Virtual scavenger hunt ideas for team building

We all know the good old scavenger hunt games where you try to find items and hints before the time runs out. When we were kids, we used to run around and hunt those things down in the suburbs, in the city, or in the forest. This is still fun to do – even as an adult. But now, there are many fun ways to replicate scavenger hunt games to the online world. 

Our selected virtual scavenger hunt team building activities are free, great for engaging collaboration, interactive learning, using different items or devices, and having a lot of fun! Some of them are also possible to do in a hybrid format. 

Before your go, make sure to think of great prizes the winner(s) can get. To create an incentive, share what the winner will get beforehand. They will know it’s worth fighting for and go the extra mile. 

Virtual scavenger hunt team building activities for remote teams 

This type of virtual team building is great to spice up activities for fully remote teams. Some of the advantages are: 

• Everyone can participate 
• You can include items everyone has at home  
• People must stand up from their desks and move around 
• Teams from different locations can participate in the same activity 
• They are fun, immersive, and can be different each time
• Organizing and participating in a scavenger hunt requires you to be creative. Check out some more creative thinking team building activities here.

Our favorite virtual or hybrid scavenger hunting games

From hunting down kitchen items, a selfie-hunt, and solving riddles to finding QR-codes, these online games for team building are a must-do. 

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1. Zoom Homeoffice Scavenger Hunt 

Team: Virtual only 

Set-up: super quick and easy to create; no materials needed 

How it works:  

• Create a list of items everyone can find at home 
• Split your team into sub-teams, doubles, or single player 
• Open a video conference 
• Everyone needs to hunt down all items on the list in their home and show them to the camera on time 

The first hunt is a team building zoom game. Easy to set up and play. Whoever is the fastest per round gets a point. The overall winner is the one with the most points. 

Pro tip: You can change things up by keeping the phrasing more generic. E.g., instead of “search a ball”, you could ask for “search something round”. Everyone will come up with something more creative.  

2. Information hunt 

Team: Virtual only 

Set-up: Some research required; no materials needed 

How it works:  

• Come up with a topic. It can be work-related or not 
• Search for websites with that topic -> save them on a list 
• Create a list of questions from those websites 
• Split your team into sub-teams, doubles, or single player 
• Have everyone try to find answers to your questions  
• The teams are only allowed to use the websites on the list 

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You can create a different list for each team or make them all do the same hunt. It’s not allowed to use links and websites outside of the list. Googling is not allowed either. With this setup, you can make learning fun again. You can even give different questions a different scoring depending on their toughness. 

3. Picture Hunt – mobile edition 

Team: hybrid possible 

Set-up: brainstorming needed; mobile phones with a camera 

How it works:  

• Create a list of places, things, buildings, and surroundings  
• Everyone needs to find those places and must take a photo  
• Some can require a selfie 
• The winner is who submits all photos the fastest 

You can get creative with those places but make sure to find places everyone has close to their homes/offices, like bakeries, trees, a bus stop, the post station, etc. You can even think of giving extra points for taking a selfie with someone together. The more difficult it is to take a photo, the more points there are to be won.  

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4. Picture Hunt – hybrid version  

Team: hybrid possible, 6-10 team members  

Set-up: location research is needed; mobile phones with a camera + GPS/location tracking 

How it works:  

• Create a list of places, things, buildings, and surroundings  
• Pin them on a map (Google Maps) 
• Have teams where one person is on-site and one person is online 
• The on-site person needs to find those places and must take a photo  
• The online person needs to guide the other team member to the places on the list 
• Winner-Team is who submits all photos the fastest 

You can also have on-site-only teams, and they can find their way together via location tracking. Of course, no navigation app is allowed. This scavenger hunt requires quite some set-up time, but it is a lot of fun. Make sure not to exceed a certain km range, so everyone stays within a pre-set range and time. 

5. Homeoffice Riddle Hunt  

Team: hybrid possible, 10+ team members  

Set-up: List of riddles, video conference 

How it works:  

• Create a list of riddles 
• Some of them may be solved by providing the correct answer, whereas others could require finding an item or something else from the solution. 
• Recommended to play in teams of 2 or as single players 

To make it a team effort, you can ask your team to submit riddles, collect them all and choose the best for the game.

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Tip: If your team enjoys riddles, you might want to check out puzzle activities, murder mystery games, virtual escape room ideas and, virtual trivia team building activities.

6. Selfie Hunt 

Team: hybrid possible, 1-100+ team members  

Set-up: List of tasks; mobile phone with a camera 

How it works:  

• Create a list of tasks, places, or people everyone should take a selfie with 
• Whoever can finish the list first wins 
• Recommended to play as single players 

This is a variation of the traditional picture hunt. Get creative with the tasks. Ask your teammates to take selfies with funny hats, in front of some buildings or during an activity.  

7. Kitchen Items 

Team: virtual only, 1-20 team members  

Set-up: List of items, video conference  

How it works:  

• Create a list of items everyone can find in their kitchen 
• Now they hunt for it 
• For advanced fun, use a timer. Whoever is not able to finish in time will not get any points. 

Try to create a list of descriptions and items that are not commonplace. This makes it more challenging and fun. For a nice ending to this hunt, you can even make them collect all the things needed for a specific topic like “Candlelight Dinner”. And then enjoy a candlelight dinner together. 

8. Outfit hunt 

Team: virtual only, 1-20 team members  

Set-up: List of items, video conference  

How it works:  

• Create a list of items everyone can find in their home 
• Make everyone search for beanies, pants, shoes, jewelry, or belts 
• For advanced fun, use a timer. Whoever is not able to finish in time will not get any points 

You can make your team hunt for clothing-themed topics like “Hawaii” or “Black n White” and create whole outfits with it. And to get extra points, they can wear the entire outfit in the end. 

9. Riddles x QR-Codes 

Team: virtual only, 1-20 team members  

Set-up: List of riddles, QR-Codes 

How it works:  

• Create a list of fun riddles. If you want, collect ideas from your team 
• Create QR-Codes for each riddle-solution 
• The solution can lead you to a place (virtual or on-site) with a QR-Code with a new riddle

This scavenger hunt can be played in a hybrid set-up too, where the teams solve the riddle together, but only one can find the QR-Codes on-site. Of course, it could also be team building quiz questions instead of classical riddles.  

10. “Things that are…” – Hunt 

Team: hybrid possible, 1-20 team members  

Set-up: List of things found at home, videoconference 

How it works:  

• Create a list of items you describe. E.g., things that are warm, things that are cold, things that make a certain noise or have a certain color, texture, etc. 
• Now make your team hunt the items down and have everyone show the objects in the camera. 

With this game variation, the results are always different and super creative. It's extra fun to see what everyone else finds at home and how they solve the question.  

Virtual scavenger hunt games make great hybrid team building activities 

Coming up with new team building activities for work can be a struggle. But the overview of these activities should clearly show how colorful, interactive, and fun team building can be. It doesn’t matter if you have a hybrid or virtual-only team. You will find something that fits you.

Plan your scavenger hunt game the way you need it. You can:

• Have mixed hybrid teams (on-site + online in one team) 
• Use GPS tracking and  
• Send some team members to on-site locations 

The thrill of hunting something down and a little bit of competition gets everyone excited for these games. You can even include interactive learning tasks about culture, art, or your company and work on your problem-solving skills. There are so many possibilities to create fun and creative hunts.  

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Conclusion: Scavenger hunt team building activities will never get old

From our own experience, we can tell this team building experience. Everyone from your team will love it, and there will be a lot of laughter, surprises, and memorable moments during these virtual scavenger hunts.  

Plan yours right now and surprise your team!  

If you’re looking for some more fantastic team building ideas, check out our articles on activities for team leads, unusual games, game shows or activities to boost communication.

FAQs

What do I have to think of during the planning? 

• Set up clear rules. E.g., Scoring system – how many points for which activity or item. 
• Set a time limit and be strict with it. It’s best to use a pre-set timer.  
• Define a host who keeps track of time, points, etc. 

What are good prizes to motivateemployees?

• You can choose merch from your company, gift vouchers, food vouchers, a surprise package you’re going to send them afterward filled with goodies or concert tickets, etc. 

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