Bond with your colleagues over arcade games, sailing, cooking, forging metal, blowing glass — or even smashing things to bits.
A team wasn’t built in a day … or was it?
Take your team-building exercises off-site with one of these 13 action-packed, Seattle-area options. Play arcade games, cook a chef-approved feast or create MIY (mix your own) cocktails while building cohesiveness, cooperation and understanding between team members.
And even if the bonding is only temporary, it sure beats putting together marshmallow structures in the conference room down the hall.
Seattle Sailing Club. Take a break from swimming with the sharks and set sail with your colleagues. Groups divide into small teams of up to six people each to learn the basics of sailing. Then, teams practice their new sailboat skills on the waters of Puget Sound before competing in short races.
WhirlyBall. Whiffle ball is great. Bumper cars are the bomb. Lacrosse .. well, it looks OK. Mix it all together and you have WhirlyBall, a challenge for any corporate team, no matter how cohesive. And unlike most team-building destinations that work with smaller groups, WhirlyBall in Edmonds can take up to 80 participants at a time.
Lawless Forge. Literally forge connections between co-workers by being blacksmiths for a few hours. Use anvils, hammers and fire to make your very own bottle openers, knives, chopsticks/wasabi bowls or garden art. Bonus points for branding each other with your company’s logo — kidding!
Rage Industry. The team that breaks stuff together, stays together. Use baseball bats, hammers, crowbars and golf clubs to take out any festering frustrations on glassware, dishes and other items. Don’t worry, protective gear (including face shield, overalls and gloves) is provided.
Seattle Glassblowing Studio. Head into this downtown hot shop and fire up a piece or two of blown glass to keep. If there’s time, you can also collaborate on a larger group piece with the assistance of professional glassblowers.
Hot Stove Society. In the Kitchen Challenge, your group is first feted with appetizers and cocktails, then divided into teams. With the help of professional chefs, the teams produce (on deadline, naturally) the final result — a dish to be judged, then enjoyed with the larger group.
Willows Lodge. Woodinville’s popular resort coordinates team-building options such as painting experiences with Corks and Canvas Events, mosaic glass design with MoltenWorks Glass Studio, working with horses via Roam Consulting and a ropes course at Aerial Adventure Park/Challenge Course with Adventura.
Seattle Makers. Combine creativity with new tech skills at this South Lake Union workshop, where team-building efforts include activities such as making a laser-etched coffee mug or working together to paint an enormous laser-etched art piece.
Jet City Improv. Are we having fun yet? The improv team’s trainers promise laughter and learning as they facilitate team games, exercises and mini-competitions, all in an interactive bid to boost fun, effective communication between team members.
Seattle Works. Cooperate on small- and large-scale volunteer projects with local nonprofits. Sample activities include meal prep, building garden beds, sprucing up classrooms, and freshening up playgrounds and preschools.
Salish Lodge & Spa. Mix it up with bartenders from the scenic lodge by the falls in Snoqualmie. In the Cocktail Challenge, Salsih bartenders share their techniques, then teams are divided to create cocktails utilizing the tips, ingredients and mixers provided. The lodge also offers group hikes and mountain bike rides.
Bell Harbor International Conference Center. You work together, so why not try playing together? In the happy-hour-with-a-twist Pub Olympics, team members, with drinks in hand, compete in activities like cornhole, bocce and giant Jenga.
GameWorks. Push B for multiplayer action at the downtown Seattle location’s two levels of button-tapping, joystick-activated, wheel-operated arcade games from the past 40 years (yes, Ms. Pac-Man along with the latest, most popular games, too). More than 150 arcade stations are available for a team off-site, as well as tournament play in the eSports Lounge, featuring dozens of PC and console stations.