We’ve been planning team-building experiences for 25 years.
In that time, we’ve talked to thousands of event planners, HR leaders, and office managers about what they’ve tried, what worked, and what absolutely did not.
Some of these stories made us laugh. Some made us wince. A few made us do both at the same time.
The pattern is almost always the same: someone on the planning committee suggests what they think sounds fun, nobody pushes back because nobody wants to be the person who killed the outing, and three weeks later, the whole company is standing in a parking lot somewhere wondering how they got there.
So in the spirit of saving you from a planning mistake you’ll hear about for the next three fiscal years, here are some of the worst company outing ideas we’ve come across and what they get wrong.
1) The Powerslap Competition
We’re kidding. Kind of.
Nobody’s lining up their People team for a slapping tournament, but you’d be surprised how many “competitive” team events are really just structured ways for someone to lose in front of their coworkers.
If the main emotion most people feel is dread, it’s not team-building.
2) Golf
Here’s what happens at a company golf outing: the people who golf have a great time. Everyone else spends four hours driving a cart around, pretending to care about their short game, and quietly counting the minutes until the clubhouse opens.
Golf rewards a pre-existing skill set. It doesn’t build connection between people who don’t already have it. And half your team isn’t even playing… they’re just there.
3) Bowling (Yes, Bowling)
We know. It seems harmless, but we’ve had clients specifically tell us, “We don’t want to go bowling again.”
Same problem as golf, just with sillier shoes. The people who are good at it dominate while everyone else throws gutter balls, retreats to their phones, and sits with the same people they always sit with. Nothing changes.
4) Anything Involving Bathing Suits
We’re going to say this as gently as possible: asking your coworkers to get into swimwear together is a much bigger ask than most planners realize.
Different people have very different comfort levels with this. What feels like a fun beach day to the person organizing it can feel genuinely stressful for someone else on the team.
If the activity requires people to think about their body before they can think about connecting with their team, you’ve already lost.
5) Sandcastle Building
Sounds adorable on paper. But in practice, everyone’s overheating, sand is in places sand should not be, and the “team-building” component is mostly just people crouching in silence trying not to get sunburned.
We’ve heard the feedback firsthand. It’s not great.
6) Axe Throwing
It’s the kind of thing that makes someone in the planning meeting say, “Oh, that’s different.”
But it’s bowling, with weapons. Everyone takes turns in a loud cage while the people who aren’t throwing stand around making small talk they could’ve had at their desks. Half your team is genuinely nervous, the other half is trying way too hard to look like a lumberjack, and nobody is actually connecting with anyone.
7) A Scavenger Hunt Done Wrong
This one’s personal for us.
Not all scavenger hunts are created equal. Some providers run a set course where every team does the same thing, at the same time, in the same order. With a large group, that means teams are literally following each other from stop to stop, getting frustrated, bumping into bottlenecks, and checking out.
We’ve heard from clients who tried another vendor and ran into exactly this: the challenges were too hard for people who didn’t know the city, the routes didn’t account for group size, and by the halfway point people were frustrated rather than having fun. One planner told us her team had done a hunt in New York, and it was essentially impossible for anyone who didn’t already know how to use the transit system. That’s not team-building — that’s a logistics obstacle course with no payoff.
Proper gamification is a design discipline. It’s not “print some clues and send people walking.” When done poorly, a scavenger hunt can make people more frustrated than doing nothing at all.
When it’s done well — with real game design, subtle technology, and challenges that adapt to group size, pace, and comfort level — it’s a completely different experience. It’s the difference between a gimmick and something people genuinely talk about afterward.
8) The Open Bar (Without a Plan)
We saved this for last because it’s the most common and the most consequential.
There is nothing inherently wrong with drinks at a team event. But when alcohol is the event, with little food, no structure, and no purpose beyond “let’s see what happens”… what happens is rarely good.
Holiday parties, happy hours, after-conference mixers: we’ve heard stories that range from mildly embarrassing to career-ending.
Alcohol loosens people up. But “loosened up” without any structure or shared activity means people don’t have anywhere to channel their disinhibition. Too often, they “leave their comfort zone” in ways they regret.
It’s a liability, not a connection strategy.
So What Actually Works?
Every bad example above has something in common: it either excludes people, embarrasses them, or relies on a single narrow mode of participation.
The best team experiences do the opposite. They give everyone a role. They’re designed so introverts and extroverts, athletes and “I don’t do team-building” skeptics all have a reason to engage.
They create connection through shared challenge and play, without relying on alcohol, skill-based competition, or hoping people will just mingle on their own.
That’s what we’ve spent 25 years building at cityHUNT. App-powered scavenger hunts designed around real game psychology, real inclusivity, and real logistics for groups of 5 to 5,000, in any city, at any time.
Every experience is built around your team, your city, and your goals. You choose your starting and ending location. We design the route, the challenges, and the pacing around your group’s size and comfort level.
That level of customization is something most providers have stopped offering because it’s genuinely hard to pull off at scale. We’ve been doing it for a quarter century.
You don’t have to plan it. We handle the design, the logistics, the app, the support. Your team shows up, has a genuine experience together, and you take the credit. Nobody gets left out. It can be indoor, outdoor, hybrid, accessible — we build every event so that no one is standing on the sideline watching.
Ready to plan something your team will actually enjoy? Tell us your city, your headcount, and when you’re thinking — and we’ll show you what a great team outing actually looks like.
