Escape the Office: 5 Benefits of Team Building for Small Businesses

Team building at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game!

When someone brings up team building, the first thing that pops up in many people’s minds is of 200 employees who barely know each other doing trust falls in a forest somewhere. But that’s not what team building means in 2017! And it’s not just for large companies where employees might not know each other’s names.

Team building activities are just as important and beneficial for small companies. Maybe you all work in the same room, just inches from one another, but there’s always room to improve communication, teamwork, and comradery.

Escape games are a perfect team building choice, especially for small businesses. Why? Because escape rooms usually fit maximum 7 people, which means you can get your whole team in on one game! Plus, they’re super fun (duh!).

Here are five of the best outcomes we see for small businesses who do their team building at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game:

1. Increased communication

When you have only 45 minutes to solve several puzzles and make your bid for freedom, everyone needs to step up their communication levels. In small teams, it can be easy to assume everyone knows what’s going on at all times when that’s not really the case.

2. A chance to bond

There’s a good chance everyone in a start-up knows everyone else’s name, but does everyone really know everyone? Especially if you have a recent addition to your team, a fun team-building challenge allows everyone to get to know one another on another level—and one that’s email free!

3. Testing relationships and skills

In small companies, relationships between staff members can become rigid out of necessity. A teambuilding activity like an escape game lets you see what skills your staff may not be getting a chance to use.

4. Oiling the teamwork machine

Small businesses don’t work if everyone’s commitment to teamwork isn’t in tip-top shape. A fun tune-up is a great way to make sure all is in working order for all team members.

5. Good vibes for all

The high of outwitting the puzzle master and solving an escape game puts everyone in a good mood for weeks!

Book one of Krakit’s four themed escape rooms for your team building day here.

Escape This: 6 Zombie Apocalypse Survival Skills That Apply to Real Life

When it comes to surviving the end times, we normally think of things like machete-wielding skills or the ability to hotwire a semi-truck. But it’s not just practical skills you’ll need out there. Humans’ main advantage in the natural world is our big brains, and that’s what’ll get you through the zombie apocalypse in one piece. (Maybe that’s why the undead want to eat them so bad …). 

Not coincidentally, they’re also the same sorts of skills you’ll use to lead yourself to victory in Krakit’s Zombie Apocalypse escape room.

1. Ingenuity

Rather than stocking up on tinned foods and honing your knife skills, you know what’s really going to help you in the Zombie Apocalypse? Being creative and insightful. If you don’t know how to jerry-rig a tank, then at least your ability for inventive thinking will help you think up a plan and help you learn new skills along the way.

2. Flexibility

Along with ingenuity, flexible thinking is key. You can only use what you have at hand. How are you going to MacGyver your way out of this situation? Unfortunately, your original plan has gone out the window—better think of something else quick. When one thing doesn’t work, immediately switching to a new gear will help you get through the Zombie Apocalypse, escape games, and life in general.

3. Quick thinking

When you’re living on the run, often you don’t have a lot of time to come up with the perfect plan. Developing quick thinking by challenging yourself with rapid-fire puzzles and logic problems is a surefire way to make sure you stay one step ahead of the undead and also your coworkers.

4. Long-term thinking

At the same time as quick thinking is an essential skill, so is long-term thinking. Being able to do both means you’ll be able to escape immediate danger but also figure out how you’re going to secure safety for you and your crew in the long run. In an escape room, this comes into play when you solve the smaller puzzles that lead to the bigger victory—winning the entire escape game.

5. Reading people

If you want to survive in the cut-throat world of the Zombie Apocalypse, you’ll have to keep a close eye on the people you’re with. As much as we want to trust everyone, you must stay vigilant. Being able to read people accurately is key to figuring out if what they’re saying matches what they’re thinking. This skill applies everywhere, from zombie survival to the dating scene to the workplace.

6. Teamwork

Though you need to stay on your toes, you wouldn’t survive any sort of apocalypse without the help of your friends or even strangers. Learning how to meld your strengths with someone else’s is the only way to forge ahead, when it comes to zombies and when it comes to life.

Band together with a group of up to seven of your friends to defeat Krakit’s horde of zombies in our Zombie Apocalypse escape room. Book now.

10 Reasons You Should Play an Escape Game RIGHT NOW

1. Escape rooms are fun fun fun

Let’s just get this most obvious reason out of the way. Why play an escape game? Because it’s 45 minutes of pure fun, from the word go to the last second on the timer.

2. All the kids are doing it

Although people of all ages love a good escape game, they’re especially popular with millennials. Clearly, hitting an escape room is the hip thing to do.

3. Escape games work out your brain

Not just fun and popular, escape rooms offer a chance for you to put to work brain muscles you might not have exercised since high school. Keeping those synapse firing and your logic gears working means escape games provide great brain care.

4. You can impress your date with your bravery

Not only can you show your new beau how smart you are, you can impress him with your bravery when the zombies begin snapping their teeth at you, with only 5 minutes left on the clock …

5. Being under pressure is good for you

There’s proof that pressure makes us accomplish more, helps our brains work better, and turns us into more resilient people. Thanks, escape games!

6. Escape games make for some serious bonding

Need to make a team gel? Throw them into an escape room. Then see what a well-oiled machine they are after working together to crack all the codes and clues we throw at them.

7. A little scare never hurt anyone

Although not all escape games are scary, our favourite ones sure are! Here at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game we currently have three horror-themed rooms to get your blood pumping. Extra shot of adrenaline, coming up!

8. Belly laughter is the best medicine

What follows a jump scare or a seriously fumbled clue but serious laughter? You and your friends are guaranteed at least three giggle fits with each escape game you play.

9. You get your money’s worth

Pound for pound, a ticket to an escape room provides you with more than any movie ticket or baseball game (especially on Cheap Tuesdays at Krakit!). Why? Because immersive entertainment is more fulfilling and memory-making.

10. Escape is good for the soul

Taking some time for a little fantasist escape is necessary to staying sane in today’s hyper-paced world. It’s like Dungeons & Dragons come to life! What’s not to love.

Test your skill in one of Krakit’s four Vancouver escape games by booking here: http://bookeo.com/krakit.

Crack Team Assemble! Corporate Team Building in Vancouver

With the huge number of hours we spend with our workmates, it makes sense that a lot of workplaces are putting tons of energy into creating good environments for their staff. Sure, we can’t all offer the perks of the Google campus, but there are plenty of ways of perking up a team that all businesses and workplaces can engage in.

Getting groups of co-workers to bond over an interactive activity is something we’re highly familiar with here at Krakit Escape Game. Below we share our top places for team building in Vancouver that are both fun and effective.

Krakit Escape Game

We are have no doubts about the fun factor at our four Vancouver escape games, and we’re also have no doubts about the bonds solving an escape room builds among team members. When you’ve only got 45 minutes to save you and your officemates from lobotomization, people quickly put on their cooperation hats.

Grouse Mountain Zipline

Heading out for a day on the mountain’s zipline is definitely high on the fun factor. But not only does it get everyone’s adrenaline pumping and allow workers to interact offsite, it also offers opportunity for any scaredy cats to step up to the plate and any hidden leaders to shine.

Sunshine Coast Rafting

We live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, so why not take advantage of it and head out into nature on the Sunshine Coast. Nothing spells teamwork like trying to keep your boat afloat, right? There are plenty of companies that cater to groups, including training for any novices.

City Scavenger Hunt

If you’ve got a crack HR team, then perhaps a self-devised scavenger hunt is what the team-building doctor ordered. Splitting co-workers into small teams and then having them race to win is a great way to see how your company’s workers both cooperate and compete.

6Pack Archery Tag

Forget paintball or laser tag—times have moved on to archery tag. 6Pack Indoor Beach in Richmond will let you rent out their whole space, and then you just have to let organized chaos ensue as the entire office takes out their frustrations by launching foam-tipped arrows at one another.

Escape Games: Corporate Team-Building with Flair

In today’s workforce, creating a strong and inviting team environment can be not only what makes your employees work better, but what might make them stick around for the long haul. According to Forbes, 88% of millennials prefer a collaborative work culture to a competitive one and definitely don’t want to be an anonymous cog in a faceless machine.

Luckily, escape games can help with that. No, really!

Escape games are only becoming more and more popular, especially among the millennial generation, precisely because of the reasons that also make escape rooms great team-building exercises.

1. Escape games force communication

It’s the rare person who can get through an escape room on their own, so putting your team into an escape game situation means they have no choice but to work collaboratively and—gasp—even speak to each other in person, rather than over email.

2. An escape game will put your team under stress—without any real consequences

Want to see how your employees work when they’re under the gun? Krakit Vancouver Escape Game’s ticking 45-minute clock will definitely give you insight into how your team behaves and works together when the pressure is on.

3. Scary escape room themes put everyone in a giggly mood

Though the 45-minute escape room countdown can put people on high alert, the scary themes of some escape rooms (including three of Krakit’s own) give people just the right dose of adrenaline to put them in a silly and playful mood. Bottom line: at the end of a creepy escape room, everyone is in a good mood—just what you want for a good team-building session.

4. Cracking clues—or the entire escape room—together builds camaraderie

Nothing builds feelings of trust and goodwill like making it through a zombie apocalypse or busting out of an insane asylum together. Solving any clue in an escape room comes with a sense of accomplishment, but if your team manages to solve the entire room—which isn’t easy—then the sky’s the limit for more corporate-minded collaborations.

5. Escape rooms are actually fun, and no awkward trust falls necessary

Corporate team-building events can have employees groaning, but escape rooms are bonafide fun. Most people want to try one if they haven’t already, so team-building at an escape room is sure to be a win in the eyes of even the most unconvinced of employees.

Looking to do some team-building in Vancouver? Why not book some time in Krakit’s four themed escape rooms, located right next to Lougheed Skytrain station. Visit our website or give us a call at (604) 484-6552 for more information.