 60 minutes, their sense of accomplishment will be very real.
Knowing that not every team escapes in the 60 minute time period will definitely keep your team focused, and if they are able to escape this will lead to increased group confidence and make 28 everyone feel more capable.
9. Great for Small Teams
Many virtual team building events are geared towards larger group sizes and often there are minimum participant requirements to schedule an event. For some events, like game show-style events or high-energy Trivia games, small groups don’t work as well because they can’t match the energy levels needed for the event, and some competitive games simply require more participants. However, Virtual Escape Rooms work great for groups as small as four, providing all the same benefits to your group in a more intimate event.
10. Fun
Lastly, escape rooms are creative and fun! They come in many different themes, and set dressings and fun decorations can make the games come alive (check out Ryptic’s Escape the Mad Hatter or Escape the Aliens virtual escape rooms). A time limit keeps the event moving at a brisk pace and ensures that your teammates never get bored, while the uniqueness of the game keeps everyone engaged.
On the whole, virtual escape rooms will be just a good time for your team, and are sure to leave everyone smiling and laughing. The best team building activities are simply good fun, and virtual escape rooms definitely fit the bill!
Conclusion
While it can be a challenge to engage your team members in a virtual activity, a virtual escape room will offer something that is different enough from your teams’ day-to-day norm that everyone will find it engaging and lots of fun.
If you’re looking to set your team up with an activity that is unique, easy to set up, cost effective, and builds real world team building skill then a virtual escape room might just be the perfect activity!
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