Crystal Challenge
Outline:
Sometimes, team building exercises can produce some eye-rolling experiences and sometimes, it can be quite an intriguing challenge. This Challenging Tangle is apt as it describes a team game which requires a huge amount of teamwork as well as sharp mental and physical attributes. Loosely based on a game show in the 90s - Crystal Maze, this challenging tangle requires team members to work together if they wish to earn special stones that will eventually earn them greater rewards.
You will have a gregarious host who will form your team-building group into smaller teams. The idea is to rotate to different challenging activities. Each activity should be completed in a certain amount of time if you want to earn a special stone. You can expect anagrams, riddles with double entendres and much more.
Each special stone you earn means you have more opportunities to earn another with the next challenge. Eventually, all teams come back together and the two teams with the most special stones gets to enter a special chamber. The final event entails each team collecting as many tickets as possible, in a certain amount of time based on their previous exploits in the Challenging Tangle. The challenges you might face are include the physical, mental and hands-on. Here are just a few of them:
Mental:
Replication Power - Can you move a set of blocks which specially construct a pyramid and move them to a new location and reassemble them in the exact same order? It’s not as easy as it sounds!
Global Rescue - The fate of the world is in the hands of you and your team mates. You all must disarm an atomic bomb that could exterminate the entire planet. One team mate must be bomb-side while the rest serve as back-up, decoding clues with bomb disarming information. If you disarm the bomb before the final countdown, your team wins a special stone. Let’s not think about what happens if you don’t!
Arithmetic Matters - The goal is capturing a special stone that only the captain of the ship knows. The problem? His compass is broken and he’s lost! You must solve different challenge puzzles based on arithmetic to get enough clues to lead you to the special stone.
Super Slueth - You and your team mates help a bumbling detective decipher clues to solve a murder.
Hazardous Waste - Someone got careless and created a spill of hazardous waste and it is the job of your team to decontaminate the area. One team member is blindfolded and left to handle the clean-up using a series of pulleys, rope and buckets. The rest of the team must navigate their temporarily blinded team mate through the clean-up process.
Talent:
Chariot Showdown - The entire team works together to build a chariot for a race and defense against enemy soldiers. Several team mates pull the chariot which is commandeered by a team driver. The driver’s job is to direct the chariot as well as knock enemy heads together using a lance. You knock all of the enemy’s heads together and your team wins a special stone.
Balloon Magic - Step into an adventure by Jules Verne, a place where you could soar in the clouds on a hot air balloon and get Around the World in 80 days. Your goal is to move the balloon to your destination without using your hands for touching.
Riding Herd - One team member plays shepherd while the remaining team are the “sheep.” The task for the shepherd is to lead their “sheep” in a timed event into a holding pen. The catch is that these “sheep” are blindfolded and the shepherd can only use a variety of noises. What a “baaad” team building event!
Egg Scrambler - Your team must build an egg launcher that can not only make an egg fly out of sight but also without breaking one. Yikes! Add the fact that you cannot touch the egg during the launching process and you have a tricky proposition! If your team egg breaks, the team gets no special stone!
Toss Across - This Toss Across game uses medieval catapults to knock down targets. The object of this team building game is to knock down as many targets as possible so you all can win the special stone.
Bamboozle - A precious stone is trapped within a nest of bamboo tubes which have hooks attached to the ends. Your team’s job is to toss hoops to these bamboo tubes and try to land on a hook! Of course, you must hook these hoops in a particular order before the precious stone is released.
Laser Defense - There is a precious stone defended by a number of laser beams and your job is to retrieve the precious stone without tripping a laser beam and activating additional security measures.
Hands-On:
Oh What a Tangled Web - Your team must traverse their way through an elaborate maze of ropes resembling a spider’s web without disturbing the man-eating spider that resides within.
Knock Wood - Using a displayed shape as a guide, your team must replicate the design using wooden blocks. This is definitely not a child’s play game!
Walk the Plank - Your team is in a boat and the special stone is hidden within a chest on Treasure Island. The only obstacle is the sharks circling in the waters. You all must somehow get across using a variety of boards and planks to retrieve the stone.
Dangers of the Deep - Your team’s challenge is to retrieve a special stone on the opposite shore of a river but there are many dangers in the deep, murky waters. Your team must build a sea-worthy vessel capable of crossing these dangers waters to retrieve the stone.
Busted! - Your team gets the tools to construct a tool of destruction capable of cracking open boxes to see what is inside them. The goal is opening all the boxes to earn a key which will open the final box containing a special stone.
Curious Contraption - Can you lift a bucket of water - without using your hands? The job for your team is to build a contraption no taller than 3 feet which can pick up a bucket of water.
